beam, playbar or something different?

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H there. At the moment I have two play 5s gen 2. I would like a decent home 5.1 surround sysem not only for movies but I find increasingly some of my favourite music is being remastered etc in 5.1 stereo mixes. Should I purchase a soundbar or a beam and use the play 5 as rear speakers or could I get a true 5.1 system for similar money?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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AirgetlamAnswer

The reason I've not purchased a Beam is that, along with Sonos, I think it's better designed for smaller rooms, i.e. it isn't very wide, so the soundfield is a bit more compressed. That being said, it does sound spectacular. The nice thing is that if you purchase from most authorized dealers, and certainly from Sonos, you get a generous return policy, so you can try it out to see if it works for you.

Bruce

Airgetlam

Ok, some advice you may not want to hear....

I don’t consider the PLAY:5 to be an optimum speaker to use as surround speakers. It’s like using a sledgehammer as a flyswatter. They’re just too good to relegate to that kind of functionality. In my opinion, the PLAY:1 or Sonos Ones are much more suited to that, and even then perhaps overkill, but they’re the smallest and cheapest of the Sonos line. What I’ve done is put my pair of PLAY:5s as flanking my PLAYBAR to use for music, and then use the PLAYBAR with the PLAY:1s for TV use.

But I’m concerned about your desire to play 5.1 music on your Sonos. Currently, the only way to get a 5.1 signal into the Sonos system is via Dolby Digital on the digital inputs on the sound bar. You can’t stream a 5.1 signal to your Sonos via WiFi. So in order to effectively send a 5.1 signal to your Sonos, you need to feed it through your TV. I, too, have a lot of 5.1 music, but it’s mostly on DVD or Blu-ray, so I feed it through my TV anyway, and it’s not an issue for me, but it’s something you need to be aware of.

Bruce

S

SticklebackAuthor

Contributor I

Thanks for the advice Bruce, particularly RE streaming 5.1 music. I do have two play ones but one is in kitchen and other in living room and doubt my wife be happy about me stealing them.
It might be better to buy a different 5.1 system, say an LG, and keep the play 5's for music streaming.
I suppose the next question is do I buy a beam or something with rear speakers? Will a beam compete with a similar priced system that uses rear speakers? I have read some exellent reviews about the beam so far as it's room filling abilities.

AirgetlamAnswer

The reason I've not purchased a Beam is that, along with Sonos, I think it's better designed for smaller rooms, i.e. it isn't very wide, so the soundfield is a bit more compressed. That being said, it does sound spectacular. The nice thing is that if you purchase from most authorized dealers, and certainly from Sonos, you get a generous return policy, so you can try it out to see if it works for you.

Bruce

S

SticklebackAuthor

Contributor I

That sounds like a good idea, the room is fairly small say 4m by 6m, so it might be worth a try, but it is great to actually hear the sounds from elsewhere in the room say from rear speakers.

R

Ralpfocus

Prodigy III

The other option to add rears to a beam would be the new IKEA/Sonos symfonisk bookshelf speaker. They work out around £50 each cheaper (which is probably USD 50 cheaper) than a play: 1. They are only sold in IKEA so you probably won't get a nice try and return period.

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