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Up until recently, the only way to play vinyl records on your Sonos speakers was if you had a Five or its older brother, the now-antiquated Play:5 — they were the only Sonos speakers to have a line-in connection that you could plug a turntable into. (If you had a Port, Sonos's wireless streaming amp, you could connect it to a turntable, too.) Now you can do this with Sonos's newest speakers, specifically, the Era 100, Era 300 and Move 2, although you need a special adapter.
Since 2019, Sonos has added Bluetooth connectivity to a number of its speakers. This was mainly done to accommodate its portable speakers, the Move and Roam, but it also (inadvertently) introduced a new way to listen to vinyl on Sonos. Now, if you have a Bluetooth turntable — aka a turntable that has an integrated Bluetooth transmitter or "built-in Bluetooth" — and a Sonos speaker that supports Bluetooth, you can pair to two and play Bluetooth audio on your Sonos system.
As of writing this, there are six Sonos speakers that support Bluetooth. There are its newest Era speakers, the Era 100 and Era 300 speakers. And there's its portable speakers, the Move, Move 2, Roam and Roam SL. If you have a Sonos speaker that has both Bluetooth and line-in (like the Move 2 or Era speakers), it makes sense to connect the turntable via line-in because it's going to be way easier and the sound is probably going to be better.
For those who have a Roam – or more specifically, the Roam SL — and want to listen to their records...this is actually the most affordable way you can listen to vinyl on your Sonos speaker. It's kind of hack-y, but it works. Here's what to do.
How to connect the Roam to a Bluetooth turntable
Connecting the Roam (or any Bluetooth speaker) to a Bluetooth turntable is slightly tricky because you can't use your smartphone or an app as a bridge. You need to put both the Roam and the Bluetooth turntable into a pairing mode, place then next to each other, and then should automatically pair.
Putting the Sonos Roam into a Bluetooth pairing mode is simple. Press and hold the button on the back until you hear a second tone (the first tone should sound right when you first press the button) and then release the button. The status LED on the front of the speaker will start flashing blue. To initiate a pairing mode on your Bluetooth turntable, you will likely just have to press (and hold) a Bluetooth button; the exact pairing process will depend on the specific model of Bluetooth turntable that you're using — so check you user manual if you don't know how!
So, in short:
- Place the Bluetooth turntable and Roam next to each other.
- Initiate Bluetooth pairing on the Roam (instructions above).
- Initiate Bluetooth pairing on your turntable (depends on model).
- Roam is paired when you hear a chime and its LED light turns solid blue.
After the Roam and Bluetooth turntable are connected, play a record and make sure that the sound is coming out of the speaker. Even though Bluetooth technology has gotten pretty good these days, we still recommend keeping the Roam and turntable within about 30-feet of each other to prevent severing the connection.
Once the vinyl audio is playing out of the Roam, you simply need to group the Roam with your other Sonos speakers in your home: open the Sonos app, select the System tab (bottom center), and group the Roam with you other Sonos speakers. Audio will then play on all your Sonos speakers at once!
3 Great Bluetooth Turntables to Try
Can you connect a Bluetooth turntable to the Sonos Move?
Unfortunately no. Sonos makes two different portable speakers that have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities — the 2019-released Move and the 2021-released Roam — but they don't work exactly the same. While you'll be able to connect the Move to a Bluetooth turntable and play audio, you won't be then able to group the Move with your other Sonos speakers (Wi-Fi-only) so that the vinyl audio is playing in a multi-room system. This is a feature that is exclusive to the Roam.
The reason for this is that Sonos integrated the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi antennas differently in the Move and Roam. Specifically, the two antennas are separate in the Move and combined in the Roam. This helps the Roam switch between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modes much more seamlessly than the Move, and thus gives it the ability to play Bluetooth audio on other Wi-Fi-only speakers. You simply have to group the Roam with other Sonos speakers while its playing your turntable's audio.
How to add Bluetooth to a non-Bluetooth turntable
A lot of turntables don't have built-in Bluetooth connectivity, but fortunately it's not that difficult to add — you just need to buy a compatible Bluetooth transmitter. There are a lot of different options out there (Amazon is flooded with them), but you want to buy one that comes with a RCA to AUX connection so you directly connect it to your integrated turntable or external phono preamp. (Or you can buy a RCA to 3.5mm adapter for pretty cheap.)
3 Bluetooth Transmitters for Your Turntable
Do any turntables work with Sonos?
Yes! As of September 2022, Sonos and Victrola have collaborated a new turntable: the Victrola Stream Carbon. It has built-in Wi-Fi and allows you to connect it to one of your existing Sonos speakers — there's no extra components needed. There are a few caveats with the Stream Carbon, however.
My biggest complaint is that it isn't discoverable in the Sonos app. You need to pair it with a Sonos speaker via the Victrola app. It'd be a lot easier if you could go into the Sonos app and group the Stream Carbon with the various Sonos speakers in your home.
Also, the Stream Carbon costs $800 — which is steep. You could buy a great integrated turntable (one with a built-in preamp) for significantly less and then connect it to your Sonos speaker via a line-in.
