Contributor I

Answered

Beam, Playbase or Playbar with 2 sonos ones?

31 replies
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Hello,

I have few questions. Right now I have 2 ones and a sub. I want to add beam or playbase or playbar. Which of these do you recommend for a 5.1 setting and playing music? I have a 30m2 living room. The center speaker is only for vocal right? So it’s not important how the sound quality of this center is? I also want to use the center and 2 ones for playing stereo music. Do you recommend that, and so which center speaker?

is 2 ones and a center speaker more powerful for playing stereo music instead of 2 ones only?

2 ones and a center is like 2 fives only for sound quality ? I doubted between 2 ones + center and only 2 fives for playing music.

thnx so far

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AirgetlamAnswer

Sonos does not make a ‘center’ speaker, nor does their software allow a setup that uses any of their speakers to act as one. All Sonos sound bars contain the center, left, and right speakers in the same enclosure, so if you use a sound bar, then you can’t have separate left and right speakers up front, but you can use them as the surrounds. All of Sonos’ sound bars are good, each has a slightly different feature set, as they were developed at different times. You should look at the one that has the most features that match your needs.

Bruce

Show previous replies

Airgetlam

Remember, it actually is AirPlay 2, which replaced AirPlay. Sonos didn’t work with AirPlay directly, but does with AirPlay 2.

Bruce

B

Beagle

Enthusiast I

Hello,

I have few questions. Right now I have 2 ones and a sub. I want to add beam or playbase or playbar. Which of these do you recommend for a 5.1 setting and playing music? I have a 30m2 living room. The center speaker is only for vocal right? So it’s not important how the sound quality of this center is? I also want to use the center and 2 ones for playing stereo music. Do you recommend that, and so which center speaker?

is 2 ones and a center speaker more powerful for playing stereo music instead of 2 ones only?

2 ones and a center is like 2 fives only for sound quality ? I doubted between 2 ones + center and only 2 fives for playing music.

thnx so far

If you can I’d wait until May to see if anything new is being released soon. Sonos are clearly considering their options which quite honestly are being forced upon them by the increasing sophistication of the audio from the streaming services such as Atmos and DD+. They really are quite a lazy company who like to put as much of the responsibility onto the user as they can, they’re not going to get away with hiding behind poor excuses over DTS again as their customer questionnaire shows.

I like my Playbase 5.1 system but there can’t be any excuses for both the Playbar and Playbase not being updated so they both offer the same spec as the Beam so I’m pretty sure something’s going to be released soon.

Airgetlam

How will you transmit DTS over an optical connection? I’ve never seen anything that indicates that is possible, but admit I haven’t looked extensively.

Bruce

T

Tejs Dyrvig Ernst

How will you transmit DTS over an optical connection? I’ve never seen anything that indicates that is possible, but admit I haven’t looked extensively.

By “update” I think Beagle means release of new, updated hardware to replace the Playbase/Playbar.

B

Beagle

Enthusiast I

How will you transmit DTS over an optical connection? I’ve never seen anything that indicates that is possible, but admit I haven’t looked extensively.

DTS can be transmitted over optical no problem, but Sonos have to pay the licence fee. They always said it wasn’t offered as they were all about streaming, not disc based systems. This made anyone wanting a decent surround experience buy a player that could transcode DTS to DD if the Blu Ray was a DTS only sound track. I knew this when buying my Playbase but am not about to thank Sonos for having to buy a new Blu Ray player. These days you’d probably have to buy an Xbox. I don’t think Sonos will ever offer it although some speculate they might when the DTS patent expires.

DD+ can be sent over optical, anything else needs hdmi And this is where I think Sonos are going with greater band width needed for movies and even Atmos music. Only guessing, perhaps we’ll know more in May!

