Advice on an upgrade of a pair of Play:3s

P
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I have a stereo pair of wall-mounted Play:3 speakers in the corners of a 7x5m room. They are approximately 20cm from the ceiling and 20cm in from the outside wall as shown by the red markings on the floor plan below.

 

I have high-level power outlets just behind the speakers to avoid cables running up/down the wall.

I feel it’s time to upgrade from the Play:3s (especially with Sonos offering discount for trading up) but don’t know what to buy. Whatever I choose needs to be able to fill the room reasonable well for social gatherings, which the Play:3s just about do.

  • I was thinking a pair Era 300s, but Sonos advise more space above the speaker than I have - will this be OK or am I paying for the spatial and not being able to use it?
  • Would a pair of Era 100s be man-enough for a room this size? Would a mini-sub help?
  • Perhaps a pair of Move 2s (or even Move 1s if I can find any), although this feels like I’m paying for the mobility and not using it?
  • A pair of Fives would certainly be a step up, but they do seem quite large, are more expensive and fairly old in the lifecycle.

So would appreciate your thoughts….

5 replies

N
Userlevel 7
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Era 300’s can be mounted upside down if they’re that close to the ceiling, but I think Trueplay can’t yet be utilised for inverted 300s. I think it does still use the “upward-firing” speakers when inverted - but down-firing, of course. 

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

I’d go with the Fives in that room.

I’d not worry about “late in the lifecycle” given Sonos’ history of supporting devices outside the normal five years after the last sale policy.

P
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If I went for a pair of Fives, are they better vertically or horizontally mounted? I have read conflicting advice on this.

Decent wall mounts for vertical mounting appear to be few and far between.

Airgetlam

Honestly, I think ‘better’ is something your ears need to tell you. There’s arguments for both, and both are ‘right’. Don’t purchase mounts until you make your decision, or find mounts that work both ways.

FWIW (pretty much nothing), I ended up with PLAY:5 gen 2 vertical stands, but that was mostly for space reasons. I actually like the look of them horizontally better, and the sound difference to me is negligible, if it can be heard at all in a stereo pair. It may be different in a single speaker, never tried that. 

Bruce
Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Single speaker, flat is the way to mount it if you are going to be sitting at a distance where the stereo imaging works, beyond that distance either way works.

As a stereo pair I (with poor ears) couldn’t hear a difference in either position but the spouse liked the less intrusive flat option so we went with that.

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