Do you love music? The way the we enjoy music has changed over the years. Whereas we used to pop in a CD to listen to our favorite tunes, these days wireless sound systems have become all the rage. These devices allow you to control many of your favorite sources such as Pandora Internet radio, Spotify, any music that is on your phone, local AM/FM, etc. with your phone or tablet. However, there are many choices so which one should you choose? We're going to detail 2 two brands that we feel are the best you can buy. Read on for the pros and cons of Definitive Technology vs. Sonos. UPDATE AS OF 07/24/2020. SEE OUR NOTES BELOW RE: APP FUNCTIONALITY.

UPDATE AS OF 1/31/2022: DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY HAS NOW BECOME A PART OF SOUND UNITED. THIS PARTNERSHIP IS ALLOWING THE DEF TECH PLAYERS TO NOW USE HEOS INSTEAD OF PLAY-FI. THIS IS A BIG WIN IN OUR OPINION. SEE OUR VIDEO IN THE LINK BELOW THAT DETAILS SONOS VS HEOS AND THE PROS AND CONS OF THE TWO FORMATS.

 SONOS VS HEOS

Sonos: Sonos is the most popular offering in today's wireless systems and they have been providing these options for longer than any other manufacturer.

Definitive Technology: Definitive Technology is a renowned speaker company that has entered this wireless arena with their own line of audio products.

Pros of Sonos: Sonos has partnered with more companies than anyone else. What this means to you is that you have more music options with Sonos than with any other company. If you want the greatest number of choices for music, Sonos is what we recommend. Sonos also has fantastic after-market support. With wireless devices like Sonos and others, the wireless environment in your home can affect how well these devices work. If you have a house full of technology and many Sonos devices to boot, there can be times where support is required to determine why your system may not work as advertised. Sonos has great technicians that can "see" what is going on in your home to optimize your listening experience.

Pros of Definitive Technology: Sound quality! In our opinion, the Definitive Technology components sound MUCH better than Sonos at the same price point. Tests in our office between the Definitive Technology WAMP and the Sonos CONNECTAMP (these are both wireless music players that have amps built-in to power your speakers) instantly illustrated that the Def Tech WAMP was louder, cleaner and provided better bass. We also were fans of Definitive Technology's portable models (W7 and W9) over the Sonos option (PLAY5). We also liked the fact that when your phone or tablet goes to sleep that you can still control your Definitive Technology device whereas with the Sonos you have to go into your device to wake it up before you can control your Sonos piece. Ex: You are using the device in your Gym. A song comes on that makes you sleepy. With Def Tech, you can instantly skip over that track. With Sonos, you can't until you open your device up.

To sum it up, go with Sonos if you want the most choices for music or if you have more than 5 of these units throughout the house. Choose Definitive Technology if you want the BEST sound quality and if you like being able to control your music without having to wake up your devices constantly.

Want to check these out? We have both brands on display and any of our team can take you through the different options to determine which is best for you. Give us a call, make an appointment to meet and find out why Aire Theater Designs is San Diego's Sonos and Definitive Technology favorite dealer.

