Contributor I

Question

Playbar 7.1 surround setup

24 replies
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I just fitted out my place with 9 connect:AMPs a few pairs of play1, play3, play5, a couple of subs .etc all works well, I am mostly really happy. Although I could be happier with the playbar set up. I am using a connect:AMP to power my rears (through Playbar IP address) added a sub and a playbay. I have a 75" sony and the playbar just isnt long enough to really separate out the LCR function of the playbar. Here is my question, does SONOS or will SONOS (any dates, details or reasons why not) support 7.1 or 9.2/ 9.2? at this stage 5.1 seems very low end for a high end, well designed eco system such as SONOS.

I would LOVE to add a pair of play3 to my playbar as the L/R or even use 3x play3 as the LCR. Any thoughts, workarounds or updates from SONOS on getting more than the very basic old school 5.1 ?

Thanks!

Would you love to see SONOS offer a 7.1

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J

John B

Hi. No there is no way of doing 7.1. No soundbar based system will ever offer great front separation. It's the nature of the beast and the system is not aimed at real home theatre enthusiasts. It does what it says on the box and everyone has the option of buying it or not at the price asked.

There is no possibility of Sonos indicating whether they have plans for this because they never issue roadmaps like that. My money would be on this not being a development you will see for a long time if ever, but of course I could be wrong.

T

The LHC

I vote "No, I'm serious about my home cinema so I bought a proper av setup instead of a lifestyle system".

jgatie

I voted what The LHC voted.

S

stevenjo57

Avid Contributor I

So, you see no reason to improve "lifestyle systems" by making them better, i.e. 7.1? That's ridiculous.

I have been through the whole route of high-priced, overblown, hard to use AV systems with countless spaghetti wires shoved behind furniture or closets.

Because I didn't want to cut into walls and snake through the attic in hard to reach places, I chose to get a Sonos Playbar along with a subwoofer and a couple of Play 1s as rears. I love them.

I see absolutely no reason why a software upgrade to make it possible to add two more wireless fronts wouldn't be a great improvement.

That gives us all more choices. Those of us who want 7.1 in a "lifestyle" setup can get what we want and those of you who want to have a bazillion wires and cut through ceilings, etc, can get what you want.

T

The LHC

A proper av system doesn't have to be high priced, certainly not significantly more than a 7.1 Playbar setup would be, nor does it have to be difficult to use. I don't think "overblown" actually has any meaning in this context.

Sure 7.1 would be better but it's not that simple. Dolby Digital doesn't go to 7.1, to the best of my knowledge 7.1 is only supported by HD audio codecs and they can't be carried via optical connections as there isn't enough bandwidth, they require hdmi, which the Playbar doesn't have. So unless I've missed something this request is physically impossible.

F

famschopman

Trending Lyricist I

I would love to just add another two Play 1's but I can imagine the hardware doesn't allow for more than 5.1 processing.

To be honest, I am more concerned with the lack of software updates in the controller that would have solved numerous relatively simple usability issues with the playbar.

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Soumen Adhikary

Lyricist I

I voted for 7.1

C

Carl_24

Lyricist I

I would also love to see Sonos add 7.1, think of all the revenue they are missing out on, this has been a topic on here for many years I do wish Sonos would say for sure no chance or yes watch the near future.

J

John B

I would also love to see Sonos add 7.1, think of all the revenue they are missing out on, this has been a topic on here for many years I do wish Sonos would say for sure no chance or yes watch the near future.

I imagine very little revenue. Most Playbar purchasers don't go further than 3.0 (i.e. standalone Playbar). And every development Sonos does means another development they don't do. And why would Sonos tell the competition what their plans are?

My money is on Sonos never doing this, and never announcing one way or other. For good commercial reasons in both cases.

T

tom12

Enthusiast II

I would be happy if Sonos just added an HDMI input. This would let it support all the other audio formats like DTS and Atmos. Having the input restricted to a single optical one is ridiculous. If you look at the posts in this forum it's dominated by people trying to understand how to get 5.1 audio. It's not so easy with just that darn optical input.

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