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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

Avid Contributor III
July 30, 2018
You posted on a Sonos forum telling people not to buy Sonos products?

Sure, the geeky audiophile who lives in his mum's basement can probably say why Sonos is pants but the vast majority of us couldn't give a to55.

I am happy with my Sonos purchases, one of the benefits was not having to cut holes in my walls to run cables and this is a big selling point for me and I would suspect others also.
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djsgrantAuthor
Enthusiast II
July 30, 2018
You posted on a Sonos forum telling people not to buy Sonos products?

Sure, the geeky audiophile who lives in his mum's basement can probably say why Sonos is pants but the vast majority of us couldn't give a to55.

I am happy with my Sonos purchases, one of the benefits was not having to cut holes in my walls to run cables and this is a big selling point for me and I would suspect others also.


Laurie, if you are going to post on someones conversation at least have the decency to read the thread through before commenting. I will repeat for your benefit; if you are happy with your SONOS setup then fantastic, this conversation is not for you. There isn't really a place for this sort of passive aggressive, defensive commenting on these Forums, although there is a lot of it about. By all means, join in but at least have something constructive to add to the chit chat. Had I done more research prior to buying my Playbase then I wouldn't be sitting in all day waiting for DHL to collect it.

Please direct me to where I say people shouldn't buy SONOS products? I have lots of them for music and I am delighted with them. Of course, if you had read the thread you would know that. I started this discussion to see how other people felt about the whole SONOS 5.1 experience for the cost. I had a poor experience and people who are smarter than me that do proper research prior to purchasing a Base/Bar/Beam may or may not find these shared experiences helpful. That is why I posted on a SONOS Forum.
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David
July 30, 2018
A question: from a compatibility with formats point of view, does the Sonos solution meet the needs of those that watch movies on TV via streamed sources like Netflix or Amazon? If that is the case, a very large and growing market is well covered.
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djsgrantAuthor
Enthusiast II
July 30, 2018
A question: from a compatibility with formats point of view, does the Sonos solution meet the needs of those that watch movies on TV via streamed sources like Netflix or Amazon? If that is the case, a very large and growing market is well covered.

So it is my fault for not being able to get fibre broadband in my area and my desire to watch DVDs:? A growing market without a doubt Kumar and growing markets expand and keep up with the latest technology. Apple TV is already moving to Dolby Atmos, how long before the major streaming providers follow with Dolby X etc? That is starting to look like a very expensive brick under your TV sometime soon and there is nothing SONOS can do to help you because you are connected with an optical cable...
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David
jgatie
July 30, 2018


So it is my fault for not being able to get fibre broadband in my area and my desire to watch DVDs:? A growing market without a doubt Kumar and growing markets expand and keep up with the latest technology. Apple TV is already moving to Dolby Atmos, how long before the major streaming providers follow with Dolby X etc? That is starting to look like a very expensive brick under your TV sometime soon and there is nothing SONOS can do to help you because you are connected with an optical cable...


So because Apple TV puts out an entirely optional audio format, one which is completely backwards compatible with DD 5.1, all of a sudden your Sonos "is starting to look like a very expensive brick under your TV sometime soon"?

What utter nonsense.
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djsgrantAuthor
Enthusiast II
July 30, 2018


So it is my fault for not being able to get fibre broadband in my area and my desire to watch DVDs:? A growing market without a doubt Kumar and growing markets expand and keep up with the latest technology. Apple TV is already moving to Dolby Atmos, how long before the major streaming providers follow with Dolby X etc? That is starting to look like a very expensive brick under your TV sometime soon and there is nothing SONOS can do to help you because you are connected with an optical cable...


So because Apple TV puts out an entirely optional audio format, one which is completely backwards compatible with DD 5.1, all of a sudden your Sonos "is starting to look like a very expensive brick under your TV sometime soon"?

What utter nonsense.


OMG!!! For someone who has over 1700 posts you would think that you would read the complete thread before making a comment.

Everyone who is happy with their system don't leave a comment unless it is constructive.

Everyone who is happy that their SONOS 5.1 setup can only play in stereo and DD and can never, that's never be upgraded then don't bother with this thread, it is not for you.