UPDATE AS OF 07/24/2020: SOME THINGS HAVE CHANGED SINCE WE ORIGINALLY WROTE THIS ARTICLE. SONOS NOW HAS WHAT THEY CALL THE SONOS AMP WHICH IS A MORE POWERFUL OFFERING (125 WATTS x 2). THIS UNIT OFFERS BETTER SOUND THAN THEIR OLD UNIT (CONNECTAMP). SONOS HAS A MUCH BETTER FUNCTIONING APP AND THIS ALONE IS THE REASON THAT WE'D RECOMMEND USING SONOS OVER DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY. EX: I AM USING THE DEF TECH APP AT THIS MOMENT TO CONTROL SPOTIFY. AT LEAST HALF OF THE TIME WHEN I TURN THE VOLUME DOWN ONE TOUCH, IT GOES DOWN ALL THE WAY. FRUSTRATING. THE DEF TECH APP ALSO IS INTERMITTENT IN GIVING ME PLAY/PAUSE CONTROLS WHEN MY PHONE TIMES OUT. THIS MEANS THAT I HAVE TO OPEN MY PHONE AGAIN, ENTER THE PASSWORD, ETC. BEFORE I CAN MAKE ANY CHANGES TO THE EXISTING MUSIC. DID I MENTION NO BASS/TREBLE CONTROLS OR VOLUME LIMITING IN THE DEF TECH APP? THE LATTER MEANS THAT I CAN'T GET THE DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY APP TO GET TO A MODERATE VOLUME LEVEL. IT IS EITHER TOO LOUD OR TOO SOFT. IN OUR HUMBLE OPINION, GO WITH SONOS AND BUY IT FROM US...SAN DIEGO SONOS EXPERTS. If you aren't in Southern California, please consider purchasing Sonos through the Crutchfield links below. We make a small commission via this medium and this helps support our video channel AND will let us go out to lunch. THANKS!

✅ Sonos AMP 125 watts X 2: https://www.gopjn.com/t/1-9448-301982-9448?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.crutchfield.com%2FI-rppjc15UE%2Fp_616AMP%2FSonos-Amp.html

✅ Sonos ARC soundbar in BLACK: https://www.pntra.com/t/1-9448-301982-9448?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.crutchfield.com%2FI-rppjc1A1R%2Fp_616ARCBK%2FSonos-Arc-Black.html

✅ Sonos ARC soundbar in WHITE: https://www.pjtra.com/t/1-9448-301982-9448?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.crutchfield.com%2FI-rppjc1A1Q%2Fp_616ARCWH%2FSonos-Arc-White.html

✅ Sonos BEAM soundbar in BLACK: https://www.pntrac.com/t/1-9448-301982-9448?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.crutchfield.com%2FI-rppjc1D94%2Fp_616BEAM2BK%2FSonos-Beam-Gen-2-Black.html

✅ Sonos BEAM soundbar in WHITE: https://www.pntrac.com/t/1-9448-301982-9448?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.crutchfield.com%2FI-rppjc1D93%2Fp_616BEAM2WH%2FSonos-Beam-Gen-2-White.html

✅ Sonos PORT streaming pre-amp: https://www.pntrac.com/t/1-9448-301982-9448?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.crutchfield.com%2FI-rppjc18DH%2Fp_616PORT1BK%2FSonos-Port.html

✅ Sonos MOVE portable speaker in BLACK: https://www.pntrs.com/t/1-9448-301982-9448?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.crutchfield.com%2FI-rppjc18DI%2Fp_616MOVEBK%2FSonos-Move-Black.html

✅ Sonos MOVE portable speaker in WHITE: https://www.pntrs.com/t/1-9448-301982-9448?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.crutchfield.com%2FI-rppjc1A8S%2Fp_616MOVEWH%2FSonos-Move-Lunar-White.html

✅ Sonos ROAM portable speaker in BLACK: https://www.pntrac.com/t/1-9448-301982-9448?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.crutchfield.com%2FI-rppjc1BWN%2Fp_616ROAMBK%2FSonos-Roam-Black.html

✅ Sonos FIVE best streaming speaker in BLACK: https://www.gopjn.com/t/1-9448-301982-9448?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.crutchfield.com%2FI-rppjc1A1S%2Fp_616SONOS5B%2FSonos-Five-Black.html

✅ Sonos FIVE best streaming speaker in WHITE: https://www.gopjn.com/t/1-9448-301982-9448?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.crutchfield.com%2FI-rppjc1A1V%2Fp_616SONOS5W%2FSonos-Five-White.html

