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pedalmasher
pedalmasher
Avid Contributor I
November 12, 2017
Answered

Sonos 5 stereo pair with subwoofer in Sonos home theatre

  • November 12, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 634 views
I might be jumping the gun here, but I want to have my ducks in a row in advance. My Sonos collection is growing fast. Started with a 5 a couple of weeks ago, added a Play a week later and now according to UPS tracking, I will be receiving my Sonos 5.1 system tomorrow. Everything seems to be incredibly simple to set up, but I am not sure of one thing. I will be adding another Sonos 5 for a stereo system in the same room as the home theatre. How do I get the subwoofer (only) to play with my two Sonos 5 speakers setup as a separate stereo system? As an aside, I will be adding the second 5 as soon as I get the 5.1 system set up.
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Best answer by Airgetlam
Sonos hasn't made their system to effectively do that. In order to get the SUB to work with the pair of PLAY:5s, you have to unbond it from the PLAYBAR/PLAYBASE, and bond it to the PLAY:5s. Then, when you want to switch it back, you have to unbond it from the PLAY:5s and bond it with the PLAYBAR/PLAYBASE. Basically, in order to switch the SUB between the 5.1 setup and the stereo speakers, you have to re-set up the SUB.

There have been many threads that have suggested a change to make this easier, and the only comment has been "we'll pass the request on to the team". Many of us have (perhaps cynically) suggested that this is due to the fact that they don't want to reduce sales of the SUB.

tl:dr, it can be done, but it's not convenient in any way.

2 replies

Airgetlam
AirgetlamAnswer
November 13, 2017
Sonos hasn't made their system to effectively do that. In order to get the SUB to work with the pair of PLAY:5s, you have to unbond it from the PLAYBAR/PLAYBASE, and bond it to the PLAY:5s. Then, when you want to switch it back, you have to unbond it from the PLAY:5s and bond it with the PLAYBAR/PLAYBASE. Basically, in order to switch the SUB between the 5.1 setup and the stereo speakers, you have to re-set up the SUB.

There have been many threads that have suggested a change to make this easier, and the only comment has been "we'll pass the request on to the team". Many of us have (perhaps cynically) suggested that this is due to the fact that they don't want to reduce sales of the SUB.

tl:dr, it can be done, but it's not convenient in any way.
Bruce
    pedalmasher
    pedalmasherAuthor
    Avid Contributor I
    November 13, 2017
    Thanks so much for your reply - that probably saves me some aggravation in the near term. Hopefully, as many have suggested in other threads, the base response in the stereo paired 5's will be adequate and in that I now have older, not as discriminating ears, it might work to my satisfaction without the hassle described above.
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