N

NimmaAuthor

Contributor I

Hello,

I have few questions. Right now I have 2 ones and a sub. I want to add beam or playbase or playbar. Which of these do you recommend for a 5.1 setting and playing music? I have a 30m2 living room. The center speaker is only for vocal right? So it’s not important how the sound quality of this center is? I also want to use the center and 2 ones for playing stereo music. Do you recommend that, and so which center speaker?

is 2 ones and a center speaker more powerful for playing stereo music instead of 2 ones only?

2 ones and a center is like 2 fives only for sound quality ? I doubted between 2 ones + center and only 2 fives for playing music.

thnx so far

If you can I’d wait until May to see if anything new is being released soon. Sonos are clearly considering their options which quite honestly are being forced upon them by the increasing sophistication of the audio from the streaming services such as Atmos and DD+. They really are quite a lazy company who like to put as much of the responsibility onto the user as they can, they’re not going to get away with hiding behind poor excuses over DTS again as their customer questionnaire shows.

I like my Playbase 5.1 system but there can’t be any excuses for both the Playbar and Playbase not being updated so they both offer the same spec as the Beam so I’m pretty sure something’s going to be released soon.

So you think we will get new Sonos stuff in may? So maybe i have 2 wait then. Is this update every may?
you’re talking about specs between beam and base. The only thing that the base doesn’t support is voice commands. I can do that with Siri/AirPlay2. You can even connect googles nest to add voice control. So that’s not a huge problem right?

N

NimmaAuthor

Contributor I

The Playbar does NOT support Airplay 2. So skip that.

Q1: Best sound quality, with support of Airplay 2, will be the Playbase. Much better sound than the Beam for music. So no 3.

Q2: Yes. Significantly. There will be a huge improvement. For music, you can set the Ones to play as either surround (background) or full. I use full.

Q3: Very different approach. You will have music surrounding you with the 5.1 system. Two fives will be great, but I believe a 5.1 setup with a Playbase and the Sub will be better - but that might be a matter of taste.

Q4: Only multi-room. You cannot add anything more to a 5.1 setup. You can only group that system with other speakers.

Doesn’t matter if the playbar does not support airplay2. If ones support AirPlay 2 it wil also go to playbar

T

Tejs Dyrvig Ernst

The Playbar does NOT support Airplay 2. So skip that.

Q1: Best sound quality, with support of Airplay 2, will be the Playbase. Much better sound than the Beam for music. So no 3.

Q2: Yes. Significantly. There will be a huge improvement. For music, you can set the Ones to play as either surround (background) or full. I use full.

Q3: Very different approach. You will have music surrounding you with the 5.1 system. Two fives will be great, but I believe a 5.1 setup with a Playbase and the Sub will be better - but that might be a matter of taste.

Q4: Only multi-room. You cannot add anything more to a 5.1 setup. You can only group that system with other speakers.

Doesn’t matter if the playbar does not support airplay2. If ones support AirPlay 2 it wil also go to playbar

That is unfortunately not the case. When the ones are connected to the Playbar as rear speakers for surround, the Playbar will control that group and will be the only speaker showing up in your apps etc. You will not be able to airplay to the ones connected to the Playbar as rears.

Have a look at this previous post:

https://en.community.sonos.com/home-theater-228993/will-airplay-2-ever-be-supported-via-surround-with-playbar-and-ones-6809385

B

Beagle

Enthusiast I

Hello,

I have few questions. Right now I have 2 ones and a sub. I want to add beam or playbase or playbar. Which of these do you recommend for a 5.1 setting and playing music? I have a 30m2 living room. The center speaker is only for vocal right? So it’s not important how the sound quality of this center is? I also want to use the center and 2 ones for playing stereo music. Do you recommend that, and so which center speaker?

is 2 ones and a center speaker more powerful for playing stereo music instead of 2 ones only?

2 ones and a center is like 2 fives only for sound quality ? I doubted between 2 ones + center and only 2 fives for playing music.

thnx so far

If you can I’d wait until May to see if anything new is being released soon. Sonos are clearly considering their options which quite honestly are being forced upon them by the increasing sophistication of the audio from the streaming services such as Atmos and DD+. They really are quite a lazy company who like to put as much of the responsibility onto the user as they can, they’re not going to get away with hiding behind poor excuses over DTS again as their customer questionnaire shows.

