3 x Play 5’s or 3 x One’s plus Sub

  • 14 November 2018
  • 5 replies
  • 531 views

I’m looking for three speakers to go on the wall’s in my recently renovated and extended kitchen dinner, which is quite large and has two distinct areas. The dinning area has a very high ceiling so has a large space to fill with sound. I’m undecided - should I go big and buy three Play 5’s or three One’s and a Sub. Reading other discussion groups the One’s would benefit from a Sub and they also have Alexa built in which I would use with my Hue lights, but would the Play 5 provide a much better sound and I then use an Alexa dot? If there is going to be a replacement to the now discontinued Play 3 before Christmas then that could be an alternative option that I wait for?

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5 replies

Userlevel 7
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Not a hint of a replacement for the Play 3 has been mentioned.

I'd be tempted to go with the Play 5s, a stereo pair in the larger area and a single 5 in single-point stereo mode in the smaller area.

If you go with the three Ones you will be able to have a Stereo pair and a mono source. If you add a Sub it will have to be to the single one or the pair, you can't share it among all three.

Maybe four Ones so you have stereo in both areas and pair the Sub with the ones in the largest area? Maybe with the area you use the most? Easy to try it both ways.

I find I really hate mono sound after a while, I have it in a bathroom and the garage but keep thinking about moving the garage Play 1 to the bath and putting one of my Gen 1 Play 5s in the garage. If Santa shows up with a new Gen 2 Play 5 I will but "Santa" is still ticked about her CR-100 going away.
I can't disagree with Stanley here. I'm not exactly sure what the size of the space is, so it's really hard to give more definitive answers. I do like the idea of 2 pairs of Sonos Ones for the space, but I'm not sure having 4 Alexa enabled devices, placed relatively high, is going to be idea. I also think that the kitchen is a great place for an echo show or google home hub. Then again, the Play:5s may look oversized for the space.

No wrong answer here really.
Thanks for the quick responses to my post. Unfortunately two pairs of Sonos One’s will not work with the room layout/fittings. I had not thought of setting up two of the Play 5’s in a stereo pair and the single as single point stereo - I was thinking set them all up as point speaker but I guess that just shows that I’m still finding my way with this! I had not considered an echo show or google home hub - but no reason why not. Any views as to which is better for intergrating with Sonos, Hue, Evo Home, and/or nest Cam which are the other connected devices I have (perhaps this question should be a separate post altogether).
In terms on Sonos integration, we can't really speak on whether the Amazon or Google integration is better. I use the Show myself, but I am considering taking a hard look at the home hub.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Trying different modes for the Play 5s is pretty easy, pair or un-pair and see which you like most.

Set them wide and use the One to fill in the center and where you can get to it to issue voice commands.

Set them closer and set the One across the room to deepen the sound field a bit. I've done that with a pair of 3s and a 1 and was quite impressed at how good it sounded.

Experiment a bit, do run TruePlay for each layout if you can.