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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

Lyricist III
August 1, 2018
Pointless discussion. Buy what you like.
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Paulw123
Virtuoso
August 1, 2018
The actual S1 thingy
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1314727/000119312518213468/d403417ds1.htm#toc403417_6
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August 1, 2018
Very interesting, Paul, the opening of the kimono for the first time. Did you perhaps intend to post this link in another thread?
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Paulw123
Virtuoso
August 1, 2018
I just copied it from within this thread:-
https://en.community.sonos.com/music-culture-the-industry-228997/sonos-ipo-6805420/index2.html#post16253284
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melvimbe
August 1, 2018

I am not the ombudsman of anything but I am perfectly entitled to ask a question, start a discussion or anything else without being trolled by someone who obviously regards himself as the ombudsman of everything.


His comments on your ombudsman like behavior were never about asking questions or starting discussions, but about trying to dictate rules for participation in the thread. I don't see how there could be much confusion about that.


You obviously know all the answers so I am not clear why you are even looking at this Forum.


The vast majority of jgatie's posts on this forum are to help people troubleshoot issues and such. That seems to be his motivating factor for looking at this forum.


You are a very unpleasant person, give everyone a break and just leave.


Why 'everyone'? No one else seems to have an issue with him on this thread.
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Danny
Paulw123
Virtuoso
August 1, 2018
Why jgatie you have excelled yourself sir , other forums are nowhere near this fun ;););)
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Jeff S
Retired Sonos Staff
August 1, 2018
Hi folks,

I wanted to jump in here and remind everyone to keep things on topic. It's okay to debate the features of the Sonos home theater system, but not okay to make the discussion about the number of posts our commenters have. Please refer to our community guidelines if you're not sure. As always, feel free to reach out to any Sonos employee through direct messages if you have any concerns.
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melvimbe
August 1, 2018
...removed...not on topic. 😃
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Danny
jgatie
August 1, 2018
Just to break down a few more of the bombs thrown in this thread:

"They are late to the market with Alexa, Siri etc"

They were the first 3rd party multi-room speaker to use Alexa, and the first to use Airplay 2 (which can be activated by Siri).

"no HDMI"

The Beam not only has HDMI, it has HDMI-ARC and CEC.
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Avid Contributor I
December 6, 2018
Related and happy to split this off but does Sonos’ recent release of its Amp with HDMI ARC and a sub jack change this discussion at all? Obviously you’re buying or using additional speakers at that point but does it change things in terms of Sonos’ ability to deliver 5.1? I wasn’t clear on where the other 3 come from in that setup.

I just purchased one mostly to replace an old Receiver but got curious about things like 5.1 and found this thread.

I’m not super familiar with the underlying technology or audio formats so forgive me if this question is misguided.

Thanks!
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