Review on Sonos Play: 5 Wireless Speaker (Black) - Gen 1 - Discontinued by Manufacturer by Kristin Bridges

Absolutely outstanding product. Easy to set up, easy to use. Within minutes it was playing music from my smartphone, Pandora and any of the thousands of radio stations around the world. The app running on a smartphone is as well designed as I have ever seen. There seems to be some confusion as to whether or not you need a bridge. I bought the bridge because it was cheap, but after reading the PLAY:5 manual I don't think you need it. You only need a bridge if you want to install more than one speaker throughout the house. I haven't tested this - just relying on what I read in the instructions that came with PLAY: 5. Note that the instructions also state that when the speaker is used without a bridge, the speaker is on An Ethernet port must be connected to the router (wired connection). If a wired ethernet connection to the network is not available at the speaker's location, I believe a bridge is required. The bridge is close enough to the router or a wired connection to the router that it can connect to the network. The Bridge then creates its own wireless Sonos network to which all other Sonos devices connect wirelessly. September 19, 2014: A friend bought a Play:3 without a bridge and asked me to set it up without an ethernet connection. All she had were a few wireless routers in the most inconvenient spots. With no bridge or wired ethernet connection, I was skeptical. From the moment I plugged the speaker into an outlet in the wall, it took about three minutes with the Android Controller app and it was playing its Pandora stations. Then I installed the controller app on her iPhone and it instantly picked up EVERYTHING I had already set up on my Android.