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Hi all

A relative has asked me to look into getting wireless speakers for her house.  She listens to classical and pop/rock so will likely be set up by me to use Spotify.

She has 2 small rooms - one living room, and one dining room, which aren’t separated by a door, rather a walk through arch.

I was thinking of getting:

LIVING ROOM - 3 Sonos One’s - 2 in a stereo pair behind the sofa, and one facing you when sitting down.  Would that be better than just the stereo pair.  (Presume 2 stereo pairs would be overkill)

 

DINING ROOM (not used regularly) - 2 Sonos One’s in a stereo pair.  (Dining table in middle of room).

 

Does that make sense?  Total newbie here!

It doesn’t make much sense to have a pair behind the listener in the living room. The stereo effect would largely be lost. Put a pair in front of the sofa. Frankly I’d dispense with the third living room One entirely.

hi @podgeandrodge the Sonos One are, in my humble opinion, a very good choice and with two in the living and one in the dining room it is a good start - if your friend does not plan to use voice commands you could also consider the Sonos One SL model which I am using in my living and dining room - if you are tight on budget you may also look at the IKEA Symfonisk speakers which I am using as well - hope this helps

 

It doesn’t make much sense to have a pair behind the listener in the living room. The stereo effect would largely be lost. Put a pair in front of the sofa. Frankly I’d dispense with the third living room One entirely.

agree about the stereo effect and I have left the concept of having ‘balanced’ stereo - I prefer to have more speakers in the room to perceive a ‘richer’ sound

 

Thank you both!  @ratty take your point.   (As it happens, I think she would be most in the single seat facing the sofa, so will reverse!).  If there was a third mono speaker complimenting the stereo pair would that distort the stereo affect?

 

@el rubio - I’d be a bit like you, but I know this person specifically wants to hear stereo sounds from her classical favourites.

 

Appreciate you both helping me out!

If there was a third mono speaker complimenting the stereo pair would that distort the stereo affect?

 

 

Very much so.  Stereo depends on two distinct channels spaced equally from the listener, preferably in an equilateral triangle with the listener at the point.  Both channels also coming from a single source elsewhere in the room will muddle the effect. 

 

It doesn’t make much sense to have a pair behind the listener in the living room. The stereo effect would largely be lost. Put a pair in front of the sofa. Frankly I’d dispense with the third living room One entirely.

agree about the stereo effect and I have left the concept of having ‘balanced’ stereo - I prefer to have more speakers in the room to perceive a ‘richer’ sound

 

I think ‘diffuse’ might be a better description. It’s okay if you just want a broad spread of sound, but the phase relationships at the listener would be all over the place. 

Ideally, if possible, get kit under the Sonos returns facility so you can test to see how things sound in practice before making final decisions. Nothing beats actual user listening.

Thank you all for your help a while back.  Have installed 2 stereo pairs in the 2 rooms and she is very happy with the great sound!  

 

Had to disable google assistant on one stereo pair as I think it was picking up instructions twice.  And sometimes the sound comes out of her phone as well as the Sonos One’s but I will figure that out in due course.

One question - when using the Sonos app it is possible, having grouped the 2 rooms, to raise one room volume and reduce another, OR, bring both rooms down and up simultaneously.  When using the spotify app (as her library seems difficult to find when accessing Spotify through the Sonos app), it’s only possible to put all volume up or down - correct?  

 

thanks.

When using the Sonos app, yes. When you click on the single volume for the grouped rooms, you can adjust that volume for all of the grouped rooms. At the same time, it pops up a set of individual volume sliders for each room, if you want to adjust just one of the grouped rooms. 

Sorry, not familiar with the Spotify app version. 

hi @podgeandrodge I confirm that in the Spotify app you only have one slider for the volume  - I recommend to use the Spotify service in the Sonos App - this will stream directly from the speakers and she will not have sound coming from her phone - her library can be found in the Sonos Spotify app under ‘Your Playlists’ - hope this helps

 
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