We are moving to a 3K square foot house.
Config is the following:
1. Family Room - 65" TV over fireplace Room has high ceilings and is prob 25X20
2. Smallish Office - 55" TV
3. Master BR - 50" TV
4. Enclosed Sun Room/Patio
5. Eventually, backyard
Help!!! We really want it uncluttered, and don't want overkill for sound in the BR or office.
I want to go all Sonos, but I am thinking for TV sound maybe a soundbar/sub combo from Sony or Denon or Klipsch is a better option, and I would stick to Sonos for music? Thank you.
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Userlevel 4
+13
TV over fireplace? 😞
Overall, there are some limitations with Sonos Playbar/base (presumably you'd go bar if this is being wall mounted), in particular with respect to audio passthrough and codec. I'd suggest you make sure that your television can pass the audio signal via it's optical port as a first step.
The benefit to an all Sonos setup is clear. You'll have an incredibly clean, easy setup, especially if you're going to be using Sonos for music anyway.
#1 This depends on what experience you're looking for to be honest. The playbase/bar paired with a subwoofer offers exactly the listening experience I wanted in my living room. If you want the absolute best home theater, including things like Dolby Atmos, you're going to need a different vendor. Your cost difference could be negligible, but the complexity will go up.
#2, #3 0 You mentioned you didn't want overkill, but that's hard to quantify. Again, Playbase/playbar would probably offer a suitable listening experience, this time without a subwoofer. You'll have to be the final judge of that. I'd strongly encourage you to find a local retailer (ex Best Buy in USA) that has them on "display".
In truth, it's probably more expensive than you need. I went with a Samsung HW-K650 in our mid-large size bedroom. It has a subwoofer and a center channel for speech (the difference is marked when listening to the model down vs it). Obviously, it lacks the Sonos sound in most ways, but we have "perma-paired" it with a Echo Dot to cover our needs. It more than fills the room with sound, and we got it for about $250 on sale. (Edit: It also has more base with the dedicated sub than the Playbase to my ear, but in a slightly smaller room you'd find the Playbase perfect.)
If cost is a strong concern, I'd struggle to recommend the Playbase for twice as much. I love the Playbase, and I've had almost none of the bad experiences others have. But we have to be realistic about how much use it'll get in these other rooms to decide whether it's worth the added cost.
#4 Size would be relevant here, but this may be an excellent place for a pair of Play 1s. I'd almost always recommend paired Play 1s, as it provides such an upgraded experience from a standalone speaker.
#5 Sonos doesn't actually sell anything rated for outdoor use, and accordingly I wouldn't recommend you installing any of their gear outside.
I know there's not a lot of definitive answers there, but hopefully that serves as a starting point.
So, you have two basic problems here: TV sound, and pure music.
1. Family Room - 65" TV over fireplace Room has high ceilings and is prob 25X20
2. Smallish Office - 55" TV
3. Master BR - 50" TV
Each of these comes down to it depends how much sound quality you want versus music. To pair with a TV, you'll need either a bar or base, and those come with their own complexity issues compared to other systems. But, basically, you have two choices for sound from each TV: sound bar, or discrete speakers.
For the family room, I'd suggest that whichever you go with, you get a standalone AVR to power it. Even powering a passive sound bar, you have more amplifier power for the room, but there's also one other major consideration: a receiver does AV switching and upscaling. Since that TV is being mounted above the fireplace, you'll have to run a connection to it, and Sonos requires running every single source independently to the TV ... and that's a lot of wires involved. With an AVR, you plug the device into the AVR and it sends whatever you want up a single cable to the TV. Yes, HDMI switchers exist, but then you're limited to only HDMI sources, ever (so no hooking up an old VCR, or anything else really, some day), and the AVRs do a better job - plus, nowadays, they're pretty cheap for a good one.
