Hi! I'm new to Sonos and hope to clarify this before I pull the trigger. My question pertains to whether it's possible, and if so how easy is it, to pair a Sub with various configurations of a Playbar and Play:5s in my home. More specifically:
Background:
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- I intend to get a Playbar, Sub and two Play:5s
- installation of the above would be in an open living/dining space 38' x 22'
- the Playbar and Sub go to one end of this long space (living area), one of the Play:5s would also sit here on a floor stand, the other Play:5 (also on a floor stand) goes to the other end of this room (dining area)
- both ends of this long room open up to outdoor entertainment areas
Usage Scenarios:
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1) When watching TV content, I would primarily like to drive the Playbar, low freqs sent to the Sub, Play:5s off.
2) Perhaps once in a while for big movies, I may want to drive the Playbar AND the Play:5s too, so everything is on, with ALL low freqs going to the Sub. I'm not intending to set this up as 5.1, just every speaker playing stereo, supported by the Sub.
3) Sometimes the TV is off but I want to fill this entire space with music for background listening, so would like both Play:5s on, each playing stereo,with the Sub taking the lows, Playbar off.
4) Sometimes when I'm in the mood for actively listening to music, I would like to bring the dining Play:5 over to the living space, set the Play:5s up as L and R speakers about 8' apart, lows taken by the Sub, Playbar off.
5) Sometimes if I'm entertaining a small group outdoors, I would like to open up one end of this room to the outdoors, turn the closest Play:5 to face outdoors, and have music driven through the one Play:5 facing outside, lows going to the Sub inside. (would that even be sonically sound? no pun intended) Playbar and the other Play:5 off.
6) For bigger parties where there will be people inside this space as well as both outdoor spaces, both ends of the room will be open, music for indoors provided by Playbar + Sub, while Play:5s will each face outdoors playing full spectrum (ie. not paired with the Sub which is used by the Playbar)
I hope the above isn't too confusing. Does the Sonos app allow me to configure for all the above? And if so, will it be a pain in the neck to do so each time? 😃
Question
How much flexibility do I have pairing Sub to various Play speaker combos?
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Yes, to the first, and even though it can all be done by just the controller app on the phone without leaving your seat, yes to the second as well. Lots of button presses.
Thanks Kumar. If you have a few mins, could you please elaborate on how this would be done?
What you propose would entail quite a lot of (a) pairing and unpairing of the PLAY:5s (which is fairly quick), and (b) unbonding and rebonding of the SUB to different 'rooms/zones' (which can take a minute or two).
Each time you make a change you would need to Trueplay tune the new arrangement, assuming you've made the most of Sonos by using the Trueplay room correction option.
It's all do-able, but I think you'd quickly tire of it especially the SUB part. The PLAY:5s go down surprisingly low, unlike the PLAYBAR on its own, so to add a SUB to them is something of a luxury. Maybe you could skip moving the SUB back and forth.
That would leave you with occasionally pairing and unpairing the PLAY:5s which is relatively painless (save for the Trueplay bit).
One final note: if the PLAY:5s are grouped with the PLAYBAR -- not bonded to it as surrounds -- they'll play music in sync with it, but for TV sound they'll be slightly behind. This is because PLAYBAR minimises its own latency for TV sound to try to preserve lip-sync, whereas speakers grouped with it require a little extra buffering.
Each time you make a change you would need to Trueplay tune the new arrangement, assuming you've made the most of Sonos by using the Trueplay room correction option.
It's all do-able, but I think you'd quickly tire of it especially the SUB part. The PLAY:5s go down surprisingly low, unlike the PLAYBAR on its own, so to add a SUB to them is something of a luxury. Maybe you could skip moving the SUB back and forth.
That would leave you with occasionally pairing and unpairing the PLAY:5s which is relatively painless (save for the Trueplay bit).
One final note: if the PLAY:5s are grouped with the PLAYBAR -- not bonded to it as surrounds -- they'll play music in sync with it, but for TV sound they'll be slightly behind. This is because PLAYBAR minimises its own latency for TV sound to try to preserve lip-sync, whereas speakers grouped with it require a little extra buffering.
That's great information! Thanks @ratty!
What you propose would entail quite a lot of (a) pairing and unpairing of the PLAY:5s (which is fairly quick), and (b) unbonding and rebonding of the SUB to different 'rooms/zones' (which can take a minute or two).
Each time you make a change you would need to Trueplay tune the new arrangement, assuming you've made the most of Sonos by using the Trueplay room correction option.
It's all do-able, but I think you'd quickly tire of it especially the SUB part. The PLAY:5s go down surprisingly low, unlike the PLAYBAR on its own, so to add a SUB to them is something of a luxury. Maybe you could skip moving the SUB back and forth.
That would leave you with occasionally pairing and unpairing the PLAY:5s which is relatively painless (save for the Trueplay bit).
One final note: if the PLAY:5s are grouped with the PLAYBAR -- not bonded to it as surrounds -- they'll play music in sync with it, but for TV sound they'll be slightly behind. This is because PLAYBAR minimises its own latency for TV sound to try to preserve lip-sync, whereas speakers grouped with it require a little extra buffering.
Each time you make a change you would need to Trueplay tune the new arrangement, assuming you've made the most of Sonos by using the Trueplay room correction option.
It's all do-able, but I think you'd quickly tire of it especially the SUB part. The PLAY:5s go down surprisingly low, unlike the PLAYBAR on its own, so to add a SUB to them is something of a luxury. Maybe you could skip moving the SUB back and forth.
That would leave you with occasionally pairing and unpairing the PLAY:5s which is relatively painless (save for the Trueplay bit).
One final note: if the PLAY:5s are grouped with the PLAYBAR -- not bonded to it as surrounds -- they'll play music in sync with it, but for TV sound they'll be slightly behind. This is because PLAYBAR minimises its own latency for TV sound to try to preserve lip-sync, whereas speakers grouped with it require a little extra buffering.
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