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Best Sonos stereo pair for music

  • 17 February 2024
  • 3 replies
  • 227 views
R
Userlevel 1

I love my Sonos setup (Arc, One SLs and Sub gen3) for  my home cinema. Recently, I started listening to music again. Most of my playlists are from the 90s and early 2000s. I soon realized that my Sonos 5.1.2 setup isn’t right for music, something wasn’t there which wasn’t giving me that nostalgic feeling. I missed my 1000W Sony Hifi system. I did some experimenting to understand what’s wrong with my Sonos setup and I came to a conclusion that music to me sounds best in Stereo Mode and Sonos setup lacks that stereo separation and clarity. So, whenever I listen to music I do the following: I go in my Sonos app>system>surround sound and turn the music playback to “full” and set the music level to max (+15). This puts my Sonos One SLs in a Stereo pair like mode. I also turn off the sub so that the woofer of One SL become active and I get a stereo bass. It works great for music listening when I want to sit and listen to relaxing tracks. The issue is that a pair of One SL seem under powered when I want loud bass heavy content. I thought about other alternatives to Ones but it’s disappointing that Sonos doesn’t make any other large mono speaker that would come with a larger woofer and tweeter. An Era100 is a stereo speaker with it’s speakers pointing left and right. Era300 would be a total mess of a stereo pair for music. They have Fives that could be the closest to what I need but even five is a stereo speaker with its speakers angled left and right. My questions are:

1): Have any of you guys compared the soundstage of a pair of vertically positioned Fives with a pair of Ones? Is the stereo soundstage of a pair of Fives as clear and precise as that of the pair of Ones? 
2): If I use Fives as surrounds and do the same in my app what I described above, will it give me a stereo soundstage? Or will it be a 4 channel soundstage? (Not sure if fives as surrounds render a 5.1.2 setup or a 7.1.2 setup. 
Would love to hear from you guys, what setup you like the best for music listening.

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Best answer by Ken_Griffiths 17 February 2024, 19:59

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3 replies

Ken_Griffiths

I don’t personally understand why anyone likes their speakers behind their listening position for music listening - I just see that as being similar to turning your back to the soundstage. I guess though it’s each to their own.

In my own use-case I have an Arc with Era-300 surrounds and Sub for TV Home Theatre surround sound and I have put two Fives set vertical (tweeters on the inside) out in front of my ’sweet spot’ position to listen to stereo music.

So my thoughts are, if you’re considering getting larger speakers to use as rears, maybe leave the One-SL’s in situ and put a pair of Fives (and maybe another Sub) out in front of your listening position, that’s if your room will perhaps allow that to happen.

R
Userlevel 1

Sorry, let me add, yes I face my One SLs while listening to music, obviously I can’t sit on my TV facing couch, I rather turn a couch/chair to face the Ones. I know it’s a hassle. Unfortunately, my current room design & setup doesn’t allow me to add Fives in-front I.e. on either sides of my TV. But back to my original question, how’s the soundstage of a stereo pair of Fives? I have doubts considering its speakers are aggressively angled towards sides.

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

You may be misunderstanding how the individual drivers in the Five are used.

Said better at the link: In single speaker mode sitting flat the angled tweeters are used to give a mild stereo effect. In Paired stereo mode the angled tweeters aren’t used.

https://www.sonos.com/en-us/guides/five

Versatile design with smart orientation sensing. Pair two speakers horizontally and Five automatically separates the left and right channels for impressive stereo sound. When paired vertically, each smartly adjusts to mono for more detailed stereo separation and an even wider soundstage.

I’d get a pair of Fives, try them out. Move your Sub to the Paired Fives and try that. Decide where you like the Sub best or if you want two.

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