I like my Playbase 5.1 system but there can’t be any excuses for both the Playbar and Playbase not being updated so they both offer the same spec as the Beam so I’m pretty sure something’s going to be released soon.

So you think we will get new Sonos stuff in may? So maybe i have 2 wait then. Is this update every may?
you’re talking about specs between beam and base. The only thing that the base doesn’t support is voice commands. I can do that with Siri/AirPlay2. You can even connect googles nest to add voice control. So that’s not a huge problem right?

I don’t know when Sonos will bring out new products. But given the Atmos survey and their intention to concentrate new features on their newer gear, and an announcement in May I’d wait if you can.

Optical connections can’t support much more than compressed DD & DTS, for anything else you need hdmi. They could get away with just supporting Atmos music streaming and high res audio but that would stretch their home cinema claims beyond credibility. I’ve always maintained that Sonos are lazy and try and push as much onto the user as possible for instance making you use the tv as a hub rather than having ports on the playbar/base/beam. I don’t think that will change but support for high bandwidth audio formats is inevitable and certainly the playbar/base will not be able benefit from anything via your tv.

In the end it’ll be down to what features you want and when you want to buy.

N

NimmaAuthor

Contributor I

Hello,

I have few questions. Right now I have 2 ones and a sub. I want to add beam or playbase or playbar. Which of these do you recommend for a 5.1 setting and playing music? I have a 30m2 living room. The center speaker is only for vocal right? So it’s not important how the sound quality of this center is? I also want to use the center and 2 ones for playing stereo music. Do you recommend that, and so which center speaker?

is 2 ones and a center speaker more powerful for playing stereo music instead of 2 ones only?

2 ones and a center is like 2 fives only for sound quality ? I doubted between 2 ones + center and only 2 fives for playing music.

thnx so far

If you can I’d wait until May to see if anything new is being released soon. Sonos are clearly considering their options which quite honestly are being forced upon them by the increasing sophistication of the audio from the streaming services such as Atmos and DD+. They really are quite a lazy company who like to put as much of the responsibility onto the user as they can, they’re not going to get away with hiding behind poor excuses over DTS again as their customer questionnaire shows.

I like my Playbase 5.1 system but there can’t be any excuses for both the Playbar and Playbase not being updated so they both offer the same spec as the Beam so I’m pretty sure something’s going to be released soon.

So you think we will get new Sonos stuff in may? So maybe i have 2 wait then. Is this update every may?
you’re talking about specs between beam and base. The only thing that the base doesn’t support is voice commands. I can do that with Siri/AirPlay2. You can even connect googles nest to add voice control. So that’s not a huge problem right?

I don’t know when Sonos will bring out new products. But given the Atmos survey and their intention to concentrate new features on their newer gear, and an announcement in May I’d wait if you can.

Optical connections can’t support much more than compressed DD & DTS, for anything else you need hdmi. They could get away with just supporting Atmos music streaming and high res audio but that would stretch their home cinema claims beyond credibility. I’ve always maintained that Sonos are lazy and try and push as much onto the user as possible for instance making you use the tv as a hub rather than having ports on the playbar/base/beam. I don’t think that will change but support for high bandwidth audio formats is inevitable and certainly the playbar/base will not be able benefit from anything via your tv.

In the end it’ll be down to what features you want and when you want to buy.

Thank you for your comment. So the Sonos does not support high def music? Only until 16 bit? Ok I will rerun my ones en sub tomorrow. So it doesn’t support high def, dts, Atmos , HDMI and etc… I will return it for sure. I will wait until end of may and maybe I will buy demon home 150. It has hd sound and maybe later 5.1 and Atmos. Other brand is blue sound. These are better then Sonos. What do you guys think?

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