San Diego Home Theater Installers Aire Theater Designs proudly serves all of San Diego County which includes Del Cerro, Allied Gardens, Talmadge, Kensington, Hillcrest, Mission Valley, Fashion Valley, El Cajon, Blossom Valley, La Mesa, Lake Murray, Friars, North Park, Balboa Park, Clairemont, Kearny Mesa, Mission Bay, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, Point Loma and Downtown San Diego. We also gladly serve those in North San Diego County which includes Carlsbad, San Marcos, Vista CA, Elfin Forest, Oceanside, Torrey Pines, Alta Del Mar, Carmel Valley, Carmel Mountain, Coronado, Fairbanks Ranch, Escondido, Encinitas, Cardiff by the Sea, Solana Beach, Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe, 4S Ranch, Santaluz, La Jolla, Poway, and Rancho Bernardo. Need help in Murrieta, Wildomar, Temecula, Fallbrook or Bonsall...we're there too. Home by Lennar, Shea, Pardee or other builders? We can help!

 Rancho Santa Fe Flat Screen TV installation

If you are reading this article, you're in luck. You've probably found it difficult to find a home theater store in San Diego as many businesses have gone away. Not us! We've been around for 10 years and our specialities are audio/video sales, installation and service. There are some reasons to choose us for your flat screen installation:

Like many people, I am tired of paying lots for my cable services. After realizing that I only watch football and "The Walking Dead", I decided to take a stand and to see what I could do to "cut the cord" from cable and to hopefully save some bucks.

I am paying $150.00/month for cable and Internet. Here in San Diego, my provider is Cox Cable. I called them and my first words were, "I want to pay less". After 20 minutes of negotiating, they reminded me that I had previously negotiated a lower rate (I forgot about that call months before) as it was supposed to be $180.00/month. Regardless, they saved me another $5.00/month...not very exciting.

I then called ATT regarding an offer they sent me. The offer claimed that their rate was $44.99/month for DirecTV and high-speed Internet. To make a long story short, the high-speed Internet wasn't high-speed at all (roughly 1/20th of the speed Cox gives me now) and there were many hidden charges. However, after determining what channels I wanted (NFL Network and the basic networks), how many TVs I needed boxes for and figuring out my desired Internet speed, I was presented with a monthly statement of $92.99/month. Now we're getting somewhere.

ATT saved me another $10.00/month as I already had my cell phone with them. Chipchipchip at that total. We're now at $82.99/month.

I'll update this post later with "Cut the cord", Part II. TEASER: The next step will be looking at the addition of an antenna for the network channels, adding NFL Network through a streaming device and cutting my cable service to solely high-speed Internet. Stay tuned for details from San Diego's cord cut company, Aire Theater Designs. UPDATE: Here's Part 2. Cable Cutting Part 2

Want to cut the cord from cable, San Diego? Aire Theater Designs proudly serves all of San Diego County which includes Del Cerro, Allied Gardens, Talmadge, Kensington, Hillcrest, Mission Valley, Fashion Valley, El Cajon, Blossom Valley, La Mesa, Lake Murray, Friars, North Park, Balboa Park, Clairemont, Kearny Mesa, Mission Bay, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, Imperial Beach, Pt Loma and Downtown San Diego. We also gladly serve those in North San Diego County which includes Carlsbad, San Marcos, Vista, Elfin Forest, Oceanside, Escondido, Encinitas, Cardiff by the Sea, Solana Beach, Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe, 4S Ranch, Santaluz, La Jolla, Poway, and Rancho Bernardo. Need help in Murrieta, Wildomar, Temecula, Fallbrook or Bonsall...we're there too.

Cut the cord, San Diego, with a rooftop antenna!

You may have read Part One of our "Cut the cord" saga here: Cut the cord from cable, Part 1 It's now time for Phase 2.

We get most of our desired programs from streaming sources via a Roku streaming device and an AppleTV. The remaining portion of cutting the cord from cable entailed adding an off-air antenna to get our desired channels. The total cost for the antenna and installation was about $300.00. The model is a Winegard 7694 which does a good job at our location in picking up channels from 2 of the broadcasting sources (there are three...one in L.A. on Mt. Wilson, one on Mt. Soledad and one in Tijuana). The important channel or us was CBS for Charger games and the antenna pulled this in nicely.

