You can use either, or even the 3; but in surround mode nothing audible is obtained by getting a more expensive unit than a 1, which why it is recommended.

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Does the Play 5 have more bass? I've listened to them all at Best Buy, but listening to them in the store truly doesn't do them justice. My living room is pretty big, but not gigantic. I was really going for that sound that you can feel as well as if you were at a cinema.

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Yes, but the bass content is fed to the Sub, so that capability is left unused when the 5 units are used as surround speakers. Why don't you try both 5 and 1 and then decide?

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I may have too. I usually do extensive research on any major purchase that I make. When it comes to some things, I Tim Taylor it and probably go overboard while striving for the best, but I keep hearing such positive things about the Play1's.

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IMO, the 1 is the most versatile product in the Sonos line up; a 1 pair + Sub is audio heaven. And in surround mode, it does all it needs to with the Sub bonded to the play bar for bass content.

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How do I know if my pair of 1s & sub are in surround mode?

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How do I know if my pair of 1s & sub are in surround mode?



In the room settings menu select the room in which you have the Playbar. If Sub and surrounds are in place you will se something like:-



Lounge (+SUB+LS+RS)

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Technically, that shows you that they're bonded together. If you want to be sure that they're actually receiving a correct "surround" signal, you'd need to do an "About my Sonos system" from the app, and then look at the stream identification in the area listing the Playbar. It will tell you something like PCM (Stereo) or Dolby Digital. So, you should do Stuart_W's suggestion first, to make sure that they're set up properly, and then do mine to make sure that they're receiving a correct signal to be sent to those surrounds and Sub.



If they're getting a PCM/Stereo signal, the Playbar will be doing some interpolation, I believe, in order to give you a semblance of surround sound, but it's not as "real" as a true Dolby Digital signal from your TV. And if you're not getting Dolby Digital, then you should check the audio settings in the TV, and any device connected to the TV to make sure they're set to Dolby Digital (and nothing "higher")

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Thank you Bruce & Stuart_W. I followed both your suggestions and my Playbar is now receiving a true Dolby Digital signal from my tv & my Sonos audio equipment is in surround sound mode. The audio drop I was experiencing appears to have disappeared also!!

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Please excuse my ignorance (I'm new to Sonos!) but a quick question..is 'surround sound' mode only applicable if you have a playbar?

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Please excuse my ignorance (I'm new to Sonos!) but a quick question..is 'surround sound' mode only applicable if you have a playbar?



The Playbar is designed to simulate a 3.0 system on it's own. Ie it will be like a surround system that only has the front 2 side speaker and centre audio channel - If it only receives stereo via it's input then it will use it's own decoding to move the dialogue as far as it can to the centre of the Playbar.



If you then bond a Sub and 2 x Play speakers as surround then you will have the "Surround" sound.



So, yes, in Sonos terms then "surround sound" is only applicable to the Playbar

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Please excuse my ignorance (I'm new to Sonos!) but a quick question..is 'surround sound' mode only applicable if you have a playbar?



The Playbar is designed to simulate a 3.0 system on it's own. Ie it will be like a surround system that only has the front 2 side speaker and centre audio channel - If it only receives stereo via it's input then it will use it's own decoding to move the dialogue as far as it can to the centre of the Playbar.



If you then bond a Sub and 2 x Play speakers as surround then you will have the "Surround" sound.



So, yes, in Sonos terms then "surround sound" is only applicable to the Playbar



Just a slight add on here to clarify, though the PLAYBAR operates as the front three channels when bonded with surrounds and a SUB, on its own the PLAYBAR is designed to simulate as close to 5.1 as possible. There are two side firing speakers which send the rear channels out and around to the back. Also, we tried to get as much bass out of the bass as possible too. Our specific goal here is that no audio gets discarded, even if you send a Dolby Digital 5.1 signal to the PLAYBAR playing solo, it'll play all of that audio the best it can. Naturally you'll get better results with a full setup, but it's good to remember that nothing's getting discarded.

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