Play 5 pair with sub

You can, but a pair of gen2 P:5s has impressive bass and you might like to try them without the Sub first.

Or a 1 pair with the Sub, where the Sub completes the bass picture for the compact 1 units.

I was auditioning Sonos speakers today and these are the results for my ears.

A pair of play 1's with the sub is a really impressive setup.
A pair of play 5's with the sub not so much.

When playing at very loud to maximum volume metal tracks and switching the sub on and off with the play 5's this is what happens.

Sub off. Sound is punchy and bold and timing is brilliant.

Sub on. The bass looses definition and gets flabby.

So in conclusion the best set up for music is either a pair of play 5's no sub or a pair of play 1's with the sub.

I liked the two 5's a little better then the other cause there is better midrange in the 5's at volume then the 1's plus sub.

This is just my opinion and not a fact. Ymmv.

Geiri

with the play 5's this is what happens.

Sub off. Sound is punchy and bold and timing is brilliant.

Sub on. The bass looses definition and gets flabby.


Bass bloat is a result of poor room response, which is addressed by relocating the Sub or Trueplay tuning. Did you try with the latter done?

Ahhh true play, no it was not used. I asked the salesperson to connect a sub to a play 5 stereo pair and he did not do the true play thing.
Darn now I have to go again to the dealer and make some noise 🆒

I wonder if the sub can be paired using a connect auto grouped with the Play 5's to prevent the 5's from being crossed over leaving them with the entire frequency response?

Sub does not bond with Connect; if you wanted to do something like that, it would need a Connect Amp. But you would lose the benefit that the Sub brings to a bonded 5, of cleaning up its mid range.

Sub does not bond with Connect; if you wanted to do something like that, it would need a Connect Amp. But you would lose the benefit that the Sub brings to a bonded 5, of cleaning up its mid range.

Thanx for the input/ I did not know that about the connect. So maybe third party sub wired to the connect would work in which the connect would be grouped with the play 5's. I dont see how it could clean up mid range if it's already awesome the way it is/ i could be wrong though. I like the way the Play 5's sound exactly the way they are and wouldn't want to have them crossed over.

I think the way forward for you is to get the Sub on a returnable basis and see what it does for the sound when bonded to the 5 pair and return it if you don't think it adds enough value for the price.

My experience is with the 1 pair, where the Sub has a much better justification that with a 5 pair; but I doubt that a Sub will dilute the sound from the 5 pair to which it is bonded in any way. The only question is: is the good that it will do be justified by the price for it, because on its own, a 5 pair already does bass very well. Unlike a 1 pair. For both pairs, the crossover to the Sub cleans up the mid range - a little, admittedly - by not needing the drivers to do the wandering needed for low frequencies in a way that can muddy the sound a little. And I am sure that it will allow the entire system to go louder without losing bass output, which is what seems to happen with a fully driven 5 pair.

The Connect Amp has an output to drive a third party Sub; the Connect only has line level full frequency analog and digital outputs, so using either for what you want will be tricky, even if it is possible, which I doubt.

Going against the grain here but i thoroughly recommend play 5 pair with sub, if moneys not too much of a consideration.

Around the home i have play 1s in stereo, another pair play 1 with a sub, and play 5 pair with sub. The latter, to my ears is night and day better.

All set ups sound good, but as has been previously said, there's superior mid range on the 5s. And while the sub may not make the same impact to the 5s as the 1s, believe me when i say it still adds considerably.

What I'll also say is as Kumar advised, get it on a trial basis, your music tastes will affect the benefit gained. But personally,i wouldn't swap my 5s and sub for another set up; money and space permitting, it's the only set up I'd use.

Around the home i have play 1s in stereo, another pair play 1 with a sub, and play 5 pair with sub. The latter, to my ears is night and day better.

I don't doubt your assertion; it is just the value for the money that can get to be debatable, but that is a subjective assessment, even more so than sound quality judgements.

Do you find the 5 pair + Sub to be markedly better than 1 pair + Sub at all volume levels, and not more so only at low and high sound levels?

I only listen at volumes up to half, on any of the set ups really, and within that range, yes, it stays noticeable.

It's a set up I never set out to achieve. The 5s were originally bought to be used separately, and i was going to have another 1 set and sub as is the popular choice. But the problem was these things almost became a hobby, being passed room to room, different combinations tried etc. After trying the 5s and sub in the living room I've never managed to settle on any other combination, and for the first few months i did try swapping back and forth - determined that i wouldn't waste the 5s inbuilt sub.

You should try a pair with your sub for a month, i think you'd be surprised.

I have to see how to make that happen; I doubt I will be surprised though, because I expect it to sound as good as any HiFi set up I have heard and better than most "HiFi" that I have heard as well.

In my book all that would be missing are the classic HiFi speaker looks.

Great feedback back folks. The answer I get here is that you can connect a pair of P5s in stereo and still add the sub. The question now is do you need to. I am buying the 5's and will run them for a month or two before testing a sub. My local guy is pretty good answer will likely be fine with me doing a demo on his sub. I do have a large room so need big sound. Will let you know what my experience is. Thanks, great forum..

Im opting for a sub in the future. I just wish they still made the matte black sub

I questioned the necessity of the sub with my 5(gen2) pair. After rocking it for a few weeks now, periodically turning it off for comparison, there is no going back. It adds so much much depth. The 5’s sounds great on there own. With the sub, the system feels complete 🙂 wasn’t cheap though!