Replacing Sonos Connect in kitchen system

At my partner’s we are running a Sonos Connect (the older version which doesn’t have airplay) into some B&W CM5s2 speakers. My partner paid a very discounted sum for the setup.

The speakers at the moment sit horizontally, tweeters outwards, angled slightly downwards on some Auralex Mopads, on top of a tall wooden kitchen dresser (a sonic problem I accept). Not ideal but I don’t see a real prospect of changing this - there’s no decent place to put stand-mounted bookshelf speakers or floorstanders (not least for fears of what the lovely but inquisitive dog might do to them.) Wall-mounting the speakers is not in my gift but as a last resort I could ask…

In addition, my partner has an Amazon Prime subscription which includes Amazon Prime Music (2m songs with curated playlists). This integrates directly into the Sonos app and play queue and we use it reasonably often. So some reasonably easy method of continuing to use this is important. Otherwise, we play internet radio and songs ripped in flac from a NAS drive.

Noting the sound quality from my Muso Qb in the sitting room, I would like to improve the sound in the kitchen and would appreciate some suggestions. The two main thoughts I’ve had are:

  • replace the whole setup with a Muso 2. (?? Seems like wasting the B&W speakers as I can’t think of anywhere else to use them ??)

  • swap the Sonos Connect for a used/refurbished Uniti Atom. (?? Overkill given the placement and sonic issues ??)

I would welcome any constructive thoughts on this, including any sensible better way of isolating the speakers…

If you can afford to do it, buy the Atom.
You’ll enjoy the sound for years after the cost has been forgotten - otherwise, a new “Sonos Amp” would fit the bill.
In my kitchen, I also have speakers horizontally installed, which as you say is less than perfect but they still deliver a relatively great sound.

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In my kitchen I had fitted ceiling speakers, so not the best sonic solution, but my 2nd generation Unitiqute does well. So I would go for a 2nd hand ‘qute, or if funds allow a Qb or Muso.

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Does the Unitiqute support AirPlay?

No, none of the old generation streamers support AirPlay.

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I went for a used Atom. All set up, fairly easily. All sounding good so far.

Uniti Atom
Audioquest Rocket 11 speaker cable
B&W CM5s2

(Minor gripe - why can’t the list of radio favourites be edited?)

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I don’t have access to my Atom but is it similar to the Muso 2 where there is no editing as such but, you can delete stored stations and re-add them to empty presets?
I’ve just done this with my Muso QB’s so that I know they are all the same, with BBC Radio 4 on preset 4, for example.

I too have a Muso Qb and the Atom’s presets don’t seem to work in the same way. Which is a little odd.

This is something that changed with the new Uniti range on my original NDX I could edit the preset stations in the order as required but cannot do this on my ND555 I raised a request with Naim some time ago on this matter.

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I gave some feedback to Naim today, in the hope that the facility to edit presets may be introduced.

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