Skip to main content

I’m in the process of filling my whole house with Sonos speakers (aren’t we all?). I’m not getting into the super fancy ceiling speakers or anything so for music my choices are pretty limited, One or Five. I really like to have a wide sound field so for each room I have to decide either a pair of Ones or a pair of Fives, essentially $360 or $1000 per room. I suspect that given this huge increase in price none of my rooms will end up with Fives and I’m going to have a whole bunch of One SLs everywhere. I love the Ones but always wonder how much better each room would sound with Fives. Sure would be nice if there was some middle option for like $300-350 per speaker so I could put something just a little better in some rooms.

You can find used Play:5s on eBay or Mercari for under $400.

Why not use a pair of Moves?  Although not the equivalent of a play:3 exactly, I feel as if it’s fairly close in sound quality.  You’re paying a little more, but getting the advantage of mobility.  You can’t use Moves in a home theatre setup, but this doesn’t sound like what you’re looking for, and would likely be overkill anyway.

Are you S1 still or S2?  If you plan on staying S1 you can go the ebay/Mercari route or maybe even refurbished on Sonos. I am all S2 so I have one just sitting around unused. I am sure their are a lot of the play 5s out there. You can probably do the same with play 3s as thoseare S2 capable for now. 

I think the move suggestion is a good one. Add a few spare charging docks and you can move them from room to room as you like. I think the moves sound better than the 3 which i always felt was the weak link in the range of that generation. A pair of 5s is a big step up over a pair of Ones in ‘quality’, output and price! Though at £800 a pair the Moves are not exactly that much cheaper than a pair of 5s. 
 

I agree it would be handy if they had a middle of the road option. 

Wish Move has the Sonosnet option, but definitely agree it’s a good compromise for OPs situation. Slightly ot question: has the move battery drain been fixed yet?

I really prefer stereo sound so for me a pair of One SLs is the sweet spot for rooms that don’t get a Beam/Sub/SL set.

I have an old pair of 3s that sound pretty good but I don’t hear a lot of difference from my SLs.

Terms & ConditionsCookie settings