Beam + 2 Play One's or Beam + 2 Play 1's?

I agree with your plan. The play:1s should be fine for surround sound duty. The best reason to get the Ones would be if the Beam has trouble hearing you. I believe it will be good, but if you putting Ones on nightstands in your bedroom for example, maybe that's better.

Another vote for the P1s. I can’t tell much difference between the two (have a pair of each in the same room), to my ears they are very similar. And as the Beam will have all the ‘new’ functionality built in, then you might as well take the saving. The more I listen to them, flat out the P1 is the best ‘bang for buck’ speaker that Sonos sells. Awsome bits of kit!

Your plan is very sound. From a “smarts” perspective the Beam has what you need. No need to duplicate or triplicate it within the same set up once you have decided to stick with that set up. If you had in your mind flexibility and the possibility of moving the surrounds to other rooms later for pure audio and smart home duties maybe. But if I were you I would stick with the P1s.

Thanks guys! I'm definitely reassured that I'm making the right choice by going with the Play 1's. I've no plans at the moment about changing the set up so I'll be good for the foreseeable future :D

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

Has anyone done a comparison? Do you have to yell at the Beam for its Alexa to hear you? Can you speak at a more normal voice to request Alexa if you're surrounded by Ones?

My wife and I use a Beam and two Play:1’s in our Dining Room... sound is great for both TV and Music. We love it !

We find that the Alexa Mic picks up our instructions really well indeed. No complaints at all here and love the 5.0 surround sound.

The Bass level is good too and so I’m not thinking of adding a sub as the low tones are fine for our room/ears.

Has anyone done a comparison? Do you have to yell at the Beam for its Alexa to hear you? Can you speak at a more normal voice to request Alexa if you're surrounded by Ones? No I haven't done a comparison yet. Maybe I will in the future but the Beam can easily pick up my voice from across the room when either music, TV shows or movies are playing. Now I haven't tested it at ridiculously loud levels yet but so far so good.

My wife and I use a Beam and two Play:1’s in our Dining Room... sound is great for both TV and Music. We love it !

We find that the Alexa Mic picks up our instructions really well indeed. No complaints at all here and love the 5.0 surround sound.

The Bass level is good too and so I’m not thinking of adding a sub as the low tones are fine for our room/ears. I'm in total agreement with you on this 😃 I'm no audiophile but it works great for what want it to do. I don't feel the need for the sub either but if they release a cheaper one, I may consider it.

FYI, when Sonos Ones are setup as surround speakers with a Beam, the microphones on the Ones are automatically turned off. I didn't know that at the time of my previous post. So I'd say there is really even less reason to get a Sonos One over a Play:1. It's mostly a matter of cost and which one looks best.

As far as Alexa hearing you, I've had no issue out of the norm issues with Alexa. I used to have a dot on my nightstand, and now I have the Beam across the room. I haven't really changed the volume of my voice. In general, I find it best to speak relatively loud, slightly above normal conversation, no matter where I am in a room, to Sonos or echo devices.

Melvimbe,

I didn’t realise that the mic's were turned off on a Sonos One either, when used in a bonded setup... everyday is a school day, it seems.

I would stick with the Play 1’s aswell. They’re still a great speaker.