PLAYBASE Bass Response Underwhelming

Perhaps a better approach may have been to use a very small dedicated hub that could plug into the TV like a Chromecast, that broadcast audio to a pair of play I/3 style speakers to be placed to the left and right of the TV, on stands or wall mounted, with the Sub as an optional extra. With some DSP to allow the dialogue to seem to emanate from the TV. In this, it would not then matter if the TV was wall mounted or not.

This would also lend itself to be a great sound system for music as well.

re:bockersjv If it was just the bass, I would agree, but I felt the midrange and highs sounded flat when compared to the 5. Maybe adding a sub would sharpen up the highs and mids too, but a complete 180 seems doubtful.

re:Kumar I have 3 Play:1s around my house so I want anything I play music out of to be a Sonos. If I start using a Connect to hook up other speakers, that adds wires and complexity which goes against why I like the sonos system so much.

After all of 2 days... I find the bass from the PLAYBASE to be respectable for low to mid volume TV listening levels especially after exploring the LOUDNESS and BASS adjustments. All of this is specific to my room size, acoustic materials, placement, and content of course. For more discriminative music listening or to be sufficienlty engulfed during louder TV viewing I found the SUB necessary. Trueplay helped with balance but tends to tame the BASS and also leaves spoken TV audio sounding flat and somewhat overly processed for my taste. The integration with SONOS and small foot print are what I was after most and the PLAYBASE delivers splendidly on both fronts. I just have to get rid of the rattle in my plastic two part TV stand.

After all of 2 days... I find the bass from the PLAYBASE to be respectable for low to mid volume TV listening levels especially after exploring the LOUDNESS and BASS adjustments. All of this is specific to my room size, acoustic materials, placement, and content of course. For more discriminative music listening or to be sufficienlty engulfed during louder TV viewing I found the SUB necessary. Trueplay helped with balance but tends to tame the BASS and also leaves spoken TV audio sounding flat and somewhat overly processed for my taste. The integration with SONOS and small foot print are what I was after most and the PLAYBASE delivers splendidly on both fronts. I just have to get rid of the rattle in my plastic two part TV stand.

Sounds like you have the sub. How did it help the overall soundscape (I'm thinking midrange: vocals, jazz trumpet, etc.) for music tracks? What other Sonos speakers do you have? I'd be curious to see if it gets it to Play5 territory.

When listening to music discriminatively I sit with a pair of Infinity Compositions driven by a Yamaha 3090A and a ZP80 - that’s my frame of reference. Everything else in my world is SONOS amplified for casual listening and now TV viewing. I have a paired set of PLAY:5’s in my bedroom and they don’t come close to the depth and richness that SUB brings to the PLAYBASE as a combination - (physics of size I suppose). To answer your question the SUB dramatically fills out much more than the lowest frequencies making for a more satisfying “fuller” range experience. Comparisons are complicated because I suspect that SONOS reprograms the freq outputs of all the speakers in a multi-player zone when SUB is switched in/out. Further, you’d generally want to recalibrate with TRUEPLAY each time you switch the SUB in/out thus making listening comparisons tough. My comment is based on instant SUB in/out comparisons with the TRUEPLAY setting disabled. I hope that answers you question.

When listening to music discriminatively I sit with a pair of Infinity Compositions driven by a Yamaha 3090A and a ZP80 - that’s my frame of reference. Everything else in my world is SONOS amplified for casual listening and now TV viewing. I have a paired set of PLAY:5’s in my bedroom and they don’t come close to the depth and richness that SUB brings to the PLAYBASE as a combination - (physics of size I suppose). To answer your question the SUB dramatically fills out much more than the lowest frequencies making for a more satisfying “fuller” range experience. Comparisons are complicated because I suspect that SONOS reprograms the freq outputs of all the speakers in a multi-player zone when SUB is switched in/out. Further, you’d generally want to recalibrate with TRUEPLAY each time you switch the SUB in/out thus making listening comparisons tough. My comment is based on instant SUB in/out comparisons with the TRUEPLAY setting disabled. I hope that answers you question.

Thanks for the long reply. I'm assuming this is a pair of Gen 2 Play:5s. If the sub upgrade is that dramatic, maybe I just need to save my pennies and pick one up in the future—and keep the Playbase. Thanks, again!

When listening to music discriminatively I sit with a pair of Infinity Compositions driven by a Yamaha 3090A and a ZP80 - that’s my frame of reference. Everything else in my world is SONOS amplified for casual listening and now TV viewing. I have a paired set of PLAY:5’s in my bedroom and they don’t come close to the depth and richness that SUB brings to the PLAYBASE as a combination - (physics of size I suppose). To answer your question the SUB dramatically fills out much more than the lowest frequencies making for a more satisfying “fuller” range experience. Comparisons are complicated because I suspect that SONOS reprograms the freq outputs of all the speakers in a multi-player zone when SUB is switched in/out. Further, you’d generally want to recalibrate with TRUEPLAY each time you switch the SUB in/out thus making listening comparisons tough. My comment is based on instant SUB in/out comparisons with the TRUEPLAY setting disabled. I hope that answers you question.

Thanks for the long reply. I'm assuming this is a pair of Gen 2 Play:5s. If the sub upgrade is that dramatic, maybe I just need to save my pennies and pick one up in the future—and keep the Playbase. Thanks, again!

yes, I would like to know this as well...debating between adding 2 play1s or a sub to my playbase

yes, I would like to know this as well...debating between adding 2 play1s or a sub to my playbase

I assume you mean you are debating between spending coin on a SUB for your new PLAYBASE or spending on a pair of PLAY:1's for another zone. Not to sound cocky but PLAY1's IMO are worthy of surround satellites - end of story. I prefer a single PLAY:5 to a pair of PLAY:1's any day. If your decision is between adding SUB or PLAY:1's to your PLAYBASE then there is no question - get the SUB. Does the PB+SUB zone outshine a zoned pair of PLAY:1's - most certainly as I feel it even outshines a pair of gen-1 PLAY:5's.

I have the new PLAYBASE, SUB, and a pair of PLAY:1's for surround all joined in a single zone. If I were to throw out a speaker(s) from this TV zone it would be the PLAY:1's without question. And I would never be very happy with a standalone pair of 1's or 3's. Would I keep the PB+SUB over the paired GEN 5's - YES especially if a TV is involved!

Have you tried trueplay tuning?

I felt the same until I ran trueplay and for what it is I'd say the bass is actually fairly good.

Better, IMO, than the the Playbar's bass response.

To say it's similar to a Play:1 is terms of bass response is questionable. It could be that you have some severe phase cancellations in your room that are causing it to lose all perceived bass.

Try repositioning it, for the sake of experimentation, to see if getting different reflections in the room helps at all. Trueplay will help but won't solve every room problem.

I was actually really impressed by the stereo image from a base that is just over two feet wide.

For my uses I'm very pleased with what I got.

Interestingly, Engadget's review likened it to a Play:5 2nd Gen, which I find fascinating. I'm not sure that I trust the knowledge of the reviewer, though....he obviously doesn't have the same experience base as you, Kumar. :)

Guess if I'm serious about it, I need to find a store near me, and do some comparison listening. Or just buy one.

Plus they are looking for ad money from Sonos so there are very few reviews you can trust.
Unbelievably The Verge reviewed it without even doing Trueplay tuning. Shoddy.