I am a sonos virgin but just built one big room for my kitchen/entertaining space. It measures 21 meters by 9meters. I want to have a sonos system and don't know where to start ? I also want sonos in my other rooms- 2 bathrooms/ lounge/ master bedroom. Do I buy a bunch of play 5's and start from there ? Any help appreciated - thanks in advance. Colin

One big room solutions please

I always think Play:5 is a good start.

I would say grab 2 Play:5's to start for the large room.

I would use a single Play:1 for each bathroom (assuming you have outlets in bathroom).

Master Bedroom I'm not sure how much power you want in there but a Play:5 is pretty powerful. I would say a single Play:5 would do well there as well unless it is more for casual background music then maybe a 3.

Lounge - not sure size but pair of Play:1s or a couple Play:5s depending on how high end you want to go in there.

I would at least get a couple 5"s and a couple 1's and play around with and think of 3's as just a little step up from the 1's

and if you want some extra bass the Sonos Sub is a terrific unit - may be good to have for the large room.

I did just about every room in my house with play1 (15 total). I think it's Sonos' best speaker. I started with a play5 which sounds great but the size and $$$ are bigger. Also you could tell what direction the music was coming from so I bought a second one thinking two would envelop the room so no one would be able to tell direction of the music and it didn't work so I started buying play1 and replaced the two play5 with four play1. Now no one can tell what direction the music is coming from and the play1 are easier to place. They don't change the décor of the rooms. I also added the sub and the place sounds awesome. I ended up splitting up the play5 into bedrooms which they can easily cover. Buy as many play1 as you can afford.

Kris:)

Just be sure to hard wire one of you Sonos speakers to the router or get a Boost to use SonosNet. Just a better way to run Sonos.

Yes, I have the boost. Works great.

Kris:)

yes run sonosnet with wired unit. Don't run wifi only and put all your music traffic on your home network.

Thanks guys but I am genuinely a newbie and my electrician is asking what he needs to wire in ?? I appreciate some of this is wireless but what wiring should be done in my new extension ? Should I run any cables whilst I have a chance ?

Am I right I saying I won't need to run cables into the other rooms as all will be wireless? I live in an old house with very thick walls everywhere.

Cheers

Sonos units would hook to Ethernet (which would feed back to your home router). The requirement is for only one Sonos unit to be hooked via Ethernet wire to run Sonosnet. However, you can run multiple units on Ethernet and in general this normally provides a better network. Using Sonosnet with one unit hooked to router every single unit becomes a repeater extending the Sonosnet signal further into home.

Am I right I saying I won't need to run cables into the other rooms as all will be wireless? I live in an old house with very thick walls everywhere.

First, you will need mains power sockets in the vicinity of each play unit, so make sure those are available. In a large room, I too would go with play1 units scattered around the place, so you need mains sockets to power these. If you add a Sub later, one of these power sockets will suffice for the Sub as well.

As to thick walls, do you get a good Wifi in the large room you are referring to? If the router is located in another room, you may not, and in that case Sonos would also not work well. You then need to run ethernet wire from the router to the large room such that one play unit can be wired to the router; other play units in the room will then run wirelessly with no issues.

Chris- So your saying I shouldn't run just the boost. I should have at least one speaker plugged into the router as well? even though the boost is plugged into the router?

Kris:)

In a normal distance set up, one Sonos product (in this case a Boost) will do but, there is no harm running a ethernet wire from you router to the farthest speaker in the house.

Have a look at

https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3046/kw/sonosnet/session/L3RpbWUvMTQ4MTU5NDQxNC9zaWQvZlVaVyU3RVFNNHA4NWt5UFBaTElpQkd4bDlWVXRvUWZYb3RfaWN4SjVsSnQ2TVltVDZfdlZKeVhVSFZ2VjRUUVU1cmZLa2NCYUgyVEluQXQ2MU1NMDBJYUVuX0NNSXBSaWJEVTY0djl2MGNUU0ZCRWxEdjIxM0JBOHclMjElMjE%3D

the boost is same as having a speaker hooked to router. Some people have multiple units hooked and there is possibility of it being better or worse that way.

