There are essentially three ways to connect a Sonos Five speaker to a turntable or record player.
We’ll go through each method in detail in this guide.
Method 1: Connect the turntable physically to the Sonos Five using a RCA signal cable.
Method 2: Connect the turntable wirelessly to the Sonos Five using a Sonos Port.
Method 3: Connect the Sonos Five wirelessly to a Bluetooth turntable using a Bluetooth adapter.
The table below shows the connectivity options for the Sonos Five and other Sonos speakers.
We see that the Sonos Five is the only Sonos speaker that comes with an analog input that makes it possible to connect it physically to a turntable with a RCA signal cable.
Now, let’s take a detailed look at each of the three methods.
Method 1: Connect the turntable physically to the Sonos Five using a RCA signal cable
The simplest and most cost-friendly method to connect a turntable to a Sonos Five is to use a RCA signal cable.
You will usually need a signal cable that has red and white RCA connectors on the turntable end and a 3.5mm jack in the Sonos Five end.
If your turntable has a RCA cable hardwired, you will usually need a 3.5mm male to RCA female adapter.
If you use a separate phono preamp, you’ll need to connect the Sonos Five to the output of the preamp.
PS! If your turntable doesn’t have a built-in preamp, you will need a separate phone preamp because there is no phono input on the Sonos Five. You’ll find a good and very affordable phono preamp in my 10 Best Phono Preamps from $10 to $500 article.
Benefits with this method
- Cost-friendly
- Easy to set up
- Reliable (no wireless disconnects)
Downsides with this method
- Turntable needs to be placed close to the speaker
- Adds a cable to your Sonos setup
Method 2: Connect the turntable wirelessly to the Sonos Five using a Sonos Port
Another elegant way to connect a turntable to a Sonos Five is to connect the turntable physically to a Sonos Port and stream music wirelessly from the Sonos Port to the Sonos Five.
You will need to include a phono preamp between the turntable and the Sonos Port if your turntable doesn’t have a built-in preamp. There is no phono input on the Sonos Port.
Benefits with this method
- Turntable and speaker can be placed far apart
- No cables
- Uses WiFi wireless (high bandwidth = good sound)
- Good wireless range (Works through walls)
- Works with two Sonos Fives in stereo pairing
Downsides with this method
- The Sonos Port is quite expensive
Method 3: Connect the Sonos Five wirelessly to a Bluetooth turntable using a Bluetooth adapter
As we saw in the table at the beginning of this guide, the Sonos Five doesn’t come with Bluetooth connectivity.
There is, however, possible to make the Sonos Five Bluetooth capable with a Bluetooth adapter.
One popular Bluetooth adapter is the ZIIDOO Bluetooth 5.0 Transmitter and Receiver.
It can work both as a Bluetooth transmitter and as a Bluetooth receiver. When you connect it to your Sonos Five, it has to be set in receiver mode.
You can then use Bluetooth turntable and stream music wirelessly from the turntable to the Sonos Five.
Note that this will only work with turntables that have Bluetooth transmitter functionality.
Some Bluetooth record players with built-in speakers have Bluetooth receiver functionality that enables them to connect to smartphones etc. and operate as Bluetooth speakers. This is common for suitcase-style record players. Record players with Bluetooth receiver functionality cannot stream music wirelessly to a Bluetooth receiver.
You’ll find a list of great Bluetooth turntables that work with a Sonos Five with a Bluetooth adapter in our Best Turntables with Bluetooth article.
If you don’t have a Bluetooth turntable (or don’t want to buy one) you can add a second Bluetooth adapter on the turntable end in transmitter mode. This will make your turntable Bluetooth capable.
If your turntable doesn’t have a built-in preamp, you will also need to add one between the turntable and the Bluetooth adapter.
Benefits with this method
- Bluetooth adapters cost less than Sonos Port
- No cables between turntable and Sonos Five
Downsides with this method
- Adds complexity to the system
- Bluetooth pairing can sometimes be tricky
- Bluetooth has lower bandwidth and more compression than WiFi
- Maximum wireless range is about 30 feet with Bluetooth (Will not work through walls)
Conclusion
I hope this guide helps you choose your preferred way to connect your turntable to your Sonos Five.
If not, feel free to email me with any questions you might have on this topic.
You can find my email address on the contact page.
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