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Usconcepts
Contributor I
Jan 7, 2019 6:25 AM UTC

Too Many Sonos Speakers. Now what?

Kitchen—1 Sonos One Speaker.

Living Room – (Set up as Surround Sound for TV)

1 Sonos Beam under the TV
2 Sonos One speakers at the back of the room.
1 Sonos Sub at the back of the room.


Everything is working peachy. Well, they do drop from time to time. I have changed the wireless router channel, but no better.

But…… I just saw an amazing deal for a Play 5 Gen 2 and I purchased it and will have it in two weeks.

How in the world should I use this Play 5 Gen 2? My living room setup above is set up for Surround Sound for TV, even though I watch less than 1 hour a month. My main focus is just listening to music through Alexa using Pandora or Amazon music. I'm pretty vanilla. What should I do with this new extra Play 5? Can it be grouped into the living room for watching movies with the two play ones, sub, and beam? When I play music in the living room, would it sound better with all that together, if it works?

Or should I move a play one from the kitchen to an empty bathroom, and put the Play 5 in the kitchen. Don’t know where to add the last speaker and how it will connect.
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    4 replies

    Yiannis74
    Jan 7, 2019 7:08 AM UTC
    You can certainly group the Play 5 with the rest of your Sonos units when playing music 🙂. If I understand correctly your Sonos Beam, 2 x Sonos ones and Sub, are setup as a your living room surround system. If so then they are all operating a 'single' room / system (you can see it as such from within the app). Based on my understanding, you cannot add / integrate the Play 5 in the home theatre setup as it is. You could of course group it with the home theatre setup when playing music (it will be playing in sync). As far as I am aware, you could replace the two Sonos one speakers with 2x Play 5 Gen 2. I don't think you can add the single Play 5 in the HT setup. If I were in your shoes I would use the Play 5 for music only and experiment with using it in other rooms. Hope this helps
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    Stanley_4
    Stanley_4
    Grand Maestro
    Jan 7, 2019 10:32 AM UTC
    Maybe consider moving off your WiFi and use the Sonos Boost Mode WiFi? If you can wire any Sonos device to Ethernet the move is easy.

    The dropping is likely a network issue, submitting a diagnostic (use twitter for a fast response) when yiou have an issue is your best bet for finding out what the issue is.
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      UsconceptsAuthor
      Contributor I
      Jan 7, 2019 1:04 PM UTC
      Thank you very much. I send in reports through my Sonos app. What is Sonos Boost Mode Wifi? My router is in a closet, so I would need to put one speaker in there? I know there is a Sonos hub for broadcasting the signal, but a Boost Mode Wifi?
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      AjTrek1
      AjTrek1
      Jan 7, 2019 1:27 PM UTC
      Thank you very much. I send in reports through my Sonos app. What is Sonos Boost Mode Wifi? My router is in a closet, so I would need to put one speaker in there? I know there is a Sonos hub for broadcasting the signal, but a Boost Mode Wifi?

      Hi Usconcepts

      Standard procedure is to run the diagnostic and post the reference ID in this forum in your post. By doing so you may get a Sonos Staff member to respond in this forum without having to call. You may want to run the diagnostic again.

      There are several helpful sub-links in the following link that will help you understand Boost mode (now referred to as "wired"). https://www.sonos.com/en-us/support/setting-up-sonos

      You can purchase a dedicated Boost module vs using a speaker. See it here: https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/boost.html

      Cheers!

      Edit:
      Play 5 placement
      Currently, when you play music the audio comes through the Beam and the surrounds it you have them set to Full for music in the Sonos app. Your listening experience is more of a surround affect vs standard two channel up front. Some like it and others may not. If the surround speakers are not set to Full they merely act as ambient speakers without much punch.

      You can experiment with the Play 5 as a stand-alone speaker placed up-front (in the general area of the Beam) to see if you prefer it’s sound over that of the Beam and surround w/sub. If you don’t like the Play 5 as a stand-alone in the same room with your HT setup you of course have options to place it elsewhere in your home and group it for playing music in sync.

      Sub placement
      You might also try placing the sub upfront (if space permits) to see if you like the change in acoustics regarding your HT setup. Also, know that the sub cannot be bonded to the Play 5 and Beam at the same time nor can you natively integrate the Play 5 into your HT via bonding.

      TruePlay
      If you have an iOS device you can use TruePlay to fine tune your listening environment. Trueplay will tune your Beam, surrounds and sub as a group. As the Play 5 is a stand-alone speaker it would have to be tuned separately.
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