Excited to see hear about the Playbase. Particularly as the Playbar is too wide to fit in the alcove my TV sits in.
I already own a Play5 and would like to know if it can be set up effectively to work with the Playbase. The marketing material only talks about using it with a Play1 and Subwoofer.
Question
Playbase and Play5 compatibility
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Reading the promo materials, this looks to be identical to a playbar in a different casing and an extra speaker thrown in for good measure.
I would expect it to be fully compatible with a 5 as surround speakers bonding as it would be to the play 1 and 3 and connect amp.
I would expect it to be fully compatible with a 5 as surround speakers bonding as it would be to the play 1 and 3 and connect amp.
+22I'm going to add a couple of points here:-
NO - It won't be compatible with a (single) Play 5 - Obviously you could GROUP with the Playbase but then you would have a 70ms audio delay to the Play 5.
Also, We would assume the Playbase would NOT allow bonding 2 x Play 5 Gen 1 as surrounds
So, to summarise. 1 (One) Play 5 NO. 2 x Play 5 YES but must be Gen 2
NO - It won't be compatible with a (single) Play 5 - Obviously you could GROUP with the Playbase but then you would have a 70ms audio delay to the Play 5.
Also, We would assume the Playbase would NOT allow bonding 2 x Play 5 Gen 1 as surrounds
So, to summarise. 1 (One) Play 5 NO. 2 x Play 5 YES but must be Gen 2
Arc + Sub (Gen 1) + 2 x Play 1/ Stereo Play 3s/ Era 100 Stereo in Kitchen, One Stereo in Bedroom, Play 1 stereo pair in Study, Play 1in Bathroom, Sonos Move 2
+26Good answers from Stuart and Contemplative here. Yes, you'll be able to bond a pair of gen2 PLAY:5s with the PLAYBASE. In terms of features and functionality it's designed to be identical to the PLAYBAR. The biggest difference is in the shape, and a bit in the sound department. Much more bass.
Hi there. Does that mean that I couldn't use my existing pair of first gen Play 5s with a Playbase?
+26You can use them grouped with the PLAYBASE as another room in the house, but they can't bond with the PLAYBASE as surround speakers to act as a 5.0 or 5.1 system. The PLAY:5 gen1 speakers don't have the 5GHz card needed to bond with the PLAYBASE or PLAYBAR for surround sound setups. Grouped, they'd play the same audio, but slightly delayed (when playing the TV sound) as the 2.4GHz network adds a bit of a buffer to prevent cutouts.
Thanks Ryan. So to make sure I understand (bear with me!), I can use the Playbase with my existing Play 5s for audio and that will be fine but for TV I will be best off just using the Playbase on its own, or adding, say, a pair of Play 3s. Sorry to labour the point but I'm not all that audio-savvy!
+22Correct Graeme. Though anything larger than Play 1s for surrounds is overkill
+26Sounds like you've got it now GraemeRoberts. As to what's the best surround speaker to use, depends a bit on room size and expectations, but I find the PLAY:1 is usually all that's needed.
Hi, apologies for joining the string a little late, but just at the point of wanting to update my TV surround sound system and want to go wireless. I currently own just a Play 5. So, if I purchase a Playbase and 2 x Play 1s as my surround speakers, will this just give me tv sound. How do I listen to my music and is my Play 5 now redundant in this set up? Sorry for sounding a bit naïve, but not very techy, but want to get the right wireless set up. Thanks
A Playbase and two Play:1's will give you surround sound for your TV. The Play:5 is not redundant, it can still be used in another room. You can listen to music through the Playbase, with the option of having the surrounds be ambient or full volume. You can also listen over the Play:5, or group the two rooms together to play in sync.
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