Do any of you on here have a sonos play system ?

If so what do you think of the sound from it ? Hard to judge at the local currys store.

Was thinking of the following setup…

Sonos playbar
Sonos subwoofer
2x play 3’s at the rear.

Cheers

Steve.

A friend went down this route. He said the bass was wAy too strong and had to set it to minimum.

I’ve heard that too.

doubt you’d need the sub. FWIW I’ve got a pretty big lounge (>100sqm) and 2xplay 1s does the trick for general listening. I’ve got a play 3 in the office – plenty loud enough, so a play bar and a coupe of play 3s would be pretty hectic I reckon…

On the reviews I’ve found online they say without the sub the set up lacks a little depth to music and movies etc.

Sonos stuff is nice because it works so well. The sound isn’t hifi and the play 1 certainly has the bass rather exaggerated but you do get a lot of sound for such a small box. Only reason I can think for wanting a sub is in a surround sound set up for those rumbly bass effects. A ridiculous amount of money for a surround set up though.

My brother has a playbar minus sub and it is fine for normal TV and music, and he’s got it in a very large open plan area, but in my view needs a sub for movies. My own Play 1 is great for music on its own, I mean very very good compared to other bluetooth/small micro systems, but still not a patch on a proper audio or audio/visual set up. However a friends Play5 is really really good. Easily enough to fill a big room with very good quality sound.

If you are setting up a 5.1 system then I would think the Play 3’s are too much for surround channels – you don’t need the bass or sheer muscle for the rear channels in a 5.1 system – though they would be handy to split at any point to put in other rooms and give you a very flexible setup. 2 Play 1’s would be more than adequate for rear surround channels for a dedicated 5.1 setup.

The only reason I was thinking of play 3 is the ability to move it outside for music in the garden at bbq etc.

We’ve got 1, 3 and 5s. You’ll be surprised how good the 1 is (none of them are ‘hifi’ but they sound easily good enough).

I’d not bother with the 5 again, a pair of 1s or a pair of 3s sound much, much better than a single 5 in my opinion.

Sonos 1, 3, 5 user here. The 5 fills a decent sized room, the 3 the lounge and 1 is in Teen 1’s bedroom. I think the comment about 2×1 above is pretty accurate. The 3 is the sweet spot for performance, but doesn’t have an aux in – which I wanted for TV input.

Sound-wise, it is more than acceptable but not hi-fi. I play my cinema and (less and less) music through a SonUs Faber 5.1 with REL subwoofer. Now that really will shake the room/house when desired 😉 . But the Sonos just works, and for that you will probably listen to MORE music, and that’s what’s important.

The simplicity is it’s modular, so you could start with the Playbar only, then add surrounds, then a sub if needed.

For only surround sound in one room, it’s very expensive, not sure I’d recommend it unless you plan to add lots of other rooms.

To improve sound from a TV and integrate with simple multi room, it’s great.

I have a Playbar only on the tv and think it’s great. Expensive but very simple and completely decluttered our living room. Don’t miss the old 5.1 system (8 boxes!) it replaced, but we don’t watch much TV and never sit down for a film so maybe not much help. Not bad for music either.

Also have a 1, 5 and a Connect on the proper amp/speakers so it works nicely around the house.

Of those, the 1 is the most impressive for the size and money. They do a 2 pack now, tempting for surrounds as better value.

Ignore Currys, go to a decent shop and get a proper listen to it, and then you can decide?

Mmm perhaps 1’s would be better for surrounds then as our front room isn’t massive.

We plan to also put a 1 in each of the bedrooms so the boys can also listen to music from them to. It’s good as they can listen to different music at the same time.

Eventually we will also have a 1 or 3 in the kitchen/diner/snug.

It’s great that there aren’t any wires.

So what’s the benefit over Apple TV or Airports attached to a set of powered speakers (or hiring separates)? The sonos connect is £280 vs £60 for an Apple TV

sonos seems very expensive for mediocre sound and, from what I’ve seen of the sister in laws kit, so-so reliability (she seemed to have to reset the sonos regularly).

We plan to also put a 1 in each of the bedrooms so the boys

Could be a bad idea as you can all mess with one anothers queues, volume, etc. I’d stick with Bluetooth speakers or similar for kids unless they are boringly sensible.

The sonos connect is £280

In a system that could never be described as value for money the connect is an example of the very worst value for money. If anyone else comes up with a system that works as well Sonos are screwed but until then they are raking in the cash.

There is no real benefit compared with Apple TV/Airplay, or even a decent Bluetooth speaker. But for £169 for a Play 1 I don’t think you can get a BT or Airplay speaker that would be anywhere near as good. You pay a big premium for Airplay, and my mates got a £140 JBL BT speaker that is very good, for a portable BT speaker, but not a patch on a Play 1.

