New to Sonos - Get it all !!

  • 4 August 2018
  • 6 replies
  • 916 views

Userlevel 1
I'm new to Sonos.
I just received and setup my Sonos Beam, Sub and 2x Play 1s yesterday. I have a small / medium apartment. I had been using an old cheap 'home theater in a box' sound system that wasn't very good. I'm not much of an audiophile at all. I just like sounds to sound good to my ears. My use case is all streaming content from my AppleTV to a 43" Sony Bravia. Movies, television and music.

After much research, I went with Sonos for it's ease of use and setup. I didn't really need a high end audio system. Or one that had too much power for my living space.

The sound is glorious :) I had it setup in about an hour. Tuned, adjusted the Sub down a bit as it's a little boomy in here.
Apple Music - I have a wide and eclectic taste in music - I was pleasantly surprised how good it sounds.
Television - Netflix and other services that can broadcast 5.1 surround come through very well. Hulu - only broadcast in stereo - so the quality is still good, but only through the Beam. No surround, no sub. That's all on Hulu from what I've read.

I had thought of just starting with the Beam, but after a day of use, I'm happy I chose to get a Sub and the Play 1's. By itself, I don't think the Beam would have sufficed for movies.

I hope my experience helps out others searching for info.

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6 replies

Userlevel 1
Yes, I thought of that as well. It's a direct HDMI connection from the AppleTV to the Sony and then to the Beam with the HDMI Arc. I have the AppleTV set to use DD5.1 instead of "Best Available".

So for it's doing what I expected of it. So, no complaints 🙂
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
That’s fascinating. Given that we are talking about a digital signal, I’m at a loss to understand it.
When you're sending from the AppleTV to the Beam using AirPlay 2, it's a stereo audio signal that's sent to Beam, and it's treated as a music source, so the audio isn't put through any processing. Home theater audio, coming in through HDMI gets a bit of a conversion and is played differently, also if you're sending Dolby Digital, it can be a pretty big difference compared with the stereo signal.
Ah, maybe additional processing by the TV before it hits the Beam.
That’s fascinating. Given that we are talking about a digital signal, I’m at a loss to understand it.
Userlevel 1
Thank you Edward R.

Having used the Sonos Beam and speakers now for a week, I can appreciate the Sonos system even more.

I found one interesting thing using the AppleTV as the main source for video / audio. If I leave the audio output setting to "AppleTV" instead of "Living Room" I get much better sound quality through the apps on the AppleTV. Even Hulu with their stereo only broadcast gets much improvement.

Over all, I am genuinely impressed by the sound and the ease of use.
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
Hi there, chrobison. Welcome to the community and thanks for sharing your experiences! If you need any help, you need only ask. Enjoy your system.