Sonos Sub

Author
Discussion

Belle427

Original Poster:

8,951 posts

233 months

Friday 2nd August 2019
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I run a play 5 and although it's a nice bit of kit I feel it lacks depth of bass, understandable for its size and what it does really.
Does anyone run a sub with a 5?
We are moving soon and I was thinking about gong to a streaming system and some floor standers but just wondered how punchy the sub sounds.

037

1,317 posts

147 months

Friday 2nd August 2019
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They sound great . I have two of them. One in a tv room with a Soundbar. The other is in a large kitchen/ diner (100m2) with a Soundbar and a couple of B&W ceiling speakers powered through a Sonos amp. It sounds great and is plenty loud enough. I also like the fact you can hardly see any of it.

T5SOR

1,993 posts

225 months

Saturday 3rd August 2019
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Is it worth £600-700 though?

I have the Sonos Beam and I am planning to add the Sonos Ones as rears. I was looking at the sub, but is it really worth it?

chrismox

125 posts

149 months

Saturday 3rd August 2019
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T5SOR said:
Is it worth £600-700 though?

I have the Sonos Beam and I am planning to add the Sonos Ones as rears. I was looking at the sub, but is it really worth it?
That depends how much £600 means to you, I guess. I have a sound bar with the sub and it makes a world of difference, but it’s not cheap.

Apologies if you already know this, but rear speakers in a Sonos system are problematic. If you watch a lot of content from DVDs or Blu-Ray, then a the sound is frequently encoded in DTS, which the Sonos cannot decode. Why this is seems to be a subject of much debate, but the common belief is simply that Sonos aren’t willing to pay DTS for the licence required. Whatever the reason, it means that your rears are only truly operating properly when fed an AC3 signal. Google will take you to much info that explains all this further, but it’s worth looking into before you spend loads of money on expanding your Sonos TV setup.

matjk

1,102 posts

140 months

Sunday 4th August 2019
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I have a pair of play5 g2 and a sub in my living room. It sounds a lot better with the sub, yes they are expensive but I think it’s worth it, I recently added a beam as I got a great deal £280 , and I’m happy with it as a surround setup .
I mostly watch Sky or Netflix

Belle427

Original Poster:

8,951 posts

233 months

Sunday 4th August 2019
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Thanks all.

gizlaroc

17,251 posts

224 months

Sunday 4th August 2019
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I think the Sonos soundbars are poor at best without a sub and with one a really, really nice system.

The other option is pick up cheap used connect and plug in an analogue sub and zone them.

Sonos connect for £90 and a Rel Strata for £60 and you have a decent set up. Obviously a little more faffing as you might find it un-zones itself occasionally. But if you have a connect and a sub somewhere else you could try it out.


Twiglets

695 posts

168 months

Sunday 4th August 2019
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037 said:
They sound great . I have two of them. One in a tv room with a Soundbar. The other is in a large kitchen/ diner (100m2) with a Soundbar and a couple of B&W ceiling speakers powered through a Sonos amp. It sounds great and is plenty loud enough. I also like the fact you can hardly see any of it.
Genuine question here as I recently had a sort of argument with someone about it, I assume you mean 100 sq m (10x10) and not 100 m sq (100x100)? I’ve always written them differently but the other person seemed to think they are interchangeable, surely that can’t be right?!

Red 5

1,052 posts

180 months

Sunday 4th August 2019
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Belle427 said:
I run a play 5 and although it's a nice bit of kit I feel it lacks depth of bass, understandable for its size and what it does really.
Does anyone run a sub with a 5?
We are moving soon and I was thinking about gong to a streaming system and some floor standers but just wondered how punchy the sub sounds.
It makes a world of difference!
The sub is deceptively powerful, which is nice, as it never really needs to be extended over 50% gain.
Also, your Play 5 will be dramatically cleaner and more enjoyable to listen too. It will also go more than twice as loud if you like to blast it from time to time.

Adding the sub uses the over wi-FI cross-over pre-determined by Sonos for the Play speaker you own.
The amps and drive units in the Play 5, then don’t have to deal with the deeper bass frequencies.

Go to anywhere that sells Sonos and ask for a demo with / without.
Often the most impressive thing, is just how much better the 5 sounds!

Yes, they has a price attached, but most people buy it when they hear it.
It does justify itself.

AREA

497 posts

225 months

Monday 12th August 2019
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(Before I gave up on Sonos and chucked it all out) we had two Play 5s connected (same zone) as a Sub. The Sub made a real difference and brought a depth and roundness that the Play 5s didn’t have on their own.

If you’re into Sonos then Sub is worth having.

Belle427

Original Poster:

8,951 posts

233 months

Tuesday 13th August 2019
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Just out of interest why did you give up on it?
Sound quality or connection issues?

AREA

497 posts

225 months

Tuesday 13th August 2019
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My diatribe is here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...


I got fed up, was about to chuck the lot out but decided to contact the then Sonos CEO. Despite some of the kit being seven years old, he refunded the full orignal purchase price for everything, and paid for shipping.

B&O Multiroom just works in a way that Sonos didn't. Controlling the TVs and audio from a single app is good as well. I made the mistake of going cheap and, if had't been refunded, would have paid the price.

I wish Sonos well; they kind of created a market. Just wasn't robust enough.

Integroo

11,574 posts

85 months

Wednesday 14th August 2019
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Would the sub be inappropriate in a block of flats? Dont want neighbour complaints but not particularly impressed with the beam and 2 x play 1 rears set up tbh, not for the cash it cost anyway. Well it sounds good with music but tele is a bit meh.

037

1,317 posts

147 months

Wednesday 14th August 2019
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Not sure your neighbors would appreciate any kind of sub .