SONOS is not designed for this sort of application. 

If you attempt to show a video, you will notice a lip sync issue between ARC and the other speakers. In very specific situations you may be able to minimize the issue, but this ability is tied to the specific equipment involved and I will not attempt to describe possible equipment combinations that might minimize the issue because a software update might compromise a previously acceptable situation.

You can add a second SUB to ARC. Placing SUB in a room corner will increase its impact. You can also add a SUB to each single or pair of ONE’s and FIVE’s. Room “shake” is mostly a bass characteristic. FIVE’s will bellow louder than ONE’s.

Really appreciate the feedback.

the system is used 99% for music so not too concerned with the lip sync aspect.

Hi

If you really want to rattle the room(s) as you say below is my suggested Sonos layout. 

• The Arc needs to go. It is intended for movies first and music second. It also may add unwanted color to music.
• The One’s should go as well. Mixing One’s with Five’s...people will hear the difference in the dynamics of the music when in proximity of one versus the other.
• All speakers should be Five’s. They will deliver the best dynamic. 
• None of the Fives should be in a stereo pair. Creating a stereo pair means that depending upon the persons position in the room they may lose information from the left or right speaker creating a disorientation. Having each speaker play as an independent unit means no matter the persons position in the room they all hear the same audio.
• Each sub will only be bonded to a single Five. When grouped all speakers will benefit.
• The subs should be placed where they can best perform which is typically in a corner.

Alternate Option for the room on the right would place the Fives on the same wall as the doors. Doing so will push the audio towards the middle room; as do the speakers on the far left wall. .

That’s my suggestion. I realize it may be a bit expensive; but that’s how I would sound the room(s). Some may suggest Sonos In-Ceiing speakers by Sonance. IMO you will not get the dynamics you want versus the Fives.

This is incredible feedback.

I wish I asked this before I purchased the speakers or I would have followed your directions to a T.

Any recommendations if you can’t get rid of the my current set up. How would you place 
 

x2 Sub gen 3

X6 SL Ones

X3 Fives
x1 Arc

Thanks again!

OK…

1. I’d still ditch the Arc 
2. I’d move the Five’s in the main room and place one on the North wall and the other on the South wall where the Arc is now. Your current positioning of those speakers has music radiating into the face of some of your patrons. You want the music to ‘sweep” over you patrons.
3. The One’s currently on the North wall I’d place in opposite corners diagonally across for each other. I’d acquire two more One’s and place them diagonally in the other corners.
4. The Five in the room on the right I’d leave in place. The One’s currency in that room I’d place in opposite corners diagonally across for each other I’d acquire two more One’s and place them in opposing corners as I suggested above.
5. I recommend another Five positioned between the One’s on the curved wall.
6. Acquiring a 3rd Sub for the room with the curved wall is recommended.
7. Go with Option 6 instead of option 5; if you just want to get more rumble. 
8. Alternatively, you can make the recommended adjustments and ignore those in red...but still ditch the Arc! 

OK...you’re still spending more money...I get that. However, Sonos One’s, Fives and Subs can be purchased on eBay for 60% to 75% of original retail. As an eBay seller myself your cost after tax and shipping would probably equal the same as if you purchased the products new at retail which is $2,224 (with no tax). It could be even less if the seller offers Free Shipping and/or a Best Offer. 

That’s all I have. Good luck with whatever decision you make! 

Gunna dive into this once the kids go to sleep.

THANK YOU!!!

Just as a note, if you purchased these from Sonos originally, there is a return period. 

This is what I came up with your instructions. Any other modifications besides ideally adding a 4th sub.

Thanks again for this! 

That looks great!

The only change I’d make would be to move the Sub (south end of Main room) into the same area as the Five on the far left. Place it in the (south) corner below the One. You can move it back later or add another sub depending upon how things sound.  

The nice thing about the subs is that you can move them about to get the best overall effect. You may have to experiment with different locations before settling on the best one.

Remember, that when using Trueplay you’ll have to tune each speaker individually. Each Five/Sub combo will Trueplay as a single unit. Make sure you’re well rested on tuning day! 

I guess your kids are in bed? FYI, that’s where I'm headed. So, if you reply tonite I probably won't respond until tomorrow afternoon. I have to be up a 3:30AM tomorrow_bummer!! 

SUB effectiveness varies with their location in the room. You can explore this while walking the room, very close to the walls. Play a thumping track while carrying a handful of Post-It’s and a magic marker. As you walk you’ll discover locations where the bass is accentuated. Deposit a Post-It here and continue the walk. You’ll also discover a few locations where the bass seems doubly accentuated. Mark these Post-It’s with !!. The Post-It locations are known as “peaks” and you will notice that they are more or less regularly distributed in the space. About midway between the peaks is a “null” where the bass will be noticeably less. This is a symmetric effect. By this I mean that SUB’s placed at peaks will be more efficient at delivering bass into the room. Obviously you’ll want to place SUB’s at !! peaks in this application.

Hi

One more point...you’ll need to devise a simple naming convention for each speaker (i.e. One’s and Fives) the subs when bonded to the Five’s will become part of that room. Here’s my suggestion….

Starting from the Sonos One in the upper left corner (North wall) and moving clockwise:

• Sonos One = Gym One
• Sonos Five/Sub = Gym Two
• Sonos One = Gym Three

So on an so on….

• The last Sonos One = Gym Fourteen 

As was mentioned earlier you’ll need to tune (TruePlay) each room individually. Hopefully you have; or can borrow, an iOS device. If you experiment with the sub placements you will need to re-tune each time you move the sub (not all fourteen just the Five/Sub) combo.

