Not impressed by pair of One + Sub... any advise?

  • 4 December 2018
  • 8 replies
  • 714 views

After much reading in this forum I decided to go for a Sonos system to replace our old Hifi system in the living room (80 m2 / 860 sq ft). Note that is only for music - I don't own a TV.

In this forum, the consensus seems to be that the luxury option would be two Sonos:5 and a Sub, but that a pair of Ones and the Sub was almost indistinguishable from it.

So I went for the pair of Ones + Sub, set up as a stereo-pair and adjusted with TruePlay.

I'm not impressed. Sound is fine in the lows (obviously), but really weak in the mid-tones. What shall I do? Return the Ones and get a pair of Play:5?

I want to be sure that this is a significant upgrade. Most posts seem to compare a pair of Play:5 w/o Sub to the pair of Ones and Sub, and the one post that compares both pairs with Subs concludes that the difference is barely noticable. Is this true?

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8 replies

Userlevel 7
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I would never say a Pair of Play:1s and Sub are the equal of a pair of Play:5s and a Sub

Play:5s and sub is the equal to me off a very high end bookshelf system and sub costing far more than 2 Play:5s and Sub. It is a complete wireless replacement for your typical high end speaker, amp, sub combo.

Pair of Play:1s is a nice system but no match for the above. I would call the Play:1 and sub missing "warmth"
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I use a pair of ones with sound bar and sub woofer for both tv and music and it’s great. I also have a 5 stand alone in a small room and it too works well. Have you consider two 3s?
Userlevel 7
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Two 3s will do pretty good but I wouldn't invest in 3s now that they are discontinued. I have several and love them but wouldn't buy more now.
Userlevel 7
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Skip the Play 3 option, you don't want to invest in a discontinued unit from a third party as your primary speakers.

I am very happy with my Play 5s, no Sub so I'd say swap for the 5s and try them with and without the Sub to see what you like best. I'd be tempted to keep them for use in other rooms.

Just curious, do you have Play 1 or Sonos One (dumb names) speakers?
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Have you considered the Beam? I have Beam, Sub and a pair of 1s for my TV as 5.1 but I am considering the Beam for my office as a streamer. It really does come alive with the Sub and IMHO is better than the 1s even for music and not really much more.
Just curious, do you have Play 1 or Sonos One (dumb names) speakers?

I have the new "Sonos One".
Have you considered the Beam?
I wouldn't know where to place the Beam, since I don't own a TV, and hence my living room isn't set up around a central point where it would make sense to place the Beam.
Skip the Play 3 option, you don't want to invest in a discontinued unit from a third party as your primary speakers.
I just ordered two Play:5 -- I will report back about my findings, and I'll decide later what to do with the Ones. Maybe I'll use them to "repeat" the sound in the room.