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I've been reading and researching, and have come up with a plan that I'd like verification of to make sure I'm not making a mistake :)



I currently have a home theater setup using a Sony STR-DN840 receiver, along with some old Paradigm tower speakers, as well as a M&K setup with 4 bookshelf, one center and a subwoofer.



I'm looking to get into something that's easy to use (for my wife), that doesn't take a ton of fiddling (the Sony has a lot of audio options for music/movie/PCM/Dolby, etc. etc.), and just basically 'works' while sounding good.



I've been looking into getting first a beam or playbar with some Play 1's or One's, as well as a sub, but then started thinking I could probably incorporate some of my existing kit to save some $, as well as perhaps get a better overall product.



Lately, however, instead of the Beam, I have been looking at the Sonus Amp. Seems to me that it would cover the 'easy/simple' aspect. It would allow me to use the Paradigms as my front L/R speakers as well as the M&K Sub. I think I've got this covered, right?



My first question then, is can I use my bookshelf M&K's as the rear surrounds, or do I have to get Play 1's or One's? I'd like to be able to add a single One outside at some point, or even have it in the garage etc.



My second question, is would it be better sounding and easier to just get a playbar or base, and get Play 1's or One's as the front and rear surrounds?



Any thoughts from the collective - I'd appreciate any input!
First, it’s Sonos, not Sonus.



Yes, you could use the Sonos Amp to drive your front speakers, with the caveat that you’d lose the physical center speaker, and have the interpolated center channel that Sonos calls “phantom”.



Is you wanted to keep your current rear speakers, another Sonos Amp would work, or a like pair of Sonos speakers (PLAY:1s or Sonos Pnes are my recommendation.



If you decide to instead go with a Sonos soundbar, my recommendation is the PLAYBAR. While it’s an older design, I do still prefer a wider sound field up front, where possible.



Note that all Sonos soundbars contain the front left, center and right speakers in a single enclosure, so you wouldn’t be able to add a pair of PLAY:1s up front. But they’re excellent in use as surrounds in the rear, again you can only have two.



One more thing to note is that Sonos can only interpret Dolby Digital and Stereo signals, so any DTS soundtracks would need to be converted to Dolby Digital before it reaches the Sonos system.
I've been reading and researching, and have come up with a plan that I'd like verification of to make sure I'm not making a mistake :)



I currently have a home theater setup using a Sony STR-DN840 receiver, along with some old Paradigm tower speakers, as well as a M&K setup with 4 bookshelf, one center and a subwoofer.



I'm looking to get into something that's easy to use (for my wife), that doesn't take a ton of fiddling (the Sony has a lot of audio options for music/movie/PCM/Dolby, etc. etc.), and just basically 'works' while sounding good.



I've been looking into getting first a beam or playbar with some Play 1's or One's, as well as a sub, but then started thinking I could probably incorporate some of my existing kit to save some $, as well as perhaps get a better overall product.



Lately, however, instead of the Beam, I have been looking at the Sonus Amp. Seems to me that it would cover the 'easy/simple' aspect. It would allow me to use the Paradigms as my front L/R speakers as well as the M&K Sub. I think I've got this covered, right?



Correct.





My first question then, is can I use my bookshelf M&K's as the rear surrounds, or do I have to get Play 1's or One's? I'd like to be able to add a single One outside at some point, or even have it in the garage etc.




In order to use your M&Ks are rear surrounds, you would need to get a 2nd Sonos amp to power them. The two amps would be 'bonded' together to be a single zone. So that's not going to be cheaper than a pair of Sonos speakers....but if you really like the M&Ks, you can do that.



My second question, is would it be better sounding and easier to just get a playbar or base, and get Play 1's or One's as the front and rear surrounds?




I don't know your existing speakers well enough to answer that. One thing to consider is that you'll be able to use Trueplay with the Sonos speakers. My guess is that you'll be happy with the setup either way.



Any thoughts from the collective - I'd appreciate any input!




One thing to consider is that Sonos only does DD5.1 or PCM stereo. It does not do DTS. So if you watch a lot of blurays and don't have a compatible player, it's something to deal with. Also, you may want consider keeping your system as is and just adding a Sonos Connect as an audio source. That might not meet the wife test though.



edit: Bruce beat me to it.
At least we have the same answers 😉
haha yes I know it's SonOs, but for some reason put Sonus!



Thanks guys - I think it gives me some ideas. One thing I wished is that the PLAYBAR was not so long in the tooth compared to the Beam and its newer functions.
In the grand scheme of things, they work the same way. The PLAYBAR is missing the voice command and HDMI-CEC stuff, but in my home, that's not an issue. In terms of interpreting a Dolby Digital signal, it's exactly the same software.



And no worries about the Sonos/Sonus thing, it's both a spell checker issue, and there's actually a company called Sonus that makes speaker stands and mounts, among other things 🙂

Well well well- it’s been a few months. About 2 weeks ago I said ‘screw it’ and drove to Costco and bought the Beam and two Play 1’s. 
 

For music, the sound is good. I’d like a little more bass but it’s pretty damn good especially since there’s no sub in the mix. 
 

overall however, I do want a sub, or at least more bass.  Here’s my dilemma…

 

I can buy a Sonos sub. Yeah it’s pricey. Or I could buy an Amp and connect my existing, and really good M&K sub, fir a smidge less. 
 

In addition, I could swap the Beam for a Playbar in the hope that you also get a deeper sound. I’d lose the HDMI CEC, but I don’t know if it’s necessary at this point.  The Beam, while sounding good, is not exactly what I hoped for. 
 

too bad there’s not a Playbar v2 which has the Playbar upgraded to the Beam’s newer tech. 
 

Anyhoo, thoughts on a Sonos sub vs the Amp plus use my existing really good sub?

 

and Beam vs Playbar, considering what else I now have?

 

thanks everyone!
 

 

I still prefer the wider sound stage if the PLAYBAR to the Beam. Sure, I hope that Sonos will update the hardware some time, and I will replace both of mine when they do, but they run the software and play Dolby Digital just fine, so I don’t have to think about them at this point. Who knows, maybe they’ll run a similar trade up program for my current PLAYBARS like they have announced today for many of their older speakers  

I am a fan of using the Sonos SUB rather than a third party sub due to the integration in software that Sonos has done. I don’t need to worry about separate volumes, or cutoff frequencies, etc. It just works, and works extremely well. 
 

But that’s just my perspective. 
 

 

The playbar is going to give you a bit more bass, but in my opinion, not enough to satisfy that itch for more bass.  I would go with the Sonos sub as a beam + sub is going to work better than a playbar alone.  You could switch to a Sonos amp setup, but personally, I would at least try out the sub to see what you think before moving away from the Beam.

Thanks guys 👍

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