Pairing Sonos Amp with Elac, Jamo or AudioEngine Bookshelf Speakers.

Hi.

I have not used the Beam, and do not have a Sub, but I am running a Sonos Amp with Elac Debut 2.0 6.2 speakers. About 70% music / 30% video.

I am absolutely *loving* the combo.

I live in an apartment, so I doubt I’ll add a sub, and I don’t really have interest in surround speakers. But I am loving the Amp/Elac combo for music and think it sounds great with the TV. The speakers have great clarity and are fairly bright, which I like. They are easy to drive with the Amp - I don’t think I’ve ever had the volume on the Amp above about 35%.

I realize I can’t offer many of the comparisons you are looking for, but I wanted to chime in that I love the Amp with the Elac speakers.

Hi @Chuck 23, Thank you for reaching out and welcome to the community. Regarding your concern about Jamo S 803, Elac Debut 2.0, and the AudioEngine P4’s. Let’s see for any recommendations and feedback from our Sonos community users If they have that as their setup. so that they can share their feedback about that product. Also, I want to ask you on submitting a diagnostic report to investigate further If we can find an issue with your Sonos system.

Let me know your thoughts with the advice above.

We're here to answer any further questions you have.

Thanks so much for the feedback on the Elac's. I know the Amp has likely too much power but I don't have space or budget for good floor standing units. Glad to hear you like their sound and functionality. 

Are you very sure that you will add a turntable? Because if not, even a pair of One/One SL will do the job with a small footprint. And if you have placement constraints, Trueplay tuning can compensate to some extent for that.

And from what you have, you can easily try this out, unbonding/relocating the play 1 units so they are properly placed for stereo sound and seeing how music sounds. If you bond your Sub to these, and can place the Sub somewhere between the two, that will make for a very high quality system for music - again, Trueplay becomes even more important here because the Sub can sometimes need more tuning than other units.

IMO, a one pair + Sub will sound better than anything you have listed. Trust your ears, of course, in the final analysis.

If the Beam alone serves your needs for TV sound, and if the 1 pair+Sub works as suggested above, you can even add a turntable later if you must, by also buying a Port with it for its line in jacks.

Instead of the spend on Sonos Amp+ third party bookshelf speakers at this time.

Thanks so much for the feedback. I have the Beam up front, sub in the corner and a pair of Play 1's in the rear for the "5.1" set-up. My issue is that in my opinion the Beam sounds very isolated and thin, almost like a single Play 1 under the TV. I would really like to upgrade that particular front area sound. 

There will be a significant upgrade in the sound quality for music even if you just get the play 1 units to flank the TV, presumably then firing towards the listening area. And setting them up in stereo mode as a stereo pair, to be used for just music. After unbonding them from Beam.

You may even find that leaving the Beam+Sub together for TV meets the needs for TV.

Again, since you have the hardware already, easy enough to see this for yourself.

Here is the thing about the 1 units, from play 1 onwards to the latest One models. It is a serious speaker and would be seen to be so if it was veneered and carried a HiFi brand name. That would obtain for it the treatment it needs to give of its best, the same kind of placement treatment that known “HiFi” speakers get. 

In my home a well placed play 1 pair holds its own against speakers from Quad/Dali/KEF. Yes, there are some areas it is behind, with bass limitations imposed by size, inspite of its long excursion woofers. Bypass that limitation via a bonded Sub and it can outdo the named speakers. Which isn't a surprise seeing the tech it contains, as does the Sub. The named speakers on the other hand, as in the case of any HiFi passive speakers, use technology that matured decades ago. So it should not be a surprise, what the cheaper/smaller 1 units can do.

And used in surround mode, by design they are only fed a small part of the content. So that role is not the one to be used to assess their capability.