SONOS - Pair Stereo 5's or add a Sub to Playbar

[Lovey1]

I have a Playbar and would like to improve the sound in my lounge, primarily for music but also for general TV / Occasional Movie watching. What would be the recommendation, add a Sub or a pair of Fives (already own a Five). i can do only one of the options.

[mikees]

I have 2 Play 1s as rear speakers and they are very good. I'm sure that 5s would be too

[Lovey1]

mikees said:

I have 2 Play 1s as rear speakers and they are very good. I'm sure that 5s would be too

Thanks

[Luke-36]

Tough one.
I've a Beam, paired to two Ones and the sub behind the sofa.
I think i'd go for the sub. It transformed the sound for me - really levelled it up with explosions/ music bass/ general TV viewing. Good investment IMO.

[PeterTTT]

I had playbar with sub and 2 play 1s
I ended up switching the play 1s for 2 play 5s as I needed the 1s elsewhere.
To be honest, the 5s are overkill unless you go very loud, so I would choose the 1s and sub with the playbar.

[MJNewton]

Luke-36 said:

sub behind the sofa.

I've just ordered a sub (to go with an Arc) and whilst I'll obviously experiment when it arrives the excitement has to start right now.

I was wondering about placement and whether it'd be a problem being positioned too close to viewers? No doubt my wife will be voting for a behind-the-sofa placement but might it then be too loud for those sitting on the sofa? Or does the 'directionless' aspect of low frequencies extend as far as really not being able to determine where it's coming from even if it's right next to you?

[lemonslap]

MJNewton said:

Luke-36 said:

sub behind the sofa.

I've just ordered a sub (to go with an Arc) and whilst I'll obviously experiment when it arrives the excitement has to start right now.

I was wondering about placement and whether it'd be a problem being positioned too close to viewers? No doubt my wife will be voting for a behind-the-sofa placement but might it then be too loud for those sitting on the sofa? Or does the 'directionless' aspect of low frequencies extend as far as really not being able to determine where it's coming from even if it's right next to you?

Trueplay sets everything up for you. I have a playbase with rear 5’s and a sub, all is perfectly balanced.

[matjk]

Playbar is quite old now so I think you are stuck running S1 software, if you buy speakers make sure they can run on S1 as a lot are S2 only (I think)
Play5 gen1 are selling for less than £200 a pair on places like market place ,

[Lovey1]

matjk said:

Playbar is quite old now so I think you are stuck running S1 software, if you buy speakers make sure they can run on S1 as a lot are S2 only (I think)
Play5 gen1 are selling for less than £200 a pair on places like market place ,

No the Playbar works with S2 and everything else in my system is on S2 so will need to stick with that. Good idea otherwise though and would have been the way forward if i had no other Sonos units. Thanks