Multiroom Set Up Questions

[Oznavad]

I'm helping a friend design a multiroom set up for music as he expands his house. Planned for 8 zones, 20 speakers. He had an installer run speaker wire to all the new rooms and outside, terminating in one location. My friend is a music lover, not necessarily an audiophile. In another of his homes he paid for a full Sonos install. Worked great for a while, but it was first gen. Now it has become a bit of a disaster (app compatibility, Wi-Fi problems, etc).

The requirement for the new system simple- he just wants to be able to play his music from one app (Apple Music is fine) and be able to control zones separately. His installer was suggesting a Juke Audio controller. Looked into the Juke, and while it looks interesting, too new and I've heard of some issues. I have a Wiim Pro plus and think its great, but have no experience with it in a larger system. Even with past experience, he sometimes say, "let's just do Sonos"
My plan is for 1 Wiim pro plus and 8 Wiim pro's into a couple of multichannel amps.

Here's my concern - since Wiim doesn't have native Apple Music, it would require using both apps to play Apple Music on multiple zones, correct? Can you do this on one app with Sonos? I see in the Wiim app that I can play music that's on my phone? Would that allow full functionality and the abilitiy to play you own playlists from Apple Music? If that's the case, I don't see how having the apple app native in the Wiim app matters, as long as you have an iphone (which is how he would control the music).
Any experience or insight shared on this dilemma and the votes on Sonos vs. Wiim is appreciated. I'd hate to have to succumb to an extra $2500 for the convenience of Sonos.

 

[rjw]

Once you set up the wiim groups you really don't need to use the Wiim app to play music. You can just use Spotify connect or Tidal connect or drive it from an iPhone using airplay.

The catch would be if he wants to turn zones on and off. Then you need to use the wiim amp.

Here is what I did:

I have speaker wires terminated in one place for three rooms. I have one wiim pro plus there, which is my master wiim. The output rca splits to three separate power amps, Fosi v3',s which cost about $80 each. Each amp drives one set of speakers

I adjusted the knobs on these amps until the sound levels balanced and then digitally control the volume fun the phone.

I also have speakers in two other rooms NOT reached by the cables, which are syncing over the air. One connects to my HT AVR in my TV room and another to an Echo studio in my bedroom. So in total five rooms, three rooms driven by those power amps.

What I can't do is turn the zones off from any app. If I want to turn a room off, or adjust the volume in one room, I have to go to that location and turn the dial on that amp

But I never do that. I adjust the volume everywhere at once, and play music everywhere at once

It's a potentially much cheaper solution than an amp with 20 zones.

Also if the speakers in different rooms are the same model and are 8ohm speakers you can actually wire them in parallel and then have fewer of these power amps.