As an amateur audiophile, I spent most of my life tinkering with components. What’s the best vinyl record player to pair with a pre-amp? Which receiver will deliver quality but keep options open for new technologies? Do I really need a power conditioner? How will I ever hide those rear speaker wires?

After I had success turning around The Princeton Review’s national call center in Houston, we decided to move back to Chicago. With that move came the horrific task of boxing up all my stereo equipment and trying to keep the mess of wires from forming an unsolvable, tangled mess.

For all my love of components and customizing my systems...I was done. No more trying to explain the twelve steps it would take to listen to a CD. No more fishing rear speaker wires under carpets. No more upgrading so I could hear the perfect jet engine sound in Top Gun.

I had enough. There had to be a better way.

Around 2010, I discovered a growing company called SONOS what would forever change the way I consumed music. Sonos is a smart, connected, wireless speaker system. Sonos speakers are, well, speakers. What makes them different from old-fashioned wired speakers is that you don't need the wires. You just plug them into power and they work.

SONOS streams our favorite music services - Pandora and Spotify are constantly on throughout our house thanks to SONOS.

We started with one speaker, but they are completely addictive.

They have speakers for TVs, which allow just one speaker for movies and TV shows, but can also act as an audio speaker They have wireless subwoofers for that added oomph. A speaker can go in any room, are portable from room to room, and can even connect to existing, traditional speakers and sound systems. I can steam my favorite vinyl albums throughout the house. You can even play different songs in every room or group rooms together to play the same music. You can easily add more speakers at any time and control all of it with your smartphone, tablet or computer.

The greatest thing is - it just works.

SONOS is constantly adding new features and products to make the experience even better. No complex instructions. No silly wiring. All you need to do is plug it in. So, stop messing around and go get your first of many SONOS speakers.