Sonos Digital Music System

Reviews: Multimedia

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Richard Poelling
Kurtis
Sonos
Nov. 13, 2006

Specifications

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First Looks

Sonos' ZP80's are a small package. When compared to their older and bigger sibling, the ZP100, the ZP80's are about 1/4 the size. In terms of design, they are very minimalist. Each unit is cast in a nice shade of white with grey accents. There is a single light on the front flanked by a mute button and volume control. That is it for the interface on the individual units. Everything else is controlled remotely, from either the wireless remote or the control software on a PC. You'll notice that the Zone Players do not have antennas protruding from them even though these are wireless devices. Don't let the diminutive size and lack of front panel buttons fool you. These little units pack quite a punch when it comes to pushing your music where you want it.

The rear of each ZP80 sports dual Ethernet ports, optical and coaxial outputs as well as standard analog outputs. Unlike many other networked music players, these units carry line-in functionality. The ZP80 bundle includes two ZP80s as well as the remote control. The remote is definitely worth a closer look. The bright and easily readable LCD screen allows you to control your music at the touch of a button from anywhere, not just line of sight, but I will get to that later. The remote only has 12 buttons, which is far fewer than most remotes I have seen. Besides the large LCD screen, the other very noticeable feature is the touch sensitive scrolling circle. Above the scroll control you have three buttons: Zones, Previous Item, and Music. Below the scroll button is the Previous Track, Play/Pause, and Next Track button. On the far left of the unit is the Volume control as well as the Mute button. Three unmarked buttons below the screen are for selecting on-screen menu items which can change frequently.

ZP80 Bundle (2 x ZP80 ZonePlayer, 1 x Remote)

ZP100 ZonePlayer

Remote Cradle

SP100 Loudspeakers

Miscellaneous

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Page 2 of 5

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Looks
Page 3: Setup
Page 4: Testing
Page 5: Conclusion

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