Adding a Play:5 to a pair of 2 Play 1's?

  • 11 May 2019
  • 5 replies
  • 422 views

Hey there,
I'm getting a pair of Play:1 in a couple of weeks.
My question is should i consider buying a Play:5 too?
I wanna let them all 3 play in the same room.
left Play:1, middle Play:5, right Play:1
I want to do this because i have concerns that the bass is too weak with only a pair of Play 1?
I don't want to get a Sub because of my neighbours but the bass should be noticable and punchy.
And could it be that the addition of a play:5 would "destroy" the stereo sound of the 2 ones or could it even expand the sound?

Thanks in advance.

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5 replies

I think you are right to be wary of muddying the stereo by sticking a P:5 in the middle. You would not be able to Trueplay tune them as a unit either. For not too much more money you could get a pair of P:5s, with excellent bass and clean stereo. A much better result, IMO.
I think you are right to be wary of muddying the stereo by sticking a P:5 in the middle. You would not be able to Trueplay tune them as a unit either. For not too much more money you could get a pair of P:5s, with excellent bass and clean stereo. A much better result, IMO.

Thanks for the answer.But i have to say that i'm getting the two play:1s for free from my internet provider.
I wanna' pair them in Stereo but my only concearn is the lack of bass.
But i don't want a "Sonos Sub level of bass".
Maybe i could use the play:5 behind me and the stereo ones in front of me?
And for trueplay...i don't own an apple device^^`

I wanna' use them for music only(pop,rock,metal) in my living room (6x4m)
I would suggest that a pair of PLAY:1s would do a fairly good job, relatively speaking, with bass. I'd try it first, before springing for the extra PLAY:5. I do agree with John's assessment of the muddying of the normal stereo aspect provided by the pair of PLAY:1s. And the difficulty of TruePlay, if you have an iOS device.

It does, of course, depend on what kind of music you listen to, and what kind of bass you're looking for. That's a very subjective thing. I do find that I consider the bass produced by my PLAY:1s to be quite satisfactory for what I use them for. However, I do happen to like my SUB when I'm playing a movie on my PLAYBAR.
I would add a Sub to the 1 pair; I think that would serve better than a 5 pair without one.
There is a misunderstanding about the Sub in that it is anti-social. Yes, that is so, if you play movies with effects very loud, or likewise music with a prominent bass beat. But if you play music at civilised levels in the first place, the Sub merely rounds out the bass side of things, it does not turn civilised to rowdy. And playing late at night, with low volume levels, the Sub allows the music to still sound full/rich and not too thin as it does otherwise at low volume levels.
As to trueplay, it is highly recommended. You just have to borrow an iPhone once to do it, if thereafter you do not change the locations of the speakers.
All good contributions. As Bruce said, try the 1s before you buy anything else.