Here’s my last suggestion…

Given that bodies can interfere with Wi-Fi I suggest connecting a Sonos Boost to your router to create the SonosNet. Unless you have an extremely good Wi-Fi system the Boost provides a stronger 2.4Ghz signal.

Awesome!

So you do not recommend pairing the 2 One that are in each corner. 

10 SL One’s would:

• Sonos Pair 1 = Gym One

Not looking forward to the true play aspect. 

Have everything purchased but 2 additional fives. Getting those now!
 

When you Pair you go to Stereo mode and end up with the two channels not sounding right unless you and both speakers are in the right spots.

Single uses mono which doesn’t have the positioning issues.

You should experiment with the stereo pairs. You’ll need to decide what is “best”. Note that horizontal FIVES are stereo. You can also experiment with this orientation.

In a space such as this a “left” and “right” side of the room is usually not optimal. Alternating L/R around the room is more appropriate. While L/R will be swapped for some listeners, everyone will have the benefit of L/R. Again, you can experiment with this without rewiring anything.

@onac5656 

Sorry for the late response. 

Personally, I would not create stereo pairs for the reasons I stated earlier in this thread. I’d want every person to hear the same audio constantly without losing left or right depending upon their position in the room. However, you can experiment as @buzz suggested.

Note, however, that the SonosNet signal used by the BOOST is also Wi-Fi, and would be potentially affected by those multiple bodies. Anything that uses a radio signal could be impacted, whether it’s ‘visible’ wifi, or SonosNet, which is just an ‘invisible’ version of wifi. 

I recommend wiring as many units as possible.

To clarify….wiring a speaker or speakers creates the SonosNet. If possible run and Ethernet cable between as many speakers as you can back to your router. You may have to use an unmanaged switch. 

Update:

Only missing 2 Ones and a Sub, which should be here by Thursday.

All the new recommendations / speakers /

suns are plugged in and currently on the floor and the rooms are already blasting ! Can’t wait till I get them mounted.

question do I want the ones as high as possible in the corner of the walls? 

I Might have to mount the subs to keep them from getting stolen. Should I still find a corner for them?

appreciate all the help! Expensive but a huge difference

Thanks for the update!

Typically the One’s should only be 8 ft above floor, mounted on the North and South walls and angled slightly downward.

The subs should be in the corners and resting on the floor for optimal affect.

Subs being stolen…didn’t see that one coming 🫤. Given that people coming to your gym are in pretty good shape…I still can’t see someone casually walking out with a sub unnoticed (they aren’t exactly feather lite) .

You could remove them each night and secure them in a locked room/closet. You’d have to mark each sub so that each one is returned to the same spot. You could outline the floor placement with tape to place the sub inside of it. However, being positioned 1 inch off center left or right shouldn’t affect the tuning.

Question: How were you planning to mount the subs???

The physics couldn’t care less about the possibility of theft. Placing SUB in a corner will increase its efficiency. A three way corner (floor or ceiling) is more efficient than a two way corner (wall/wall, wall/floor, or wall/ceiling). The peaks and nulls that I mentioned above actually occur in three dimensions. A taller or shorter person on my Post-It parade will have slightly different results and once you are adept at finding peaks and nulls, you’ll be able to discover smaller peaks and nulls in three dimensions throughout the room.

Likely you have a drop ceiling. In this case SUB will be more efficient on a floor corner than a ceiling corner.

I recommend mounting the ONE’s above the crowds. Making a point of mounting them as high as possible, is not the most productive use of their output. To some extent the highs of any speaker beam and the beam apex angle decreases as frequency increases. If you want to mount the speakers very high, angle them toward the coverage area.

Thanks for the 8ft above floor feedback for the one’s, that is now being implemented on installation. 

What is your recommended above floor height for the 5’s? 

Yea this is a high school gym and has a good amount of foot traction with outsiders. Not just our kids but outsiders have to walkthrough the gym to get to the wrestling room. NOT ideal but I like your idea to just lock them up each day then put back at the same spot. 

Here’s the link to mounting the subs I was going to use:

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-Tt7slKUKLgL/p_870SUBB/Flexson-FLXSUBB.html?XVINQ=GZ0&XVVer=T5G&awcr=628588405846&awdv=c&awnw=g&awug=9021756&awkw=pla-298164792395&awmt=&awat=pla&gclid=CjwKCAjw04yjBhApEiwAJcvNoSrdCiuqOhlzvp979fd4tRJ28dTE7Gp37RIXmQnjzXUD657M2XajohoCz3AQAvD_BwE

As long as the chain does not rattle (perhaps rubber covered) I don’t think that there will be a major impact on sound if you looped an anchor chain through the port.

@onac5656

Hi

The Fives should be mounted at same height as the One’s.

The mount you are considering for the Sub is not a security mount. It just attaches to the wall and the sub is hung from a hook through the port and held in place via suction cups.

Removing the subs at night would be my choice. Putting a chain through the port as suggested by @buzz may stop the theft but you may still wind up with a damaged sub.

Thieves tend to get frustrated when they can’t get their way and then try to destroy the object of their desire. Think taking a hammer to the sub. Dealing with high schoolers the rage to destroy what they can’t have IMO would be very high.

Meeting with the install guy tomorrow, will provide your exact feedback for implementation. 

So the Sub in the small room should go into a corner, Does it matter which one?