There’s a few big benefits from the kit I moved from but admit I’m not up to date on the latest Apple kit. I had several Airports and Bluetooth around the house and it never delivered.

£60 airport needs a decent set of powered speakers, £80-£100 more? More plugs, more wires than a Play.

Play 1 sounds cracking to my ears and has reviewed very well in HiFi mags. I’m taking convenience over pure quality and enjoying far more music as a result.

Each Sonos unit is a stand alone player, so can play its own source. 6Music in the kitchen, music library in the living room and Spotify in the bedroom if you want. This only worked before with different sources and different controllers, which comes to…

Each control can control all units. I can start a stream, my Mrs can add tracks to the playlist, or pause it, turn it down or off in the room she is in and I can pick up the tablet and pause something I started playing on my phone.

All of rooms on the same source are perfectly in sync all the time.

I was constantly messing with my Airports, there’s lag between rooms and frequent dropouts. My Sonos kit has been running solid for nearly 3 years, no issues at all. Sounds like a network or router issue if it needs resetting.

Expensive, decent sound*.
Hugely convenient, simple, expandable.

Denon HEOS sound like a strong line up and Samsung have done something I think.

Once you start, you’ll want more units so pick the right system!

>>£60 airport needs a decent set of powered speakers, £80-£100 more? More plugs, more wires than a Play.

Yes, but I’ve got more than enough good quality audio kit. I don’t want to dispose of it all.

>>Each Sonos unit is a stand alone player, so can play its own source. 6Music in the kitchen, music library in the >>living room and Spotify in the bedroom if you want. This only worked before with different sources and different >>controllers, which comes to…

I had 4 Logitech squeezeboxes a couple of years ago (sold them when I moved from a large house to a small flat). Different sources in different places was possible but I don’t think I ever wanted to do that – theres only 2 of us. The same source in multiple rooms yes, different no.

Found DAB much more reliable than internet radio streams and less faff to select.

>Each control can control all units. I can start a stream, my Mrs can add tracks to the playlist, or pause it, turn it >down or off in the room she is in and I can pick up the tablet and pause something I started playing on my >phone.

Apple is the same.
All of rooms on the same source are perfectly in sync all the time.

>>I was constantly messing with my Airports, there’s lag between rooms and frequent dropouts. My Sonos kit has >been running solid for nearly 3 years, no issues at all. Sounds like a network or router issue if it needs resetting.

I’ve not yet run multiple Airports so this might be an issue. Playing on the Mac and an Apple TV in the next room is in sync so it might be Apple have solved this well enough.

I thought Sonos had it’s own network to avoid router problems?

Don’t get me wrong – some things about Sonos look great – but I’m really only interested in the Connect. If they were £100 or £150 each I might go for them but I’d need 3 or more and at £280 each that’s just not viable.

True, Connect only doesnt make sense, not good value. My list should be ‘features’ rather than advantages, as if you don’t need them, they aint advantages! 😉

Sonos does create a ‘mesh’ network, each player talking to another so the signal isn’t dependant on the router signal, which also gives more range as each one is basically a range extender. (In fact Android phones can use Sonos to get an internet connection).

It’s still on the network, with at least one unit connected to the router. Issues tend to come from IP address conflicts or switching issues with the router. The system has great built in diagnostics and supposedly the tech support phone line is great. Units shouldn’t need resetting, perhaps point your sister in law here:

https://en.community.sonos.com

Or if they are techy,

http://X.X.X.X:1400/support/review

Where X is the IP address of a Sonos unit.

Am I right in thinking that I dont need the connect if I have a sonos only system?

I would want to connect the sky box and a blu ray player to it.

We got the player & will get a pair of 1’s for the rear. Not sure about the sub.
I needed an ethernet cable to the router to set it up & I would’ve needed a cable to one of the rears for a network, but they’ve dropped that requirement now.
You won’t need the connect.

Am I right in thinking that I dont need the connect if I have a sonos only system

The Connect is a Sonos player, to add Sonos capability to an existing hifi amp.
http://www.sonos.com/en-gb/shop/connect

Do you mean the bridge, which is now replaced by the Boost? That’s probably* not needed with the new update, everything connects over WiFi. I have one unit wired as it’s more reliable and my router wifi is not the most stable.

*probably :
If your wifi coverage is poor;
– you can wire one component to your router if that’s convenient
– if not, you can get a Boost and connect that to your router, meaning you don’t need a speaker there
http://www.sonos.com/en-gb/shop/boost

it’s good as long as:

– you don’t want to listen to BBC radio.. the streams have been constantly cutting in and out since February and although the problem is know Sonos / TuneInn still haven’t committed to a fix
– you don’t want to listen to any podcasts that aren’t listed on TuneIn

The sound quality is good but for me it’s been a hobbled system that doesn’t even play radio reliably.