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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Still, the rest is relevant. We don't make much margin selling Sonos but we do it because of the value it provides our clients. One of the largest value components of any system is simplicity. Clients love it
This is true and like it was mentioned before, the space saving aspect of the bars are just too convenient.
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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.
They were initially set to ambient but I changed it to full early on.
Even if i cant use the play bar with the amp, will I be able to add additional speakers to my setup?
The amp is such a mystery to me. I've read so much on it and I figured since I've already spent all this money already, why not pay a little more if it'll improve the experience by adding more speakers.
But you're saying thats not possible?
Sorry to be annoying but can you walk me through what you did with the am and the speakers you said you connected to them?
I just feel like if I can add two more front speakers I'll have a true 5.1. The playbar is absolutely badass bit I don't believe it simulates a center, left and right as everyone is saying. I only hear this if I'm Inches away from it.Son
The Amp can do two passive speakers, Sonos or 3rd party subs, and Sonos rears.
If you want passive rears you need another Sonos amp for those. I’m fine with SL's for rears.
My speakers are Revel, Sonos sub and SL rears. I’m not all that impressed with the Sonos sub for the price. It doesn’t go as low or have as good a detail as say a $399 SVS sub. But I like the way it looks and that I can control everything with the Sonos app.
My only Source is Apple TV 4K which is more than enough and looks and works great with my Sony 55-inch X930e. I play alot of music and turn off the surrounds for 2.1. Treble is a little high on the Amp like a lot of Sonos products so I back that down in EQ although some people think it does that on it’s own with break-in. I could get a lot more for my money with traditional receivers and speakers and I've done that in the past but I prefer clean and simple even if it means giving up some things.
As I mentioned earlier those are Revel Concerta 2 M16 speakers, $450 each. Sound amazing, look clean and simple, and the gloss black matches the Sonos Sub. :-)
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I think Your wrong. I have a Playbar which gets the info from the TV thru optical. The BLU Ray and ROKU go into the TV. Any sound that is produced goes into the Playbar. I didnt have to buy a new Blu Ray Player or ROKU and everything sounds great as 5.1..... My old wired 5.1 Yamaha receiver used optical also but I didnt like wires everywhere or want to put holes in my walls. My new Sonos system sounds just as good as the old. So I guess I am not sure what you mean.
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It plays blu ray and i can hear stuff behind me....still confused....my blu ray could have a converter.... my kids played x box and it was in surround too.
Flexson One stands come with a longer power cable.
But what does it say in the app?
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5.1
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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.
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.
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.
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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Sonos came about for those who wanted multi-room audio without the wires and with the use of online music services.
Sonos products will never truly replace a full separates system for surround sound. They never set about doing this anyway.
However, their products are great as they provide a solution for those (like me with a wife who doesn't like the look or size of traditional speakers nor all the cables). I use to have a £5000 system for movies and a £3000 system for music. I met the wife and my mistresses had to pack their bags. The cost of these systems would never be matched unless replicated like for like. I knew this.
This led to me looking for a solution, which saw me buying a Yamaha soundbar, I forget the model but it was vastly more expensive than a Sonos setup. This sounded very poor for music and led me to purchase a Sonos Play:5. I had this for almost 4 years and was impressed by music playback and then punt I took a punt with the Beam.
Over time my needs have changed. I have 3 lovely kids who would only trash a high-end system and for the convenience and sound quality I have expanded the Beam with 2 SL's.
I subscribe to Netflix, Amazon Prime and a few more and so far all films I have watched have been in DD5.1, so the Sonos experience fits the bill extremely well with only a few minor issues which aren't worth typing about.
I have also experienced Sonos's customer service first hand which saw my Beam get replaced under warranty due to a bizarre issue. From telling them about the issue I was contacted by a senior person within 30 mins and advised I'd get a warranty replacement.
I have never experienced this level of fine service before and has made the Sonos experience even more sweeter.
I am yet to Trueplay my setup as I am a Android user at heart and will need to borrow or acquire a iOS device but currently as things sounds I get a good sound for music and films and I am sure things will sound even better when Trueplayed.
Oh! Sonos, longer power cables for Sonos One SL's would be a bonus as the ones supplied are rather short.
There were no online music services when Sonos came out.
Hi SOCalistic
You are correct, but there vision was so - https://www.sonos.com/en-gb/how-it-started
I purchased my Play5 approx 4 years ago when music services were around.
Ta
+2
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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Flexson One stands come with a longer power cable.
Hi Both
I needed a 3 meter and a 5 meter and both came via purchases from Amazon.
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I hope im not coming across as aggressive it is not my intention.
People assume that in today's world, research shouldn't be required, particularly with high end equipment. I would bet that the average consumer may have heard of DTS, Dolby, but have no idea what it is or that it even matters. If all the plugs connect together, than it should just work. With a lot of home theater equipment, that is definitely the case as they'll support every codec that's reasonably popular. It's really not even accurate to say people assume, because they don't know enough about the tech to really make an assumption.
