Meridian Audio has announced that it has been certified by the Works with Sonos programme, giving customers a new integration for its high-end home audio equipment to seamlessly connect with the Sonos sound system.
This integration gives Meridian speakers the ability to instantly wake and change inputs when play is pressed in the Sonos app, and allows Meridian customers to stream audio from more than 100 music services available in the Sonos app.
To set up this integration, integrators need to connect the Sonos Port or Connect to the coax digital input on a Meridian 218 or 251 controller. By setting the Sonos product to “pass through” in the Sonos app, it ensures a fixed digital output that will always provide maximum resolution.
Meridian’s control app or web interface can be used for simple integration. Once it’s set up, the Meridian system can be grouped with other Sonos devices on the network using the Sonos app or it can be enjoyed independently.
Any product that is plugged into the Meridian controller and compatible with higher-resolution audio will benefit from a full suite of resolution enhancements, meaning that the audio that is streamed from the Sonos S2 app will benefit from de-jittering, Fifo, upsampling, and apodising, which is designed to take a standard resolution source and increase that resolution.
“I’m delighted that we have added a certified Works with Sonos integration to our award-winning zone controllers,” said Barry Sheldrick, director of sales at Meridian Audio. “This is a key move in enabling integrators to easily connect a high-performance zone from Meridian, whilst offering the client the Sonos user interface that they know and love. Sonos is an incredibly popular platform that supports so many streaming services. Combining this flexibility with our resolution enhancement technologies and incredible loudspeakers is a perfect partnership.
“We’ve already had fantastic feedback from integrators who have been on our beta testing programming,” he added. “They see this as a great opportunity for their clients and their business. A simple, scalable solution, offering the best possible audio quality from Sonos’ great user experience.”
The 218 Zone Controller and 251 Powered Zone Controller are available now, with the other products coming to market in 2021.