Lyricist I

Answered

Kitchen + Living room combo: setup suggestions

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We are just getting into setting up a Sonos system in a new home. So far we have a couple of P1's upstairs in a bedroom and a bathroom but now we are trying to decide what to add on our main floor kitchen + living room. They are essentially one space, only separated by a freestanding double-sided fireplace. No wall in between them at all.
The kitchen is 20' x 24' and flows right into the living room which is 20' x 16'. So total square footage at about 800 SF.
Was considering either getting two P3's and putting one in the kitchen on top of the cabinets and the other in the living room OR getting one P5 and putting it on top of a cabinet that is closest to the living rroom and angling it out towards both the kitchen and living room.
Thoughts??

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ChrisAnswer

Lead Maestro

Interesting one. I have a somewhat similar 2 room open area (with kitchen peninsula between the 2).

I have my old stereo with speakers in the living room (with a Connect attached) and a Play:5 in the kitchen far end.

I sometimes turn on the living room speakers but 95% of the time I have the Play:5 on and am plenty happy.

I would start with Play:5 instead of Play:3 because it is going to give you better low end (and I think everyone should have the Play:5 as the basis of their system for the simple fact it also gives you an input into system just in case need).

If expand from there my next step would probably be put the Play:5 in living room and put a Sonos One in the kitchen. That gives you the convienience of voice control downstairs. You can group them to get good coverage. And Alexa ability in the kitchen is very handy (alexa add eggs to shopping list, alexa how many tablespoons in a cup, alexa what ingredient can I use instead of milk, Alexa turn on island light ...). Also having a Sonos One you know your future proofing yourself as we know it will allow Airplay2 into sonos echo-system and eventually even respond to Hey Google requests. Hands dirty cutting up onions and feel like a song .... voice control in the kitchen does have the convenience factor off the chart compared to grabbing a controller (I'm a controller fan but voice control has it's time and place).

I know this would be good combo as the 5% of time I'm playing the Play:5 and want some extra coverage I turn on the Play:1 (Bluenote Edition) in adjacent dining room instead of turning on my legacy speaker system/Connect in living room. Works well.

Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)

Edward R

Retired Sonos Staff

Hi, Jhawkrktekt. Welcome to the community. Personally, I would prefer to have the two PLAY:3's for a more even, wider distribution of sound. Both alternatives would be great options, however. Let's wait to hear the opinions of others. Let me know if you need anything else in the meantime.

Try searching our articles for help with your question: https://www.sonos.com/en/support

jannabana69

Prominent Collaborator I

I have a similar floor plan in my home but probably closer to 700 square feet. I have a Playbar, SUB, 2 Play 1s and 2 Play 5s. All are actually mounted on the same wall where the tv is. With just the Play 5’s playing music, the sound is beautiful throughout the space. When I group everything together, there is not one single spot where you cannot hear and feel the music. I know you were asking about the Play 3s but the Play 5s are a different kind of beast all together. Not sure of the wall placement in your area, but I do not think you need to be so worried about placing them directly in the kitchen.

J

JhawkrktektAuthor

Lyricist I

Thanks for the replies. I should have also mentioned that despite the fact we do have a tv in the living room I described, that room is not our main media viewing room. We have a full home theatre setup in our basement for that. So, I don't know that we are interested in the extent of speakers that you mention Janna. Instead We just want to have a quality sounding setup to listen to music in the living room and kitchen as they are the bulk of the main level of the house and the primary social spaces in the home when we have visitors.

I'm just wondering if I could get away with only getting the one P5 and get good coverage in both rooms since they are kind of actually one room only being separated by the fireplace. I tend to think I should go with two P3's like Edward suggests because I am definitely most interested with good, even distribution and coverage, but I want to see what others think.

ChrisAnswer

Lead Maestro

Interesting one. I have a somewhat similar 2 room open area (with kitchen peninsula between the 2).

I have my old stereo with speakers in the living room (with a Connect attached) and a Play:5 in the kitchen far end.

I sometimes turn on the living room speakers but 95% of the time I have the Play:5 on and am plenty happy.

I would start with Play:5 instead of Play:3 because it is going to give you better low end (and I think everyone should have the Play:5 as the basis of their system for the simple fact it also gives you an input into system just in case need).

If expand from there my next step would probably be put the Play:5 in living room and put a Sonos One in the kitchen. That gives you the convienience of voice control downstairs. You can group them to get good coverage. And Alexa ability in the kitchen is very handy (alexa add eggs to shopping list, alexa how many tablespoons in a cup, alexa what ingredient can I use instead of milk, Alexa turn on island light ...). Also having a Sonos One you know your future proofing yourself as we know it will allow Airplay2 into sonos echo-system and eventually even respond to Hey Google requests. Hands dirty cutting up onions and feel like a song .... voice control in the kitchen does have the convenience factor off the chart compared to grabbing a controller (I'm a controller fan but voice control has it's time and place).

I know this would be good combo as the 5% of time I'm playing the Play:5 and want some extra coverage I turn on the Play:1 (Bluenote Edition) in adjacent dining room instead of turning on my legacy speaker system/Connect in living room. Works well.

Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)

jannabana69

Prominent Collaborator I

You would get nice sound with the one Play 5 but if you have never had the chance to hear 2 Play 5s, please demo them somewhere! The 3s are nice, don’t get me wrong but if your paying the amount for 2 Play 3s, seriously consider the pair of 5s. When I brought my pair of 5s home I connected one first and played around. Then I grouped them as a stereo pair and I was floored. When you consider the size of the drivers in these and what they accomplish, it is truly astonishing. Whenever any hears them in my house they have to go feel the sub because they do not believe that the sound is only coming from the 5s. If you are not a bass fanatic you can certainly dial it down.

Chris

Lead Maestro

I have 2 Play:5s in different rooms and I'm always tempted to put them together as a pair in my living room (replacing the wired system with connect).

Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)

jannabana69

Prominent Collaborator I

Do it! All the cool kids are!!!!

Chris

Lead Maestro

I just can't get myself to break from the past with my Living Room system (B&W speakers and Sub with Amp)

Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)

jannabana69

Prominent Collaborator I

Just do it quick like ripping off a band aid. The memories of the B&Ws will soon pass. Not sure if you have towers or bookshelf’s but admit it, you like the sound just as much from the Sonos! Otherwise you wouldn’t be contemplating it.

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