I have about a 2,000sq foot open concept ground floor that is sort of horseshoe shaped and includes an office, dining room, living room, kitchen and den in one sort of continuous wrap around area. I want to fill it with sound from lots of sources for a very wide sound stage for music. My budget is about $1,600 so here is what I'm looking at: Starting on left end of horseshoe a play 1, then progressing into the living room a Play 3. Corner of living room a sub, opposite side of living room going into kitchen a play 3, far end of kitchen in den area a play 1. Pair both 3s in stereo and true play tune w sub. Pair both play 1s in stereo mode as well so you stand in center you have a play 1 and 3 on the left as left channel and a play 1 and 3 on right as a right channel. Group the whole thing together.



My reasons are as follows.....2 play 3s and two play 1s (all are 15 feet from each other) are better sound stage than a pair of play 5s. I want to be able to stand almost anywhere in house and still find myself BETWEEN two speakers.



A pair of play 3s plus sub should give an overall better sound than 2 play 5s and no sub. The play 3s have 3amps, a tweet and two mid speakers each where as a play 5 has 6amps, 3 tweeters and 3 mid woofers. For the extra $100, a pair if 3s is obviously better for sound stage than a single 5. Plus you get a total of 4 mid speakers vs a single 5s 3 mid woofers. You give up a single tweeter but I have that more than covered with the extra play 1s.



Concerning those mid woofers, I believe the bass crossover will render some of the 5s capabilities untapped while the extra mid range capabilities of the 3s will be put to better use in conjunction with a sub. Notice I said "some", not all, although I have read in multiple places that pairing a sub off loads a portion of the adjoining speakers Low frequency tasks onto the sub and utilizes the freed up power in the mid range,...I'm sure those mid woofers in the 5s can certainly produce some rich mids....it doesn't seem like it's being fully utilized as I said.



If Money were no limit I'd put play 3s on the edges and a pair of 5s in the living room but I'm trying to maximize value, A 3 and a 1 is $30 cheaper than a 5 right now and I can separate them for soundstage. Saving $200 a piece on the 3s vs the 5s means a sub is only an extra $200 over the costs of two 5s and after hearing the sub, I absolutely believe two 3s and a sub for an extra $200 sounds better than two 5s.



A couple more thoughts. I'm told the 5s are overkill as rears for playbar but the 1s and 3s are perfect, so I have full intraoperability to customize as I want later.



So, 1,600 for 5 speakers vs about the same money for 3 speakers (two 5s and a sub) and have two 5s that I wouldn't want to ever pair with a play bar and have less soundstage, potentially unused bass and potentially weaker mids and highs. Also about $400 cheaper than two 1s and two 5s and $600 cheaper than two 3s and two 5s.



Okay....thoughts?