How to use Play 1 + Sub for music independently of being in a 5.1 system?

Apart from the reconfiguration that is a pesky job to do each time, this also won't work well because for music the speakers are best placed facing you. Using Full mode for music play from the 5.1 is a much better way to go.

Thank you. I suspected as much. Would I be able to add 2 more play 1's and create a 2.1 system that way?

You can add another Play:1 into a new room and then add another Play;1 and create that as a stereo pair in the new room you just added. Then you can add a Sub and put it in the room with the 2 new Play:1 stereo pair.

You can't "add" them to the Playbar/Playbase 5.1 room though they can physically be in the same room, obviously, and you can group them should you want.

Thank you. So to be clear; could I have a further 2 Play 1's in the same room as my 5.1 system, both using the same sub?

Not at the same time, No ( I mean they can't BOTH play using the same Sub - It has to be with the Playbar OR the Stereo Play:1s at any one time). But as Kumar noted you can remove the Sub from the Playbar and then attach it to the 2 x Play1s and vica-versa. Whilst easy I wouldn't describe it as trivial and if you needed to do it regularly it would get to be a pain quite quickly

Thanks again. Not ideal. My aim is to have a decent option for music playback. Would I be better getting a Play 5?

Your best option, in my opinion, is to keep your current 5.1 system and set the Music option in advanced option for that room to "Full". An extra set of Play1s in stereo with a SUB is not going to sound any better for music than 2 x Play 1s and a Sub