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Contributor I
February 12, 2013
Question

Will 2 play 5's Work with playbar? Or did I make a mistake?

  • February 12, 2013
  • 58 replies
  • 15307 views
I just bought into the Sonos Experience on New Years. The sales rep. said their was rumor of the playbar..which led to my decision to buy (2) play 5's, in hopes that in the near future I could also use them for Hometheater experience. What I have read thus far concerns me. No mention of Play 5 combined with Playbar.?? Will they work, or did I make a mistake....??
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    58 replies

    Enthusiast II
    February 12, 2013
    Hi. No, the Play:5 will not be able to work in a surround sound setup. Just the Play:3 have the low latency 5 GHz card needed for this. I urge you to take use of the Sonos 45 day money back guarantee and change to two Play:3 devices. Regards, Johan
    nbnverbAuthor
    Contributor I
    February 12, 2013
    Johan, Are you an employee of Sonos? The reason I'm asking, is I called the 1.800.680.2345 number and spoke to support tech. I asked the very same question I posted. The answer I got back was "Asbolutely". I responded by letting him know that it only list play 3 on the website...his response was he "understood my concern, but play 5 will work." Now I'm really confused.....Can someone verify this for me?
    Sonos Staff
    February 12, 2013
    User67513, You were given incorrect information on the phone. Please accept my apologies for that. The PLAY:3 is the only player unit (not counting the SUB) that can be paired with the PLAYBAR. Once again, I apologize for the inaccurate information relayed to you on the phone. John
    Sonos Staff
    February 12, 2013
    Hello, Johan is not an employee of Sonos - just a very helpful member of this community. I apologize, you were not given the correct information when you called our support team. The PLAY:5 does not have a 5 GHz WiFi card and does not have the ability to be added in a surround sound setup with the PLAYBAR. Only the Sonos PLAY:3 and SUB have will work as satellite components with the PLAYBAR.
    nbnverbAuthor
    Contributor I
    February 12, 2013
    If this is the case. There is going to be allot of frustrated people who own Sonos Play5's. Allot of us purchased the play 5 for a better Sounding speaker and didn't mind spending the extra cash to get that little extra sound. I hope Sonos has not disregarded those customers by leaving them out of being a part of their Home Theater experience, ....hmmmm??? not cool. This is the whole reason behind the marketing. Sonos Customers will be able to Add sonos components for a more complete experience....Guess they better do away with their marketing campain if this is true...????
    MikeV
    February 12, 2013
    As Johan mentioned, the reason is because the Play:3's have the 5GHz wireless capability that the Playbar also has, resulting in a fast enough connection to serve the two rear speakers and the Sub (which also has the 5GHz wireless), all with discrete audio channels at a very low latency.
    The S in IOT stands for Security.
    Avid Contributor I
    February 14, 2013
    Understand the technical issue. But like the previous comment, I too bought the bigger Play 5s for the overall better sound and for a big room. (As this was only last year, it would have been good to have the caveat of the restriction on wireless speed called out at the time.) Maybe SONOS could consider providing a hardware mod to update the wireless chip? Send the Play 5 away and get it back in a few days? Love the gear, company support normally excellent. Yet this just leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth...
    Regards, ChrisW
    Lyricist I
    February 17, 2013
    I am in the same boat. When I purchased my PLAY:5's I had no choice because the PLAY:3's did not exist. I really don't want to have to replace my PLAY:5's to get 5.1 sound.
    Lyricist I
    February 17, 2013
    The Bose Solo is half the price and puts out enough sound to make it the only need for your TV. and no I am not a Bose employee.
    Avid Contributor I
    February 17, 2013
    Thanks Paul. If it were simply a cost issue I would agree. But having already got two Sonos speakers and the SUB in the room this is simply leveraging the investment I have already made rather than add another technology. And the Sonos solution with soundbar + SUB + 2 Play 3s will give me 5.1 surround sound with all the quality of my Sonos system.
    Regards, ChrisW