One x 2 w/ sub vs Amp w/ Q Acoustic 3020 (or similar)

Based on my experiences I would go the One pair + Sub route; the Sub transforms the sound quality to HiFi levels. But it has to be properly placed, somewhere between the two Ones, as close to the centre as practicable. And Trueplay tuning has to be done. The Ones should also be placed with the same care as you would the speakers you refer to.

But preference for sound from different speakers is subjective, so ideally, I would try both routes at home, with music that is preferred and then decide, getting all the kit on a returnable basis, something that is possible with Sonos in most parts of the world.

The Amp route has one advantage:  the connectivity option that the Amp has via its input jacks - the One pair+ Sub will not offer you that feature.

There are also advantages to going the all Sonos route because of its modularity particularly if you will extend its presence to other rooms in future. For instance the 5 pair offers sound quality that is every bit as good as the speakers you name, and with the Sub added, much superior to these, although at a higher price point.

But there is a way to get there in stages - for example get the One pair + Sub just now and in the future replace the One pair with a 5 pair, redeploying the Ones, singly or as a pair, to other rooms.

Or get just the 5 pair now, and you may even find that a Sub isn't necessary to match the sound of the speakers you name. An advantage of this route is that the 5 units have the line in jack feature. And you can add the Sub at a later date for taking things to the next level, though the Sub does not do as much as it does for the One pair, since the 5 units are quite bass capable by themselves.

Which makes a case for adding a 5 pair to the testing exercise I advised.

And I would then go the Amp route only if a much higher class of third party speakers is contemplated. But that would mean a higher up front investment.

Thanks for sharing your experience and ideas. This is very helpful. I’ll start the experiments at home and update here with what I find that might be helpful to others.

I have Q Acoustics 3020 with Vintage Sansui AU217ii Amp. Really crisp, clean and clear sound with this setup.

Now I have just bought the Sonos One in pair, in fact just got it about an hour ago and set them up on top of 3020s and stereo paired them and did trueplay. It’s too early to tell, which are better.

I am using these both for desktop setup so near field. With Q Acoustics, I can pinpoint the different audio and if I am sitting in centre, I have double check behind my laptop screen that there is no centre speaker as the audio seems to come out of the screen dead in the centre. Really nice presentation.

With Sonos One’s I don’t seem to find the Centre of it even though they are exactly on top of Q Acoustics. Not sure if this is a good thing or bad. Tureplay makes a huge difference in audio quality. As for the comparison between these two, its too early to tell, need to test them out for at least week or so.

If I could Trueplay the Q acoustics, there would be no match ;)

One point to note, with Q Acoustics I had the volume set to 20 whereas the Sonos One pair was set to 50 for perceived same level of audio. Means Q Acoustics are lot louder than Sonos Ones and would matter if you intend to use them in large room.

If the One pair without a Sub comes even close to the 3020s I would say this speaks to its sound quality potential. And as I said, a fair comparison of the One pair would be with the Sub bonded to them, which would also address the “ how loud can they go” question discussed further down in this post.

I did not have any trouble getting the phantom centre effect from my 1 pair; perhaps the increased elevation being placed on top of the 3020 pair is coming in the way with phantom centre effects being sensitive to speaker/listener placement.

The volume control conclusion isn't apples for apples - Sonos amps, be they built in or separate ones are known to need higher setting on the level sliders than many integrated amps. This is because Sonos volume controls are architected in a linear manner while many amps have volume controls that deliver a lot of power up front to have the amp feel powerful by sounding loud at low control settings. The correct way to test undistorted loudness if your ears and neighbours can take it is to run the Ones at full volume and see if the Sansui running the speakers at max undistorted levels drives them louder; the Ones go 100% on the volume controls without distortion. And of course, this needs to be done with a Sub bonded to them.

OK, lets leave aside the volume level. Personally for me I have only had Sonos One’s for just over an hour to make any conclusion. But so far so, they do sound good. The portability of Sonos One’s is also a great benefit.

I would be very surprised if you did not also get the phantom centre effect - just another word for stereo soundstage - by playing around with their placement. My experience suggests that this is not so much a speaker design/capability issue as it is one to do with their placement vis a vis the ears, and the mix on the album of course; early stereo albums tended to have a left is left and right is right mix to show off what stereo was, that left a hole in the centre that defeated any attempts to get a sound stage. Stereo recording has matured since those days and much of what is supposed to be in the centre is carried by both channels, so as to deliver that effect of a third speaker in the centre.

I’ve been starting with my testing with the 2xOnes w/ sub, comparing to my MC122 amp playing through old Tannoy 605s. 

Really impressed so far. Curious tho if this makes any sense… I was finding the highs and mid a bit thin with the Ones, somehow less “musical” for me. I turned down the sub audio from 0 setting to -1 while playing around, and found the overall sound much richer — that thin quality disappeared and now the system sounds really great. 

Does the sonos software work in a way that would explain that? I also ran Trueplay again at some point and not sure the order of changes I made. Perhaps that is the difference? And the setup is pretty sensitive to the trueplay run…

thanks 

It is probably more about speaker room interaction and to tweak that is what the EQ controls are there for. If you were able to move from ok to great so early in the test, good for you!

I did find that true play did a lot more for the Sub sound quality than for the 1 units; to the extent that some find the Sub to be too diminished after true play accustomed as they are to bloated bass. After some time though the corrected Sub sounds more natural.