Sub with 5s and Beam
Hi all, first post in the community ? So, I own a pair of Play:5 speakers set up in stereo in my living room, the plan is to eventually add a Sub and a Beam to the room. Ideally I'd like to hear music through the 5s and Sub. Then when watching tv or movies, listen through Beam and Sub. I realise I'll have to keep bonding the Sub to the 5s and Beam everytime I switch, however, will I also need to keep re tuning Trueplay each time I do this? If so, this is a bit of a pain, made even more so by the fact I only own an Android device and had to borrow a friend's Iphone to tune all the speakers I already own. That would probably be enough to put me off if that's the case. Any advice welcome.
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+22I would just leave them bonded all of the time. With the Play:5s set to full mode they will be full stereo when playing music. The addition of the Beam into the mix will sound just fine. I have a Beam and Play:1, Sub system in my sunroom and music sounds terrific on.
Okay I see, so everything will be playing and if I wanted to be picky i can just turn the Beam completely down, so then I'm getting true stereo plus the Sub playing along with them?
+22Actually no - you will only have a single volume control for the entire group. You can't control the volume of each individual speaker in the pairing.
I had reservations on in the past - but once I heard them all together I was very pleased. But yes you will lose that true stereo separation for more of a room filling experience.
I had a playbar in this configuration at one time as well. And being more powerful the playbar did tend to want to overwhelm the stereo of the other speakers into a more surround type experience. But the Beam being smaller it blends in better with music and doesn't make the sound overly spacial. Especially with you having Play:5s as rears (vs. me having Play:1s) - those Play:5s should keep the Beam in check and sound great.
I had reservations on in the past - but once I heard them all together I was very pleased. But yes you will lose that true stereo separation for more of a room filling experience.
I had a playbar in this configuration at one time as well. And being more powerful the playbar did tend to want to overwhelm the stereo of the other speakers into a more surround type experience. But the Beam being smaller it blends in better with music and doesn't make the sound overly spacial. Especially with you having Play:5s as rears (vs. me having Play:1s) - those Play:5s should keep the Beam in check and sound great.
+22Remember also you have to set to FULL mode in advance sound settings for the room. That will make the Play:5s play in full stereo when listening to music instead of acting like surrounds.
My 5s aren't surrounds they're in front for stereo listening, I'm yet to buy Beam and Sub, so I think I'll get the Sub if I can see a decent Black Friday deal and add the Beam next year at some point. I was posting just to see what my set up options were. Now I understand what youre saying, I'll only have one master slider for the grouped speakers.
+22Obviously you can suck it and see but I do have a couple of comments
1) If you do set your 5s as surrounds you really want them in the recommended position relative to your ear - Ie to the left and right of where you sit. The sound is designed to emanate from there and may be rather odd at the front
2) 5s are really a massive overkill for surrounds. Most find Play 1s are more than enough especially with a Sub. - If you went that route you could move the 5s elsewhere for your critical music enjoyment.
1) If you do set your 5s as surrounds you really want them in the recommended position relative to your ear - Ie to the left and right of where you sit. The sound is designed to emanate from there and may be rather odd at the front
2) 5s are really a massive overkill for surrounds. Most find Play 1s are more than enough especially with a Sub. - If you went that route you could move the 5s elsewhere for your critical music enjoyment.
+22If the speakers are paired (like 2 play:5s) they will have one slider. If you pair a 5.1 system (beam, Play:5s, sub) they will again only have one slider.
Now if you have speakers in different rooms with Sonos grouped together for playback - you get master slider and a slider for each various room (Zone).
Play:5s are overkill for Surrounds - but if your still doing a lot music listening in the room they are still better for music (and as I said I think Play:5s paired with Beam will sound terrific).
Now if you have speakers in different rooms with Sonos grouped together for playback - you get master slider and a slider for each various room (Zone).
Play:5s are overkill for Surrounds - but if your still doing a lot music listening in the room they are still better for music (and as I said I think Play:5s paired with Beam will sound terrific).
Chris, the 5s are set up as stereo in front of me and I've never wanted them as surrounds, I think when I said im adding a Beam and Sub to the room, its been assumed im after surround sound, im not, yet. I can get a pair of Play 1s for that in the future. For now I want to add a Sub to the 5s for music and then add a Beam for tv and wanted the Sub for both music and tv and it would seem this set up will require constant bonding and unbonding for switching between music and tv. Bit of a shame .
+22The general consensus is that the Play 5 Gen 2 already have excellent bass. No doubt the addition of a Sub would improve the low response but I'm quite sure the addition of a sub to the Beam would make a much bigger difference to your audio enjoyment than adding it to your Play 5s.
Yes i agree with that, I've just read countless people that have sang the praises of the 5s and Sub combo, I could bond it to the Beam when I eventually buy one and use Sub with 5s till then. The 5s and Sub combo would be a great party system and I'll certainly use it for that
+22The Beam, Play:5, Sub combo is great for party system!
Can't argue with that!
I had reservations on in the past - but once I heard them all together I was very pleased. But yes you will lose that true stereo separation for more of a room filling experience.
I had a playbar in this configuration at one time as well. And being more powerful the playbar did tend to want to overwhelm the stereo of the other speakers into a more surround type experience. But the Beam being smaller it blends in better with music and doesn't make the sound overly spacial. Especially with you having Play:5s as rears (vs. me having Play:1s) - those Play:5s should keep the Beam in check and sound great.
I added a sub to my Beam and rear Sonos Ones today and it’s just as amazing as everyone said. But with rears set to full I can’t get anything from the Apple TV, like Pandora or Apple Music app, to play mostly to the rears. It has to come from either airplay from the respective app or from the Sonos app. Dissapinting since I like to play from the Apple TV and see the album art.
Yes, unfortunately all streaming into the HDMI is treated as TV surround sound.
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