You’ve dedicated years and substantial funds to creating a digital music haven in your home. But like many others, you’re drawn to the allure of vinyl, pondering how to integrate your turntable into your beloved Sonos setup. The good news is, it’s achievable. With recent additions to the Sonos lineup, including the Era 100 and 300 speakers, and the Sonos Five, you have more options than ever for connecting a record player to your Sonos system.
This allows you to select the turntable line input through the Sonos app and play your vinyl through your Sonos speakers, even to multiple rooms if you have that set up. If your desire is to add Sonos to an existing analog setup with a turntable and third-party speakers, we’ll guide you through that process as well. Let’s dive in.
First and foremost, you need a turntable. Any turntable will technically work, and if you haven’t purchased one yet, we can provide some recommendations. However, there’s a key point to consider. To connect your turntable to a Sonos speaker or system, you’ll either need a turntable with a built-in phono preamp (like the one pictured above) or an external phono preamp (also known as a phono stage) to connect it.
Why? Because turntables themselves output a very low signal, and the preamp amplifies it for proper sound reproduction. Several excellent preamps are available on the market, ranging in price from $50 to several hundred dollars. A quality phono preamp can even enhance the sound of a turntable with a mediocre internal preamp, making it a worthwhile investment.
As mentioned earlier, Sonos now offers several speakers with direct line-in ports. These include the Era 100 ($249), Era 300 ($449), Sonos Five ($549), and the discontinued Play:5. The key difference is that the two new Era speakers have a USB-C line-in port (pictured above), requiring a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter. The Five and older Play:5 feature a 3.5mm line input.
Here’s how to connect your turntable to these Sonos Speakers:
1.
If your turntable has a built-in phono preamp
, connect an RCA cable to the RCA outputs on the back of the turntable, with red going to red and white going to white (right and left, respectively). Depending on the Sonos speaker you have, connect your 3.5mm cable directly to the speaker or to the 3.5mm adapter. Connect the other end of the cable to the Sonos speaker’s USB-C (Era 100 and Era 500) or 3.5mm input (Sonos Five).2.
If your turntable doesn’t have a built-in phono preamp
and you’ve purchased an external one, connect the turntable to the preamp’s RCA inputs with an RCA-to-RCA cable – white to white, red to red. Connect the preamp’s output to the Sonos speaker’s USB-C or 3.5mm input. Plug the preamp into power, and you’re ready to go.The Sonos Amp is an excellent solution for adding the Sonos network streaming experience to a set of third-party speakers. Its 125 watts-per-channel delivers ample power, while its Sonos connectivity enables wireless streaming to any Sonos speaker in your home. It’s a perfect blend of both technologies.
The back of the Sonos Amp features a set of RCA inputs for connecting to a turntable. Simply connect an RCA cable directly from the turntable’s RCA output to the Sonos Amp’s RCA input, and you’re ready to play. If you’re using an external phono preamp, connect the turntable to the preamp and then connect the preamp to the RCA input of the Sonos Amp. Plug the preamp in for power, and you’re good to go.
The Sonos Port is similar to the Sonos Amp, but without amplification. It’s designed for those with an existing stereo setup with an amplifier or receiver and a set of speakers, or even a set of powered speakers. The Port adds Sonos connectivity to your existing amplified setup, allowing you to send music to Sonos speakers throughout your home, as well as through your existing speakers.
Connecting your turntable to the Port follows the same process as with the Sonos Amp – with or without a built-in phono preamp. The output of the Sonos Port then connects to an available analog AUX input or line input on your receiver or amplifier.
Once your turntable is connected to your chosen Sonos setup, use the Sonos app to switch the system over to access the turntable. Note that the latest redesigned Sonos app (which many users have embraced) has altered the steps for accessing the Line-in. Here’s how:
1. Launch the Sonos app, which will open on the new screen.
2. Scroll down to where you’ll see if you have a Sonos adapter connected or an active Line-In to a compatible Sonos speaker.
3. Selecting this will bring up a new section where any components connected via Line-In will appear.
4. Choose the desired component and press play.
There’s one more method for playing your vinyl records through your Sonos system: Bluetooth. While Sonos is known for Wi-Fi network-based streaming, it has recently integrated Bluetooth into many of its products. Currently, Sonos speakers with Bluetooth connectivity include the Sonos Move and Move 2, the Roam, Roam SL, the newest Era 100 and 300, and the Sonos Five. This connectivity enables music streaming without a Wi-Fi network or, in the case of the Roam and Move speakers, on the go.
If you have a Bluetooth-enabled turntable, such as the excellent Audio-Technica AT-LP60X, you can pair it with one of the aforementioned Sonos speakers, which can then be used to send the vinyl music throughout your Sonos system (excluding the Move, which is limited to playback on itself due to its older separate Bluetooth and Wi-Fi antennas). Here’s how to pair a Bluetooth turntable with a Bluetooth-enabled Sonos speaker:
1. Place the turntable and Sonos speaker next to each other (within a few feet).
2. Put the Sonos speaker in pairing mode by pressing and holding the button on the back for two seconds and releasing it. You’ll hear a pairing tone, and the light on the speaker will flash blue.
3. Put the turntable in pairing mode. There will likely be a button on the back to press – follow the instructions for your turntable.
4. The devices should pair automatically. You’ll hear a pairing tone from the Sonos speaker, and the LED light will turn solid blue.
5. Play a record and ensure it’s working.
6. Using the Sonos app with your phone connected to Wi-Fi, you can group the speaker with others in your Sonos system to send the music there too.
While using Bluetooth to play vinyl is convenient, keep in mind that Sonos only supports the standard SBC codec. While it will sound decent to most, it won’t match the clarity or sound quality of either vinyl through an analog system or one of the other line-in options mentioned above, which reproduce the analog signal at a higher quality before sending it to the Sonos system.
