"Critical" Music Listening and Surround

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Hi all, I'm currently moving from high rise condo to a house. Currently, my (small) living room set up is 2 play 1s, sub, and a turntable, which has been great for when I just want to have a drink and spin some jazz alone or have a small group of friends over where listening to music is the focal point (I put critical in quotes in the title because I understand the difference between that and audiophile "critical" listening).

I plan on expanding to a full sonos 5.1. I'm not huge on movies, but my wife is and I imagine kids will enjoy it in the future.

For people who are equal home theater/music enjoy-ers, what's the solution? Is having music playing from rear speakers (especially for music where stereo separation is a part of the experience) as enjoyable for you? Do you just physically move play 1s in front of you in the instances where you are focusing on music? Is it easy on the app itself to go from 5.1 to 2.1 and back?

I've heard people say listening to music on full mode is great, but that seems ideal for party settings.

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K

KumarAnswer

Sonos is great sound but not audiophile.

What audiophile criteria other than psychological ones does Sonos not meet for listening to stereo music?

To the OP: if you cannot separate the two applications to two rooms, consider starting with just a bar/base for HT alone, that may well be enough for movies, leaving the 1 pair + Sub silent. If it isn't, cross the bridge of adding surrounds later. Since it is a little over the top to have two Subs, and pesky to switch one back and forth, you may have to decide where it adds more value and leave it bonded there almost permanently.

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K

Kumar

It’s a very real listening experience that not everyone can enjoy and/or appreciate.

Based just on that judgement, agreeing to disagree would certainly be the most appropriate thing to do.

K

Kumar

Digressing into some fun and games for others here - while the OP comes back with questions if any - on the fertile subject of audiophile foibles:

Under a cartoon: " The two things that really drew me to vinyl were the expense and the inconvenience."

For this and many more hilarious cartoons in the same vein, type - audiophile cartoons - in Google and look under images in the returned search. Every day deserves its share of laughs and there are plenty to be had here for those that have some acquaintance with that world.

To be fair, the community does know how to laugh at itself, as this link shows:

http://www.ultrahighendreview.com/audiophile-cartoons/

J

Jan Schreiber

Trending Lyricist I

With the surrounds set to full music does sound great but personally I would be happier if could turn the playbase off for the times I want to sit down and listen to an "album". I can sit either side of the room so having a stereo experience would be more enjoyable for me.

Hi Silverthorn

When budget permits (assuming you have the space) you might consider two Play 5's in the front area. They have a decent low end which can negate the use of a sub.

Cheers!

I've tested two Play 5's VS. 1 Play 1's with a Sub and the latter is much better - at least in a bigger room and provided you use Trueplay.

My solution für TV/Music: Connecting the TV via Sonos:Connect with the 1 Play 1's and the Sub. The sound is great, I don't miss Surround with this setup. But there is one disadvantage: You have to connect all the components via network cable and switch, otherwise there are audio dropofs. So it isn't the smartest solution.

It would be perfect if you can turn of the Playbar / Playbase / Beam when listening to music!

S

SonosOneSteve

Lyricist III

FromThis is 1 month old but I'll add to it.
I have a dedicated music room with a 5 way active horn speaker system in there..
We have a den room and I had two Sonos Ones in there as a stereo pair.
I really enjoyed the stereo sound for casual listening. I had them quite far apart. Great separation..
I'm trialling a Beam using the Ones as rears..
The TV sound is much improved and of course great for films.
The stereo sound is only okay'ish.
It's basically all front speaker / beam.
There's a bit of course stereo separation going on but not much at the front.

It would be nice to easily switch between the two setups. As I can sit either way that would work nicely.

I need to play with positioning more but I've def. lost something from the usual seat.

Uodate, just made the volume of all 3 units the same for music - much better.

chicks

So in effect you’re saying that if you can’t touch it then one’s sense of hearing is psychological. Additionally, by that reasoning using Sonos Trueplay is a waste of time because it’s all psychological? By that reasoning those that can surmise when a motor cars engine isn’t running properly by listening to it are having a psychological episode.

I could go on for days citing references where one’s sense of hearing is a definitive factor. But wait...that’s all psychological.

How in the world is Trueplay psychological? It corrects for room anomalies, using DSP to ensure a flatter, truer repsonse.

Psychological things that make audiophools drool are touchy freely things that do nothing to the sound, like thick faceplates, solid metal knobs, thick cables, etc. Also things that actually degrade the sound, like SET tube amps with 10% distortion; you should hear the fools rhapsodise over their flea-watt SETs, it’s hilarious. There are very expensive speakers which have absolutely no intention of flat response. At least Stereophile measurements show the story, if their silly subjective reviews don’t. Most of the audiophile press doesn’t even bother with the objective measurements, because they’re expensive to perform, and their audience doesn’t have the technical expertise to understand them, nor the intelligence to care.

B

Bigbwash

Contributor I

Digressing into some fun and games for others here - while the OP comes back with questions if any - on the fertile subject of audiophile foibles:

Under a cartoon: " The two things that really drew me to vinyl were the expense and the inconvenience."

For this and many more hilarious cartoons in the same vein, type - audiophile cartoons - in Google and look under images in the returned search. Every day deserves its share of laughs and there are plenty to be had here for those that have some acquaintance with that world.

To be fair, the community does know how to laugh at itself, as this link shows:

http://www.ultrahighendreview.com/audiophile-cartoons/

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