I am looking to improve my current Sonos setup; I use the current setup within my games room for entertainment so I can stream music from YouTube, or Apple Music (I appreciate that the quality is dependent on the streaming service and the subscription/configuration).
I currently have an Arc sound bar below my TV which is mounted on the wall and a Sonos amp driving two 8 inch ceiling speakers towards the rear of the room. I also have a Sonos subwoofer to one-side.
I’ve been looking at the Sonos Era 100, or 300 although I don’t have an ideal place to position this speaker and not sure if I need Dolby Atmos! The other option that I was considering was the Sonos Five and placing them each side of the TV about 2 meters away.
Does anyone have any recommendations or suggestions to improve and optimise the sound. I don’t use the room for movies generally, so I suppose the sound that I’m looking for is a more hi-fi effect than surround sound.
I do have a pair of Sonos Play 1 that I could move from another room and try to see if this enhances the music audio, which I might do next anyway.
I look forward to your thoughts.
Best hi-fi setup for my games room
Best answer by nik9669a
Try those Play:1’s and add the Sub to them, and assess that sound. Don’t complicate things with the Arc etc. If you like that, but perhaps they’re not enough for the room size, go for two Fives or Era 300’s, plus a Sub.
Fives are the optimum speakers for stereo, one in each front corner, Paired and maybe Grouped with the Arc.
Grouping in the Arc and switching the Amp from Ambient to Full mode will take care of the rear of the room.
Try those Play:1’s and add the Sub to them, and assess that sound. Don’t complicate things with the Arc etc. If you like that, but perhaps they’re not enough for the room size, go for two Fives or Era 300’s, plus a Sub.
Going that route, break the Amp out of the Arc Room and make it a Room too. Grouped with Play 1s and a Sub it might work. If not then the Fives.
I do like my 300s but I do Atmos and have them positioned to do it well. The Five is better for stereo in my experience.
A different option, add two more ceiling speakers to the Amp and make it a Room. If Sonos/Sonance maybe add four?
I’ve had to place speakers on the long wall of a rectangular room. I went for an Era 300 pair (with Sub Mini).
Whilst I mostly listen to stereo, the wide soundstage the Era 300’s provide is great, and the traditional stereo “sweet spot” is incredibly wide, giving good stereo sound in a very wide area. The way we use the room, with furniture (and seating) being moved around a lot, I don’t think we’d get the same results from a pair of Fives.
Yes, the Fives may be more “hifi”, but the Eras are better suited to my requirements.
I’m a fan of my pair of PLAY:5 Gen 2s for stereo listening. The Arc, Sub and surrounds are for TV watching (well, movies, really). So I’d go with a pair of Fives…but none of the suggestions above are bad.
Thanks for all your suggestions.
I’ve moved my P1’s into the games room and set them up as a stereo pair after removing them from the current surround setup. This appeared to work using Apple Music streaming service, however as soon as I switched to the TV I lost sound to the Sub and Amp!
I then removed the Sub and Amp from the games surround System which then allowed me to join the Sub to the P1 System and setup a separate one for the Amp.
This allowed me to set them up into a new Group for this room which has improved the sound reach to the front and sides of the TV, so there is an improvement.
It takes a while to get used to switching between the TV and the streaming service… making sure all the speakers are connected in the new Group and remain connected. I did loose the sound whilst switching between the inputs, but I don’t know if that was me, or the system just being laggy.
You have to be careful when adjusting the volume as I ended up adjusting the Arc level and wondered why the sound level was different through the other speaks, however if you use the volume control at the bottom of the Sonos app it will change all the volume levels. The TV remote control caught me out as well as this now only changes the volume on the Arc.
I’ll keep playing with the current setup although it’s still not at a HiFi level so I maybe expecting too much.
I’ll probably go for Era 100 as they fit the size of room and do give me a more balance sound within the room.
I really appreciate All your suggestions and ideas.
+18Calling Play 1 speakers P1 is very confusing to me,
I’m also not completely sure if you aren’t confusing “groups” with “rooms”. If you really are using groups to play TV sound the grouped speakers will lag behind.
Only when grouped with a home theater speaker, like the Amp (used as a home theater device), the Ray, the Beam, or the Arc (for that matter, the PLAYBAR or PLAYBASE).
For what it’s worth, the difference between ‘bonded’ and ‘grouped’ is covered in the Sonos terminology thread.
Enter your E-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.