Coupled with the size of the room, and I'd think that a 5.1 or even a 7.1 system (depending on layout) will give your family room the best sound. Side and rear speakers can still be wireless, depending on the system, and if you're worried about complexity, pick up a Logitech Harmony remote (actually, do that for all of your TVs anyway - you'll thank me). In this setup, the extra surround speakers can also be used for music as well, to give it quadraphonic spaciousness and to fill the room better - something Sonos can't do without breaking, then re-creating the surround system each time you want to change modes. For Sonos music, just use a Sonos connect to feed it into your AVR as just yet another source. You can get this professionally installed, and given the proper Sonos solution for a 20x25 room would be a bar, sub, and two play:5's, it's not cheap either way.
For the small office, I'd probably get two separate systems, actually. An inexpensive sound bar for TV audio, and a pair of Play 1's or 3's or similar (or even a single play 5) for music. At least in most offices I've seen, good placement for music is very different than good placement for the TV, and, honestly, there's not that big of a benefit to combining them in a space like this. Despite being separate and more equipment, it's not any more difficult to use at all than just a plain old Sonos bar - and the experience will almost certainly be better.
For the bedroom, that's usually where a Play base or bar comes into its own. Music and TV audio share the same sound stage, and the lower amount of equipment really helps in a bedroom.
An enclosed sun room/patio, any of the portable models will work, so long as it's not an open to the air location and is in fact a conditioned space. If it is, see suggestion below for the back yard.
For the back yard, get some dedicated outdoor speakers and mount them (Niles makes some good inexpensive ones, but I love Definitive's outdoor speakers) and run wires indoors to a Connect:Amp.
2. Smallish Office - 55" TV
3. Master BR - 50" TV
Each of these comes down to it depends how much sound quality you want versus music. To pair with a TV, you'll need either a bar or base, and those come with their own complexity issues compared to other systems. But, basically, you have two choices for sound from each TV: sound bar, or discrete speakers.
For the family room, I'd suggest that whichever you go with, you get a standalone AVR to power it. Even powering a passive sound bar, you have more amplifier power for the room, but there's also one other major consideration: a receiver does AV switching and upscaling. Since that TV is being mounted above the fireplace, you'll have to run a connection to it, and Sonos requires running every single source independently to the TV ... and that's a lot of wires involved. With an AVR, you plug the device into the AVR and it sends whatever you want up a single cable to the TV. Yes, HDMI switchers exist, but then you're limited to only HDMI sources, ever (so no hooking up an old VCR, or anything else really, some day), and the AVRs do a better job - plus, nowadays, they're pretty cheap for a good one.
Coupled with the size of the room, and I'd think that a 5.1 or even a 7.1 system (depending on layout) will give your family room the best sound. Side and rear speakers can still be wireless, depending on the system, and if you're worried about complexity, pick up a Logitech Harmony remote (actually, do that for all of your TVs anyway - you'll thank me). In this setup, the extra surround speakers can also be used for music as well, to give it quadraphonic spaciousness and to fill the room better - something Sonos can't do without breaking, then re-creating the surround system each time you want to change modes. For Sonos music, just use a Sonos connect to feed it into your AVR as just yet another source. You can get this professionally installed, and given the proper Sonos solution for a 20x25 room would be a bar, sub, and two play:5's, it's not cheap either way.
For the small office, I'd probably get two separate systems, actually. An inexpensive sound bar for TV audio, and a pair of Play 1's or 3's or similar (or even a single play 5) for music. At least in most offices I've seen, good placement for music is very different than good placement for the TV, and, honestly, there's not that big of a benefit to combining them in a space like this. Despite being separate and more equipment, it's not any more difficult to use at all than just a plain old Sonos bar - and the experience will almost certainly be better.
For the bedroom, that's usually where a Play base or bar comes into its own. Music and TV audio share the same sound stage, and the lower amount of equipment really helps in a bedroom.
4. Enclosed Sun Room/Patio
5. Eventually, backyard
An enclosed sun room/patio, any of the portable models will work, so long as it's not an open to the air location and is in fact a conditioned space. If it is, see suggestion below for the back yard.
For the back yard, get some dedicated outdoor speakers and mount them (Niles makes some good inexpensive ones, but I love Definitive's outdoor speakers) and run wires indoors to a Connect:Amp.
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