Playbar/Beam vs Play 5

  • 19 July 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 1888 views

I currently have a single Play 5 in my living room but am thinking of buying either a Beam or Playbar (and probably adding a couple of surround Play 1s in the future). Quality of music playback e.g. music Blurays, etc. is more important to me than the quality of movie soundtracks. How does the quality of music playback from either of the bars compare to a Play 5? Would I need to add a sub to get the same level of bass as a Play 5? Any feedback would be appreciated.

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2 replies

So i have just bought the Beam. I have been using a play 5 (1st gen) as a “speaker” for my tv since 2012 and have had really good results. I have had great depth of sound from everything including Blu-ray, freeview and of course music. The beam in comparison provides a great range but for me fails to provide the depth and bass. I mean this is expected, to get great bass you need to move a large volume of air! I would potentially go as far as returning the beam until I can afford a sub to compete with the play 5. Having Alexa built in is a good plus but not essential for me. The HDMI arc connection is great but I find it lagging behind my tv!
For now I say that if you can afford the sub then it is a must. I will however give the beam a few days to “settle in”, this is my honest opinion for now. I would like to know if anyone else thinks the same or if others disagree!
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Thanks Rocklobster!

I have a Paradigm speaker set with Marantz receiver that I was gifting away, since I now have a Play 5 and two ones in my living room.

But I wanted to use the play 5 as my centre speaker and subwoofer, as I love it's bass. The Sonos subwoofer looks great, but I don't know if I can justify the cost since I already have good bass.

My question is, can you connect the Play 5 like a Beam/ playbar? How?
I have connected my ones and play 5 but they show up under two separate " living rooms" . I would like that they would be under one group, but I can't do that, So I just select both living rooms to listen to all three.

Is there a way around this?