One play 5 plus Sub vs two plays

No, I haven't, but I have heard enough other make Sub plus small satellite speaker combinations to make an intelligent guess, and have added that experience to other member reports here that rank different Sonos combinations. In all of the latter that I have read, the one pair + Sub is beaten only by a 5 pair + Sub. But even if I had heard the 5 pair, I would still say what I said about buying on a returnable basis, which facility Sonos and many Sonos retailers do provide. Nothing can beat the evidence of your ears, in your home.

Pay enough attention to speaker placement. Try to have the stereo speakers at the same distance from each other as they are from the listening areas, leave a couple of feet between them and room walls/corners, and place the Sub somewhere between the two speakers. Ideally at the centre, but close to it also works quite well. Finally, do the Trueplay thing and tweak the Sub output levels - I have mine a little to the right of centre - to get the bass presence you like.

Newbie reply : I had a single Play5 in a large family area. Got another Play5 and rearranged for a Stereo Setup. I do not play at high volumes (around 40% most of the time) and had to be in the sweet spot to really hear any good Bass.

Ordered a Sub on a returnable basis to pair it with the Play5:Stereo and the moment I set it up I knew the Sub was not going back! I could still play at 40% volume and the bass was so much more audible from anywhere in the room. It also seemed to help throw the mid's and high's around rather than just at the sweet spot.

That isn't a surprise; the 5 pair + Sub is the top of the line Sonos speaker offering for music, at the top of the line price. But the 1 pair + Sub comes closer to it than what its much lower price point would suggest, and does much of what you describe with the 1 units as well.

And as far as Austin is concerned, he can alway get himself a 5 for Christmas, use the Sub with the 5 pair, and move the 1 pair to his bedroom:-).

It isn't something I would do though; in my book, there isn't the return in line with the additional spend needed for a 5 pair + Sub, compared to the 1 pair + Sub, particularly with the play 1 units now marked down to USD 300 for a pair. But there remains that option for him.

There is also the advantage in a single 5 of being able to easily move it from one room to another when needed, and still get very decent sound at such times as well.

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Thank you Flare and, again, Kumar
I've seen this before, yet I find it curious. Two play 5s should have more than enough bass by themselves, yet anyone who has added a sub to them, say it's way better
Hence the decision to get a sub
Kumar is right, I think I'll try my Sonos ones and add the sub.
I had initially planned to place them on the side walls
And the sub somewhere in the room, not in the centre
Does placement really make all the difference? As Kumar has said, with space from the walls and the sub in the centre? I don't know how I can place the sub in the centre as it would be in the way of so many things, despite my living room being 15x 20

Just another query Kumar, you seem to know of what you speak of..
I started buying Sonis with a single Play 1 for my bedroom, last month. I bought another for the dining room in a week for multi room sound and loved the effect of hearing the same music on moving from room to room, that I just had to buy another for the living room and did my research and hence bought my , really, really amazing Play 5.
I had then heard about stereo placement and ordered two Sonos ones.
I've bought 1200$ of Sonos kit in a month and. Now seriously thinking of bumping that to 2000$ with a sub
My question is , how much does an average Sonos listener here spend on Sonos?:D

Sorry to intrude BxVelocity. I started with a Playbar + Sub and a Play5. Within a week added a Play3 for my Home Office. After several months added another Play5 for Stereo, then 2 days later the Sub!

Today I just completed my setup with 3 x Play One's for the bedrooms.

What's an "average" listener?

I've got 2 5.1 setups, 2 PLAY:3s, 2 PLAY:5 Gen 2, 1 PLAY:5 gen 1, 3 PLAY:1s, and 2 Sonos Ones. Oh, and a BRIDGE.

Placement is not critical for movies, where the low bass effects cannot be located by ear, so it does not matter much where they come from. But for music to integrate well across the Sub and the play units, I have found that the Sub needs to be in the same plane as the speakers, and not to one side of either speaker, but somewhere between the two.

Which isn't to say that a convenient placement won't work, but I would definitely not commit to that, or a Sub investment without trying it out.

I know that Sonos claims that Trueplay is a magic bullet that allows speakers to be placed anywhere, but I think there is a lot of marketing speak in that. Nothing beats getting placement as right as possible, so that Trueplay is tasked with just the final tweaking of sound for best results.

As to the bass from the 5 units, I suspect that the speakers don't do this as well as they ought to, at low volume levels. Something that the Sub does very well. The other thing that the Sub does well is when very loud sound levels are needed. The 5 units seem to do well in a range - from perhaps 40% to 80% of the volume sliders, and outside this range, need a Sub for best results.