Honestly, I’d keep the Ones as surrounds, and just use the new pair of 5s as a stereo pair, in another ‘room’ in the software, for use as music speakers. It’s what I have done, with the PLAY:5s on either side of the TV, just separated a bit more. 

Hi Bruce,

Do you mean use them as a front left and right channel in the living room? I am quite happy with the Playbar for that so far. I am also happy with the surround audio of the ones. My biggest issue is when listening to music, I want better quality from the rear speakers as they are closer to my ears. I’m hoping an upgrade to play 5’s for the rears will make a difference for playing music in “full” mode. I have read on reddit that some users have tried this and love it, I wanted to know if people here have tried this. Have you attempted this? Has anyone else tried this and found better results?

I have tried this and went back to using the One’s instead. It seemed a waste to use the 5’s as surrounds… if anything I would add the Sonos Sub to the setup if you haven’t done that already. That will make a difference to both 5.1 TV surround sound and the music output, particularly when the Surround audio for music is switched from ‘Ambient’ to ‘Full’ in the HT 'Room’ settings.

AnnaR,

Ah I see you have the sub, I missed that. I think you are probably fine with what you have already. You can always try it though and move the speakers you decide not to use to other rooms in the home, perhaps ?

Yes, I meant as a separate “room” than the TV installation, used only for stereo listening of music. I’m of the same opinion as Ken, there just isn’t enough exercise in surround to justify use of PLAY:5s, and when I’m listening to music, I prefer to have the speakers in front of me, using the normal classic triangle for spatial stereo effect, something I don’t get when using surround speakers. 

But no, I’ve never tried using my PLAY:5s as surrounds, but there’s no reason why my preferences should over rule yours. You asked for other’s experiences, I provided mine. The nice thing about Sonos is that it’s flexible. You can try it both ways, and figure out which one works for you. 

I completely agree that they are not necessary as surrounds. I mainly want them at the rear because I sit much closer to the rear speakers than the PlayBar, and I prefer listening to music in the “full” mode as opposed to “ambient”. Right now, I’m wanting better music quality coming from my rear speakers than the One’s are providing.

It sounds like the best thing for me to do is try this and see if it makes a difference. I was hoping to hear from more people here who have attempted this and found it to be better. Once I try this, I will post about my experience with it.

Bruce and Ken, thank you for your input!

Update: I finally caved in and bought two Play 5’s and tried them as surrounds. I am absolutely blown away by the audio detail of the Play 5’s and for my layout, they perfect for both, music and surround sound! I was not happy with the Sonos One’s when it came to music quality as I use the “Full” mode when listening to music and the One’s aren’t the best for that. But the two Play 5’s as rears were the answer for me! The surround sound is much better as well, but where they shine the most is music playback. 

I will provide more details about my room layout and how my new setup with Play 5’s as surrounds is in a different post so that it will hopefully be useful for others. Before buying, I did check out this really useful review where they claimed Play 5’s to be the best as rears. This made me go ahead and try it. If you are on the fence about using two Play 5’s as rears like I was, please read this!

https://www.smarthomesounds.co.uk/blog/faqs/what-sonos-speakers-should-i-choose-for-surround-sound-rears

I'm looking at an Arc / five setup for a 5.0 system. Slightly different, but do you feel the sub is a necessity for your 5.1 system, or is the bass good enough without it?

I definitely like having the sub, but you can try getting the arc and 2 play 5’s as rears and see if you need the sub. If you can afford it though, definitely get the sub too.

We absolutely love our setup. The play 5’s as rears was the best decision we made. They work great for both, music and movies.

Sadly, it's an issue of space. 

While I really like having the sub, I think the bass is plenty even without it. We’ve tried turning it off and on to see how big a difference it makes(the Sonos app allows you to do that), and we definitely prefer having it. That being said, I don’t think it’s a necessity.