Kent Home Cinema

The First Test section of September edition of What HiFi contains a test on the Sonos BU250 Music Server – quote “The best wireless music system in the business just got even better”.  The main change is the Sonos CR200 which replaces the outgoing CR100 as the latest dedicated wireless controller in their range.  It is very iTouch like, with a full-colour 640 x 480 resolution VGA display, which is also an ultra-responsive touch screen, designed to give you instant, wireless access to all your music and all your rooms.

SonosNet ensures that every Controller works wirelessly, all over the house, so you don’t have to run back and forth to your computer. Instead, you can choose exactly what to play and where to play it from anywhere — sitting on the couch or cooking in the kitchen. Pick it up or touch the screen and it’s instantly on, ready to play music.

With the Controller in hand you can find and play music from your personal music collection, Internet radio and the most popular online music services. And using the Controller couldn’t be easier. Just pick a room, pick a song and hit play. Use search to find your favourites, and quickly link and unlink zones to play the same song in every room or different songs in different rooms. Controllers aren’t tied to a specific ZonePlayer, so you can use any Controller to control the music — and the volume — in any or all rooms. And there’s practically no limit to how many Controllers you can have — one for every room, floor or music lover in your house.

Here’s a breakdown of the Controllers functionality:-

* State of the art in music control for the home

* Incomparable usability and speed

* Quick and intuitive search

* Capacitive 3.5″ touch screen VGA resolution – 2x the iPhone 3gS

* Sonos 3.0 and “Info View” for music discovery, artist info, up-coming concerts via Last.fm

* Charging cradle included

* Replaceable, long-lasting battery

Amazingly all the improvements above in the CR200 will cost no more than the outgoing CR100 unit at SRP £279 Inc VAT

Why not use my iPhone / iTouch?

 As many people who own an iPhone or iTouch may know, there is a free iPhone app alternative.  So the big question is – “why should I pay for a unit -Designed solely for Sonos Music Control?”  Well for a start there is that delay of getting from an iPhone’s home screen to the Sonos options which can be a bit annoying.  Also you could be left without control of your music if your control is on the iTouch and it’s with your partner whilst out dog walking?

In these everyday scenarios we feel that the dedicated CR200 controller definitely has its place in the home, working with the following system bundles:-

BU250 Digital Wireless Music System:

Including the ZP90, ZP120 zone players & CR200 controller (Replacing the outgoing system that included the CR100 controller).

For more information on the entire Sonos range please click here.

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