Advice from fellow SONOS owners please

[R6VED]

I have just (yesterday) bought 2x SONOS Play 1's and a Bridge.

I am very impressed so far and have set up controls on both our mobiles and our tablet very easily.

I have connected the Play 1's as a stereo pair in the sitting room for the moment and am considering the following:

Buy x2 more Play 1's and use them individually in the kitchen and the main bedroom

OR

Buy 1x Play 3 and use that in the sitting room instead of the current pair of Play 1's and then move them into the bedroom and kitchen?

A Play 3 rather than 2 more Play 1's would save me about £80, but is it the best option in your opinion?

I love the idea of potentially having music playing in 4 different rooms at the same time (parties etc) but will the sound from the Play 3 be equal (or better or worse) than that from the pair of Play 1's.

OR

Buy a Play 5 instead of a Play 3 with no real saving over 2x Play 1's


We have 5 main rooms downstairs and 4 bedrooms so the appeal is to get the most amount of speakers for my money, however as you can simply unplug and move them very easily that isn't the only consideration.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Charlie

[VEX]

I have all of them here (for demo reasons of course!) and have done a little back to back testing.

Personally, I don't see the point of the play:3 any more. The little ones are brilliant and work so well as a pair.

The 5 is good and has its place but I struggle with the 3.

V.

[sparkyhx]

I'm a fan of the Play 5 - I find the 1's and 3's a bit 'thin' but I've only heard them in a shop. To me the Play5 beats both hands down on everything except stereo imaging, but for me that's unimportant for the settings I use the Sonos speakers.

If I want stereo imaging I use my full hifi setup with my Sonos Connect linked to 3.5k's worth of amp, speakers and DAC.

I would tend to agree with Vex. If you want to keep the cost down go for a single play 1, If you are contemplating 2 play 1's I'd go Play 5.

Edited by sparkyhx on Tuesday 22 April 15:24

[R6VED]

Cheers guys for the responses. More views welcome.

VEX I have seen the thread on which you were doing some sort of deal (unfortunately only today) if I bought two more 1's is there still a deal to be done of have I missed the boat?

Why do you struggle with the 3 out of interest?

So I should go for the 5 or 2x1's then.

Charlie

[Rick Cutler]

I agree about the play3,

In my house I have a connect, Playbar, Sub, 2x Play 1 and 3 Play 5's (Yes I worked for a Sonos Distributor did the tech course and got 50% off!) No don't work there but they do good deals not 50% though!

The Play 1's make excellent rear channel audio speakers for the surround system, they do sound a bit thin when on their own.

The play3 lacks the bass that the Play5 has as well as the line input. The Play5 sounds much better then the three, we never sold many play3's as people spent the extra on play5's.

[VEX]

I bloody hate the sonos distributor!

Constantly making mistakes, that cost me money to solve and the margin is to tight to do any good business with it.

Fortunately the other stuff I do supports it nicely.

And yes PH deal is running to the end of the month.

V.

[Rick Cutler]

I agree the sonos main uk distributor is a pain the ****, I worked for one of the small companies that sold on sonos stuff, for a small margin. I only got all of this because of the sonos direct deal for doing the training.

[Salesy]

VEX said:

I have all of them here (for demo reasons of course!) and have done a little back to back testing.

Personally, I don't see the point of the play:3 any more. The little ones are brilliant and work so well as a pair.

The 5 is good and has its place but I struggle with the 3.

V.

Bang on VEX, What is the point of the play 3 now the play 1 is available. Personally i find the play 3 lacking in bass and depth.

Stick with play 1's in smaller rooms and where you have any larger rooms stick in a play 5.

[JEA1K]

Rick Cutler said:

I agree the sonos main uk distributor is a pain the ****, I worked for one of the small companies that sold on sonos stuff, for a small margin. I only got all of this because of the sonos direct deal for doing the training.

We avoid selling Sonos on principle ... margin is screwed down by an IT reseller.

I only recommend it to friends and family these days and prefer to sell products which give us far more scope for expansion to their systems and future revenue for us.

[jamieboy]

Interesting thread.

I've not long bought a Playbar and a Sub, the first Sonos stuff I've had. I was intending to get a couple of 3's to use one in the kitchen and one upstairs, and bring them in to the lounge and use them as rears on the odd occasion. After a quick listen in the shop, I thought the 1's sounded a bit tinny compared to the 3's, and the 5 (I think?) can't be used as rears.

Would 2 x 3's be a mistake, then?

[R6VED]

jamieboy said:

Interesting thread.

I've not long bought a Playbar and a Sub, the first Sonos stuff I've had. I was intending to get a couple of 3's to use one in the kitchen and one upstairs, and bring them in to the lounge and use them as rears on the odd occasion. After a quick listen in the shop, I thought the 1's sounded a bit tinny compared to the 3's, and the 5 (I think?) can't be used as rears.

Would 2 x 3's be a mistake, then?

I was rather impressed by the Play 1 in the shop and am even more so now my two are in the sitting room, the sound improves markedly with the pair. I am planning now to buy 2 more Play 1's (at least) to put one in the kitchen and another in the main bedroom. That way I have the best flexibility and can have all four downstairs for a party/entertaining.

I also now have Spotify Premium on trial which works really well with it too, just annoying that my wife and I can't use it at the same time (me at work and she at home)

[thehawk]

R6VED said:

I also now have Spotify Premium on trial which works really well with it too, just annoying that my wife and I can't use it at the same time (me at work and she at home)

Yes, I travel a lot and use it with my portable bluetooth speaker in the hotel room, and to listen at work. Of course it can't be done at the same time as my wife uses the Sonos system at home. (with Spotify obviously)

Understand why they don't allow it, just thought they could be a bit better at providing an account for multiple locations, even if it was double the current amount, rather than forcing you to have 2 separate accounts.

[thehawk]

R6VED said:

I also now have Spotify Premium on trial which works really well with it too, just annoying that my wife and I can't use it at the same time (me at work and she at home)

Yes, I travel a lot and use it with my portable bluetooth speaker in the hotel room, and to listen at work. Of course it can't be done at the same time as my wife uses the Sonos system at home. (with Spotify obviously)

Understand why they don't allow it, just thought they could be a bit better at providing an account for multiple locations, even if it was double the current amount, rather than forcing you to have 2 separate accounts.