using play 5 as stereo pair with sub and as surrounds for 5.1

Not without going through the bonding/un-bonding process each time. But you can set the surrounds to 'Full' instead of 'Ambient' for music sources. This will give you full volume output for the surrounds as well as the Playbar when playing music.

Thanks for the quick reply, will they be playing in stereo when set to full just with the addition of the play bar?

How easy is it to switch fro Ambient to full every time.

I was just going to get 2 play 3's and a sub to go with my play bar but have the opportunity to get a newish play 5 for the same price as a new play 3 so was thinking of getting one more new play 5 instead of the 3 play 3's

Yes, they will play in full stereo along with the Playbar.

The switch is automatic. When playing the TV source, they will be surrounds. Any other source, it will switch to full. Not useful if you listen to music via the TV source, but it works for everything else.

thats great thanks for all the help, in you opinion if i can get a cheep play 5 is it worth the extra to get the other or just get the 3 play 3's instead?

I wouldn't get the Play:3s. Play:1s are more than adequate for surrounds, and since you have a Sub, that will handle the bass. But the Play:5 is out of this world for sound. If you can get a deal, even better.

On the Play 5 make sure they are of the same generation, 1 or 2, so you don't run into issues with bonding them.

Also, I believe only gen2 Play:5s will work for surround sound. A lot of cheaper gen1 Play:5s around these days, but it sounds like those won't work for what you are looking for.

Yes only the gen 2's can be used for surround. I have an old gen 1 in another room but would be getting 2 gen 2's

Would it be possible in the same room to

1.have the playbar bonded to sub for 3.1 from the TV

2. For music have a stereo pair of play 5 gen 2 bonded to the same sub?

Would it be possible in the same room to

1.have the playbar bonded to sub for 3.1 from the TV

2. For music have a stereo pair of play 5 gen 2 bonded to the same sub?

Although maybe not in your case, but if that were allowed I could see a big potential problem for Sonos systems in homes with more than one user. What would happen if the systems were in adjoining rooms and sharing a common sub, and then two people played different sources? You'd end up with the sub getting two signals at the same time.

For that reason the sub can only be bonded with one system at a time.

In that case would you get more benifit from bonding the sub to the playbar or to the paired 5's?

I want to do this:
Setup 1 - 2 Play 5s + Sub
Setup 2 - Play bar + same sub

I assume above is not possible. However, I think it should work this way. Always TV should have priority on the sub when both are on. This should be a very easy software enhancement. I've a genuine use case to play music in Stereo and watch TV using same Sub. Pl. make it happen!

I want to do this:
Setup 1 - 2 Play 5s + Sub
Setup 2 - Play bar + same sub

I assume above is not possible. However, I think it should work this way. Always TV should have priority on the sub when both are on. This should be a very easy software enhancement. I've a genuine use case to play music in Stereo and watch TV using same Sub. Pl. make it happen!

You can do this, although when you play music in stereo the playbar will play be included.

In that case would you get more benifit from bonding the sub to the playbar or to the paired 5's?

Without a doubt the playbar benetifs more from the Sub than the play 5s will.

I’ve experimented today with a new pair of play 5s that areives this weeks

Playbar 5.1 + 2p5 placed L&R of playbar as front reinforcement:

Utterly horrible when grouped for TV. But to be expected due to latency. Even when all cables up!
Grouped for music then they were fine, but to be honest I preferred the overall sound of the 5.1 setup alone. Maybe if truplay could be done across a whole group there would be value in this kind of combo, but I failed to find it in my short test.

Pair of 5s with a Sub was immersive, and if there was a ‘dynamic pairing function with truplay recall then I’d have kept the pair in the room - i only tend to have the 5.1 powered up at weekends to watch a movie so having the 5s and sub available for music without having to mess about with pairing would be amazing. But alas not yet supported.

The 5s as rears made little difference for movies but worked well for music (in full mode), but i had to move the sub as there was far too much bass when 5s and sub were in close proximity.

I’m undecided as to whether to use the 5s as rears. Could not do a proper test as the 5s were on flexson stands which would mean moving a large corner sofa to get them in place. But my gut feeling is they are too ‘big’ unless there’s space behind the seating position. If the rears are directly behind you play 1s are just fine.

During this experiment I also discovered that some extreme ‘fine tuning’ of bass and volume levels for the rears (play 1) fixed my view of the playbar’s weak performance - i’ve always thought it sounded thin and a little harsh. By bringing down the bass overall, also adjusting the sub level down and then kicking up the overall volume of the playbar system I got a much more balanced and fuller sound throughout the room for music. With this I don’t see 5s as rears adding much. This might be dofferent in a larger space, but in a small 20m2 room, completely overkill.

Next I’ll rob the sub from the lounge and see how adding it to the room with a pair of 5s will work out before I buy a dedicated one for that room.

Hopefully Sonos will one day enable trueplay to adjust on the fly as more rooms in the house have subs. Niche demand I suppose by e.g Dynadio already have this feature (albeit that their offering is far less scalable).