I don't think blame really needs to be applied anywhere with this. People are going to get frustrated, and that's reasonable. Not every problem has to be someone's fault.
I don't think blame really needs to be applied anywhere with this. People are going to get frustrated, and that's reasonable. Not every problem has to be someone's fault.
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I have now Trueplayed my setup today and noticed a massive improvement to the overall sound and better cohesion between the Beam and the 2 SL's.
I'm guessing the first part of Trueplay determines the distances, delays and volumes per channel, but what would be nice is to boost the rear channels independently from each other after Trueplay as my right rear is much quieter that the left.
The main listening/viewing position isn't equal distance from each other for the rears.
If I turn off Trueplay and set the distances manually to 0.6 to 3.0 for the left and over 3.0 for the right I get a better volume level all round but lack of cohesion with Trueplay.
Moving the right rear to an equal distance is not possible.
Any suggestions?
I rent and can't rip out the walls... So case closed as far as I am concerned... 😃
I have now Trueplayed my setup today and noticed a massive improvement to the overall sound and better cohesion between the Beam and the 2 SL's.
I'm guessing the first part of Trueplay determines the distances, delays and volumes per channel, but what would be nice is to boost the rear channels independently from each other after Trueplay as my right rear is much quieter that the left.
The main listening/viewing position isn't equal distance from each other for the rears.
If I turn off Trueplay and set the distances manually to 0.6 to 3.0 for the left and over 3.0 for the right I get a better volume level all round but lack of cohesion with Trueplay.
Moving the right rear to an equal distance is not possible.
Any suggestions?
Because of your issues, have you perhaps considered changing your position and temporarily sitting closer to one surround speaker when doing the first stage of the TruePlay tuning process, so that the other speakers volume is then boosted and hopefully balanced for your actual ’true’ seated position ?
Hopefully a bit of trial and error may help you achieve the desired outcome and as you may already know there is a slider control in the HT ‘surround’ room settings to shift the audio between front and back channels aswell as the usual EQ ‘balance’ control to perhaps fine-tune things to maybe meet your personal taste.
Man, that was a long 6 pages of conversation to read but it was definitely worth it to see all the differing perspectives.
I'm one of those people that spent 2k on a full Sonos system (play bar, 2 play 5's and a sub). Before buying the Sonos I had a Samsung surround sound system with a sound bar which was a fraction of the price and by no means had the sound quality of my Sonos system.
What it did have was far superior surround sound. This system was like $300. I love my Sonos system but I will admit that I did fall for their marketing. They make it out to be a home theater option that will provide true surround sound. It isn't. They're just amazing wireless speakers and that's all.
I'm a bit perplexed by folks repeatedly referring to the Sonos sound bar speaker as achieving a similar effect as dual front speakers on a real home theater system. They ABSOLUTELY DO NOT unless you have the sound bar less than a foot from you (as they place them in electronics stores when you try it out). If you're in a living room the playbar or beam will sound like one speaker.
I also acknowledge that the source of the sound plays a big part. This is why i initially didn't remove my Samsung system when I bought the Sonos. I watched the same scenes in movies to hear the difference. My Sonos definitely won as far as power and clarity, but the $300 Samsung blew it out of the water as far as surround sound.
Yes you can sort of hear things happening in exclusively in the rear speakers but it's WILDLY innacurate to say that one front playbar or beam and 2 rear speakers can achieve the same effect as traditional 5.1 layouts that have front speakers on the left, right and center. It's an outright lie.
With the much cheaper Samsung I could hear bullets wizzing above my head as well as sounds having actual spacial character. It feels like you are IN the movie. As much as I love my Sonos system, it is not capable of this in any fashion.
And don't kid yourselves, Sonos absolutely branded itself as a home theater system as do the electronics stores that sell them.
I Also notice 5.1 being thrown around a lot and I'd like to clarify one thing for you all, the Sonos does not deliver true 5.1. This requires, you know, 5 SPEAKERS. 5 full bandwidth and 1 low frequency. What you actually get with Sonos are 3 full bandwidth speakers and one low frequency (assuming like me you have the playbar or beam, rear speakers and the sub). There is no way in hell that the play bar or beam gives the surround effect of 3 individual speakers unless you live in a decent sized closet.
Sonos is fantastic for folks that want to fill a room with sound but if the content you're watching supports 5.1 and you want a true surround sound system, look elsewhere because the Sonos falls incredibly short.
A lot of you are all in your feelings when anyone says anything disparaging about the Sonos. It's a badass speaker system with many benefits and I love it + still have it, but it is in no way, shape or form, a surround sound system. I even think "home theater system" is a misleading term.
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