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Enthusiast II
July 29, 2018

Sonos doesn’t really do “5.1”

Before you buy any SONOS equipment to achieve a 5.1 setup please consider this: a Denon AVRX2400 AV Amp, Elac CINEMA 5.1 speaker system, all cables professionally installed behind the walls gives you true home cinema with all the surround sound codecs you could ever want with no cables showing for way less than £1000 (see Richer Sound web site for prices). Or spend £1700 on a SONOS setup and get stereo or Dolby Digital only plus you may have to buy a new DVD player to play your UHD DVD’s, a HDMI Switch then deal with lip sync issues etc, etc.

SONOS do speakers, great speakers, but only for music. They are stealing money from people wanting 5.1 for their TV. The system I suggest costs at least £700 less, hides all the wires (what we all want) and sounds much, much better. Go mad, stick a couple of speakers in the ceiling and get real Dolby Atmos for £150 more and still save yourself £550. I have begged SONOS to tell me if they are developing a surround sound product with HDMI and more choice of listening eg DTS, Dolby X etc but they point blank refuse to discuss future products stating they are catering for the “modern listener”. That put me in my place. SONOS remind me of great companies who made world class products like Blackberry, Blockbuster, Compaq and SAAB, just a minute, they all went out of business because they didn’t produce what their customers wanted at a competitive price (no pedants please, I know there were other factors which meant these companies went bust, I am just illustrating a point). Are SONOS going down the same route? Think about it while you are watching your new laser disc.

I would be interested to hear any arguments against my proposed SONOS alternative system.
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150 replies

February 27, 2019
But what does it say in the app?
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Lyricist III
February 27, 2019
5.1
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February 27, 2019
5.1Well that's good. Most Blu-Ray discs will default to DTS audio codec. So somewhere along the way it seems that is being transcoded to DD5.1 in your setup. What makes and models BRP and TV do you have please?
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Lyricist III
February 27, 2019
Both are Samsung my blu ray 3d player is set for 5.1 Dolby Surround....i have dts option ....tv is set for external speaker's....i can hear a tie fighter go by and bullets whizzing by so im happy....i notice some netflix movies are louder than other's...hulu i do not notice a volume difference so i do not have to adjust the rears....hulu seems to be the clearest when im watching hospital shows and i can hear telephones ringing and people talking behind me during front dialog.... im still learning....i didnt mean to say your wrong at all....im just happy with what i got.... DTS really isnt that much different except the audio is enhanced for the special effects....its a Lucas/ Spielberg creation so you know those things are enhanced.
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February 28, 2019
Samsung BluRay Players can transcode DTS to DD5.1, that is why you are fine. Most BRPs don't and so some users find they get only stereo or silence from BluRay discs.
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Lyricist III
February 28, 2019
So the title to this thread is false....you can get 5.1. The person buying the equipment just needs to do research. Like anything, when you start dealing with equipment that as expensive as this.... you really need to understand the logic behind it. I dont care what anyone says....with technology nothing is plug and play and there is always a way to get the sound you need with a little work....i always think its funny when people hire someone to install music equipment....i would think you would want to understand how this stuff works or enjoy the research and accomplishment of getting this stuff to work. Alot if people complain on this site about what this stuff cant do, instead, lets work together to get this stuff to do what we need it to do by research and putting together the stuff that works....with that said....you can accomplish 5.1 with Sonos.
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February 28, 2019
I am not particulsrly disagreeing with you, just explaining why you - purely by luck by the sound of things - did not have to overcome a hurdle that some other users have had to.
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February 28, 2019
If you had happened to have a Panasonic BRP you would have hsd to put it on eBay and buy a Samsung one if you wanted 5.1. You were clearly unaware of that. Why should anyone else be aware?
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Lyricist III
February 28, 2019
I am not particulsrly disagreeing with you, just explaining why you - purely by luck by the sound of things - did not have to overcome a hurdle that some other users have had to.
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Lyricist III
February 28, 2019
i wouldnt say luck. I knew that samsung players worked with sonos and are the only ones that sounded good. I researched that. So when I said I was confused it was because I assumed when someone is spending 2000 dollars on a sonos surround sound system that they would 1st research which players are the best for it and if their current gear works with it. If you are not the type of person to do research then shame on that person. I didnt understand the technical reasons yesterday. But if you look all over the internet it tells you that samsung blu ray players are the ones that work. This I knew. After yesterday I now know the exact reasons why. And also if you dig deep into this forum people are saying it to. So yes I was confused, its 2000 dollars!!! why would you not research this....but lets blame Sonos. I dont. This type of hobby is like any other. Practice and research. Thanks for explaining to me the logistics as to why it works.
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