If its working like you have it I wouldn't go adding more wired units.

@Krislu - if all your speakers are working fine, let sleeping dogs lie!

But that is almost certainly because of a wired in Boost, which is needed ONLY if it is not convenient to have any other speaker wired to the router. But once Boost is wired, nothing else need be.

What is the best Ethernet cable? Do you mean cat 6 cable ? If I ran cat 6 cable to every play box , would this be the best option or overkill?

Many would say good option. Probably more than 1 wired in each room is overkill. Ie if you have 4 play:1s in the big room wiring all 4 with cat 6 probably overkill.

I guess best answer would be do you seem to have much wireless interference in your home such as with neighbors wifi. A sniffer app lokknnb at wifi around you would be good to check. If you have a lot of interference then at that point wiring all may be better for you (pretty much only happens in heavy urban areas/apartment condos)

"Some people have multiple units hooked and there is possibility of it being better or worse that way."

Really ? wow!

"If its working like you have it I wouldn't go adding more wired units"

It works perfect! No problems at all. I will leave well enough alone then.

Thanks

Kris:)

@Krislu - if all your speakers are working fine, let sleeping dogs lie!

But that is almost certainly because of a wired in Boost, which is needed ONLY if it is not convenient to have any other speaker wired to the router. But once Boost is wired, nothing else need be.

Kumar- THANKS! Yes, everything is perfect. I will take yours and Chris' advice and leave it alone.

Kris:)

I am currently using a Single Play:3 as my bridge device.

Many would say good option. Probably more than 1 wired in each room is overkill. Ie if you have 4 play:1s in the big room wiring all 4 with cat 6 probably overkill.

I guess best answer would be do you seem to have much wireless interference in your home such as with neighbors wifi. A sniffer app lokknnb at wifi around you would be good to check. If you have a lot of interference then at that point wiring all may be better for you (pretty much only happens in heavy urban areas/apartment condos)

Thanks chris. So I will cat 6 wire 1x play 1 in the big room and have 3 x play 1 in the same room but wireless.

I will also buy a boost and then install one socket beside each play1.

Will that cover everything or have a missed the perfect setup?

You really know your stuff! Was just going to buy 2 play 5s and hope for the best!!!

I don't think you need to get a boost.

I like starting system with play:5 as it gives you input should you ever need.

And I understand kumar and reasoning behind 4 play 1s in large room. But low end wise 1s just don't do it for me without sub. If not 4 1s with sub I would still start with 2 play:5s to get the low end.

I would start with 3 play 1 + Sub. Add a fourth play 1 if you find any holes in music coverage in the space.

Set up a 1 pair + Sub to work as a high end stereo set up for the most used listening area. Be sure to set up the Sub somewhere in between the two 1 units that are paired together in stereo mode. Add a 1 unit to the part of the room that is far away so that music can be heard there without it going too loud near the 1 pair+ Sub set up.

And as suggested, add the fourth 1 unit only if felt necessary.

We have a similar setup. one large 45ft x 20 ft room that has a living area (with a TV), a dining area, and the kitchen. I chose to go with a playbar + sub sitting under the tv on one end of the room. I then put 2 Play1 halfway up the room. Those are surrounds when watching TV, and have the 'full' setting while playing music.

With this setup, the entire room is filled with sound very nicely.

In our den, which is I think 20ft by 10ft, I have a stereo pair of play:1's and they are more than enough for that space as well. Admittedly, I have never heard a play:5 or play:3, but I am more than satisfied with multiple Play:1's. The best part is that they really fit anywhere and give a lot of flexibility.

thanks,

Apurva

Thanks for all your responses- amazing knowledge out there!

My final dilemma is that I also want to have some flush mount ceiling speakers to work off Sonos also.

Here's my ideal setup ( I need to know if I am crazy and going in the wrong direction or if it is possible)

- 4 x hardwired flush ceiling speakers going back to a play 5

- 4 x play one in each corner of room

- 1x play 5 near my TV

I really don't like that you need to plug play one into a socket as I wanted these originally at high level - any way around this?

Thanks in advance guys.

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