There is no criticism whatsoever of people who live and breath SONOS and think it is the bees knees. You will find you are in a huge majority within this Forum. However people who think that there are obvious omissions from their AV Setup are not the Antichrist, they do not wish to abduct your children and burn down your houses, we just think that SONOS should be better at outputting sound from our TVs.
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David
jgatie
July 30, 2018


OMG!!! For someone who has over 1700 posts you would think that you would read the complete thread before making a comment.

Everyone who is happy with their system don't leave a comment unless it is constructive.

Everyone who is happy that their SONOS 5.1 setup can only play in stereo and DD and can never, that's never be upgraded then don't bother with this thread, it is not for you.

There is no criticism whatsoever of people who live and breath SONOS and think it is the bees knees. You will find you are in a huge majority within this Forum. However people who think that there are obvious omissions from their AV Setup are not the Antichrist, they do not wish to abduct your children and burn down your houses, we just think that SONOS should be better at outputting sound from our TVs.


You are not the ombudsman of this forum. People can post what they want when they want. And I am here to post that you stating that a Sonos 5.1 system "is starting to look like a very expensive brick under your TV sometime soon" simply because Apple TV now does Dolby Atmos is utter freaking nonsense!

And that's 17,000 posts, junior. Not 1700. 🆒
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djsgrantAuthor
Enthusiast II
July 30, 2018


OMG!!! For someone who has over 1700 posts you would think that you would read the complete thread before making a comment.

Everyone who is happy with their system don't leave a comment unless it is constructive.

Everyone who is happy that their SONOS 5.1 setup can only play in stereo and DD and can never, that's never be upgraded then don't bother with this thread, it is not for you.

There is no criticism whatsoever of people who live and breath SONOS and think it is the bees knees. You will find you are in a huge majority within this Forum. However people who think that there are obvious omissions from their AV Setup are not the Antichrist, they do not wish to abduct your children and burn down your houses, we just think that SONOS should be better at outputting sound from our TVs.


You are not the ombudsman of this forum. People can post what they want when they want. And I am here to post that you stating that a Sonos 5.1 system "is starting to look like a very expensive brick under your TV sometime soon" simply because Apple TV now does Dolby Atmos is utter freaking nonsense!

And that's 17,000 posts, junior. Not 1700. 🆒


Sorry Big Daddy, 17,000 it is :D:D:D. That being the case please give me your honest assessment of SONOS as a 5.1 system taking into account it's undisputed limitations. Forget musical ability, that is not in dispute, they are the Kings in that respect. In fact, it is because I love my Play 1's etc and would not give them up for a pension that I am disappointed in the Playbase so much so I sent it back.
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David
jgatie
July 30, 2018


Sorry Big Daddy, 17,000 it is :D:D:D. That being the case please give me your honest assessment of SONOS as a 5.1 system taking into account it's undisputed limitations. Forget musical ability, that is not in dispute, they are the Kings in that respect. In fact, it is because I love my Play 1's etc and would not give them up for a pension that I am disappointed in the Playbase so much so I sent it back.


I actually agree with much of your original post. Sonos is not a great surround sound system, and as I stated from day one of the Playbar release, Home Theater aficionados should steer clear of Sonos' offerings in this area. Then again, I'm such a purist, I think they should steer clear of soundbars in general. I think they are great for a bedroom TV to give better sound than the tinny speakers in a flat screen TV, but that is about it.

However, whatever the points you made that I agree with, you took it way too far with your nonsensical implication that a Sonos setup is suddenly rendered useless just because Apple TV now supports a codec that 99.999% of the public will never use. If you intend for people to take you seriously, stop it with the hyperbole. Sonos is good for what it is, and not good for what it isn't, and there is no need for hyperbolic nonsense when stating that fact.
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July 30, 2018
A question: from a compatibility with formats point of view, does the Sonos solution meet the needs of those that watch movies on TV via streamed sources like Netflix or Amazon? If that is the case, a very large and growing market is well covered.

So it is my fault for not being able to get fibre broadband in my area and my desire to watch DVDs:?

I take it that the answer to my quoted question is Yes. And if so, that has nothing to do with it being your fault or not; just that you are not the target market, it seems to me. Accept it and move on.

Even with the compatibility issue sorted, I think the Sonos solution is limited by not providing the necessary physical separation for the front L/R speakers, but the benefit of no consequent wires and clutter in a living room aesthetic seems to work well enough to compensate for the many that are happy with the solution. For those that are not so compensated, Sonos is not the solution. There is nothing "news" about this.
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