Exciting new Sonos Development

by Martin Brennan

The Brennan can drive traditional wired speakers AND as many as 32 Sonos wireless speakers throughout your home.

You can listen to different music on different speakers at the same time. Pick the speaker (or zone) using the front panel, our App or the web UI.

 

 Update 14th July 2021 - Play CDs direct to Sonos - a world first!

The Brennan B2 now lets you play CDs directly to Sonos speakers.

When Brennan owners first asked for this we thought it was impossible but after exploring many dead ends Martin had a brainwave and invented a new way of “streaming” CDs.

Now you just pick the zone, insert a CD and press Play. (A zone is a group of Sonos speakers and could be the entire house).

And the good news is the CD is not compressed - you get to listen to exactly what’s on the disk.

The Brennan is the only device in the world that can do this. (Though to be fair you could buy a Sonos Port at $449 and connect a CD player to it).

The feature is under development so it's only usable from the B2 front panel right now. We will add it to the web UI in the weeks ahead.

Thank you to the Brennan owners who requested this - let us know how you get on with it.

 

Update 10th March 2021

Play your Brennan through Sonos speakers without an app or computer!

The latest Brennan software lets you pick a Sonos speaker (or Zone) directly from the Brennan front panel. After that all music is directed to that zone.

That means you can play a random selection of music to a Sonos zone with just one click of the next button.

Or play a radio station throughout the house with just one click.

And if you were so minded you can play different music in different zones at the same time - all without touching a computer or mobile phone.

3rd December 2020

We have developed a new way to use the Brennan with Sonos speakers.

Now you can send music on your Brennan to Sonos speakers in other rooms as simply as playing through the wired speakers.

What’s more - people in different rooms can play different music simultaneously - so it's like have having a Brennan in every room.

It was always possible to play the music on a Brennan with the Sonos app - but that required NAS and managing libraries - so it was a bit of a chore.

Now you just pick the Sonos loudspeaker and click on some music.

What you can do

This is a new development and we plan to add more capabilities after your feedback.

  • Pick a speaker - either Brennan speakers or one of your Sonos speakers
  • Send track, album, artist, playlist or radio to the chosen speaker
  • Adjust the volume, start and stop, next and previous* (see notes)
  • See whats playing on the Brennan Web UI and Sonos App

How it works

  • Upgrade to the latest software - 3rd December 2020 or later
  • Open the original web UI. Wait for your Sonos speakers to announce themselves - and a Sonos button will appear. This can take a couple of minutes but the Brennan will remember for next time so it's only the first time.
  • Click on the Sonos button and choose loudspeakers to send music to
  • Click on the play button next to a track it will play that track immediately
  • Click on the play button for an album and it queues the album on the speaker and starts playing the first track. It replaces any previous queue.
  • Click on the play button in a Playlist and it queues the playlist (from that point) - again it deletes any previous queue.
  • The volume and transport buttons work as you expect - except that if you play a single track there is no next or previous.
  • You can switch back to another speaker and the music will continue
  • You can play to a group of speakers or zone by grouping them in the Sonos App
  • Also works on BB1
  • There are new buttons in the settings panel to “forget” and Scan for Sonos speakers.
  • The Brennan lets you break the 65,000 Sonos track limit. 

 

Notes and limitations

  • The Sonos speakers must have been previously installed using the Sonos app and connected to the same network as the Brennan
  • DLNA must be turned off. Settings->Maintenance->DLNA
  • It will not play videos.
  • There is a 1000 track limit playing playlists or artists
  • There is no way to see or edit the queued tracks
  • Sonos currently only supported in the "original" web UI
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