I'm nearing completion of a home renovation project, where I've been able to wire everything up with cat5e. I'm looking at streaming music from my digital collection to several rooms in the house, and the porch. Each of these rooms is wired with power, cat5e, and speaker wire to the locations where wall mounted speakers will be installed. Something like the SB or the Sonos devices look ideal, but each has its pluses and minuses.

OT1H, being a big open source fan, I love the idea of the SB, and the community behind it.

OTOH, the main downside is that SB does not have an integrated receiver+amplifier product, except for the Boom, which clearly isn't appropriate. The Sonos ZonePlayer 120 looks like an ideal device for most of the rooms, which will not have an existing amp/receiver in them. For the one room with a home theater system, a Sonos 90 or SB Receiver would work.

Problem is, I'm not aware of any nice small amps that match well with a SB Receiver. Small footprint is important, and it doesn't have to be fancy at all (i.e. even multiple inputs are not important). Price-wise I think an SB Receiver + 3rd party amp will be about what a Sonos 120 costs, so that's a wash.

I wish SB had a hardware offering like the Sonos 120. It would be a no-brainer in that case.

I'd appreciate any thoughts you might have!