If you have any form of surround sound system, you will need to connect additional cables from your TV to the audio/video receiver to be able to hear your antenna broadcast through your surround sound set-up. Once this was done, it was time to call Cox cable to tell them to "beat it".

I then called Cox and let my representative know approximately 321 times that I wanted to cancel cable and just keep Internet with them. This would save us roughly $85.00/month. After many "Let me put you on hold" periods, they finally came back to us and gave us our Internet AND cable for the same price as just keeping the Internet! We are now saving about $1,000/year and we are still getting all of the programs that we enjoy viewing.

We then added the Sling application through our Roku device. For $20.00/month, this cool app provides ESPN, AMC, TNT and a bunch of other channels. Now we've got all of the channels we want and the movie sources that we use daily. However, we aren't done yet. We may now shop our Internet options to see if we can save more compared to Cox. HOWEVER, we are big fans of Cox's reliability and Internet speeds and we really don't want to go with ATT or other solutions. We'll have a final update letting you know how this story ends.

Want more information about how to cut the cord San Diego? Wondering which streaming solutions are best? Stay tuned for details from San Diego's most helpful cord cuttingl company, Aire Theater Designs.

Cut the cord San Diego with Aire Theater Designs! We proudly serves all of San Diego County which includes Del Cerro, Allied Gardens, Talmadge, Kensington, Hillcrest, Mission Valley, Fashion Valley, El Cajon, Blossom Valley, La Mesa, Lake Murray, Friars, North Park, Balboa Park, Clairemont, Kearny Mesa, Mission Bay, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, Imperial Beach, Pt Loma and Downtown San Diego. We also gladly serve those in North San Diego County which includes Carlsbad, San Marcos, Vista, Elfin Forest, Oceanside, Escondido, Encinitas, Cardiff by the Sea, Solana Beach, Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe, 4S Ranch, Santaluz, La Jolla, Poway, and Rancho Bernardo. Need help in Murrieta, Wildomar, Temecula, Fallbrook or Bonsall...we're there too.

Reasons to treat yourself to some new audio, video and home automation treats. 1) The college football playoffs are coming...did you see last year's games? They were incredible! 2) Because you can. See the latest Sony and Samsung 4K TV sales and universal remote specials. NOTE: Some of these deals are close-outs and when the sets are gone, they are gone.TV pricing is presented by the manufacturer and can change at any time.

We just heard the news that a local audio/video business, Pacific Sales, has closed their home theater division. If you are a client of theirs that needs help with your products or if you have just purchased something from them and you need installation or support, give us a call! We are proud dealers of many of the same lines they carried including:

TVs: Sony, Samsung

Audio/video receivers: Yamaha, Denon, Pioneer Elite

Speakers: Monitor Audio, Martin Logan, Definitive Technology

We can also provide solutions that they didn't carry such as universal remotes, lighting control for your home, surveillance cameras for your home or business and much more. Interested? Give us a call and find out why Aire Theater Designs is San Diego's home theater installation and audio visual company.

San Diego Home Theater Installers Aire Theater Designs proudly serves all of San Diego County which includes Del Cerro, Allied Gardens, Talmadge, Kensington, Hillcrest, Mission Valley, Fashion Valley, El Cajon, Blossom Valley, La Mesa, Lake Murray, Friars, North Park, Balboa Park, Clairemont, Kearny Mesa, Mission Bay, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, Imperial Beach, Pt Loma and Downtown San Diego. We also gladly serve those in North San Diego County which includes Carlsbad, San Marcos, Vista, Elfin Forest, Oceanside, Escondido, Encinitas, Cardiff by the Sea, Solana Beach, Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe, 4S Ranch, Santaluz, La Jolla, Poway, and Rancho Bernardo. Need help in Murrieta, Wildomar, Temecula, Fallbrook or Bonsall...we're there too.