Advice on Dining room and kitchen speaker placement

Hi @elkage, welcome to the Sonos Community!

You may have some audio spill from the ceiling speakers if you’re sitting closer to the island why trying to listen to the Fives, but looking at the space this may be the best you can do. If you plan to use them at separate times, then this wont be an issue

If you’d like further help, I would recommend you reach out to our sales team. You can discuss speaker options with them, send floor plans and pictures of the area so they can advise on placements, and have an invoice created. 

I hope this helps!

I’ve always considered using stationary speakers in a dining area as a difficult scenario. The music will always be at someone’s back, to others face and from your diagram at an angle to some. Then there’s the left/right stereo effect that can be offsetting relative to one’s position at the table.

I’d be more inclined to use in-ceiling speakers set to mono. The music bathes the entire dining area with no localization effect. IMO ear level speakers can make dinner conversation a bit difficult not to mention distracting in some instances.

Although this next suggestion doesn’t change my opinion regarding ear level speakers…you might consider two Move 2’s as alternatives to the Fives. Great sound; although not on the same acoustic level as Fives, but with portability to position and re-position to suit your needs.

However, it’s your decision. 

I hadn’t even considered stereo for that space.

The only seat in the sweet spot for the Five speaker pair would be the center bar seat. The stove and sink should be good for standing and the center bar seat for the kitchen pair.

Mono and trying for the most even sound field possible is the way to go in a space like that.

Thanks everyone! Very helpful feedback. 
 

would having then four ceiling speakers, and then adding maybe just one sonos five in the bottom right corner as a boost for when we really want to crank up the music be overkill?

Not at all. Using a single Five would have almost the same sound field as the in-ceilings as it would appear to be mono at more than 6 feet away.  Although the left corner would be better considering the chair located on the right.

With the four I’d move the corner ones a bit further into the center of the room to get them away from wall reflections and to give a more even sound field.