Play 5 pair or Play 1 pair + Sub

A couple of months ago, I mounted a pair of play:1s in my home workout/gym (12 x 14). Really got me motivated to work out on a daily basis (yes, I'm a fairly new Sonos addict!). A couple of weeks ago, I thought I'd see how it would sound by adding the sub. OMG! The difference in sound quality is amazing - especially now that all low-frequency audio is sent to the sub, making the play:1s more efficient and louder (I have to turn the volume down about 20% of where I used to have it). Not to mention the rich bass that didn't exist without the sub. Occasionally, I'll go into the Sonos app to turn off the sub, just to compare the audio without it. Again, it's night and day.

So if anyone is on the fence with this setup - go for it! I realize it turns it into a $1000 setup, but I didn't want to wait (and hope) that someday Sonos would announce a more cost-effective sub for this setup. Also, I bought this as an open-box unit on bestbuy.com for $595 (categorized as "excellent" condition"). When it arrived, the corner was cracked. I then took it back to our local BB and they exchanged it for a brand new one, at no additional cost!

The Sub really is an excellent addition!.

I still hold the belief that every Sonos system should start with the Play:5

I agree. Own the 5 for over a year now. Its so versatile. Loud enough to fill the room and low enough to hit bass notes. Transportable outside/inside/on-trips, just plug and go. And it doubles as a speaker for your TV with line in! All for $399 if you get one on sale.

Best speaker ever made IMO.

Thanks Chris, I was wondering whether to get another play 5 for stereo , or use two ones with the Play 5 I have , or add a sub... It's kinda confusing...
Anyway, how do I line in my TV to my play 5? I thought I needed a playbar for TV?
Thanks
I'm finally with a really excellent Play 5 and two Sonos ones on their way for my living room
I've been leaning toward getting a sub for use with the ones in stereo and leaving the 5 as a central speaker
Austin

Hope no one minds my resurrecting this thread to add my thoughts: Though I was already familiar with stereo pairs of both the Play 1s and 5s (and have compared them here), until earlier today I had never heard a Play 1 stereo pair backed up by the Sonos Sub.

Today I was able to compare the Play 1 pair plus Sub to a Play 5 pair at some length at a HiFi dealer. Whilst this was in no way a scientific comparison (not level matched, different locations in the room, Trueplay not applied), I was quite surprised by how different the two setups were and thought it worth sharing my notes here:

• Firstly, and most importantly, both setups sound great. I would regard both as competitive with traditional HiFi at around the thousand euro mark.
• The Play 5 set has a big advantage in terms of convenience and flexibility: 2 (albeit big-ish) boxes vs 3, 2 external inputs vs none, plus airplay support (though replacing the pair of Play 1s with a pair of Sonos Ones would obviate that).
• Interestingly, both the staff members present in the dealers expressed a personal preference for the Play 5 pair above the 1s plus Sub.

The two sets are more different in terms of sound character than I would have expected:

• The Play 1s plus Sub have a much more powerful bass, remarkably so given that the Play 5 pair is hardly bass-shy. I had not expected such a degree of difference.
• The difference the addition of the Sub makes to the Play 1s is dramatic (and I say that as someone who thinks a stereo pair of 1s sound amazingly good for their size and price); it doesn’t just add more low-end but makes the whole sound much more open and ‘bigger’. Despite this, the operation of the Sub is generally subtle.
• I started out listening to some commercially produced pop music and this made me think initially that I preferred the Play 5 pair as they sounded more balanced. The same music played on the Play1s/Sub sounded too bass-heavy. I’m aware that this is probably more of a recording/production than reproduction issue but if your music tastes primarily went in that direction, it could be a valid reason to prefer the 5s.
• The tables were turned when I moved onto classical music: Bach’s cello suites (that I thought sounded equally fine on the play 1 or play 5 pairs without a sub) sounded magnificent on the Play1s/Sub, with significantly more body and depth to the sound. A similar feat was achieved with choral and orchestral work. Smaller scale vocal music sounded great on both setups.

In the end, I found I had a clear preference for the Play 1s with the Sub, purely in terms of sound quality, given my taste in music. However: We are, happily, talking degrees of excellence here.

My musical tastes - jazz and blues - are a little different, but with the same end result that continues to place the 1 pair + Sub in audiophile category in my assessment of it.

Audiophile is a very fuzzy word capable of much abuse, so I will be more specific: that set up replaced a pair of Harbeth C7 speakers + Quad amplification that cost about five times as much, with no audible downsides. There is a caveat of sorts - in my home it was possible to place the 1 pair + Sub in ideal locations for sound quality, while I could not give the large Harbeths the space around them needed for them to deliver their very best. But since few of us live in studios or have dedicated listening rooms, practical considerations cannot be ignored as factor for assessment, and this problem of large speaker placement is precisely what the Sub+small satellite concept is meant to address.

The only gripe I have with the play 1 is the lack of line in jacks which would have taken them from good to great.

Of course a 5 pair+ Sub would shade this option, but that is at a significantly higher price point. The 5 units also will not be as easy to properly place as the 1 units, given their larger footprint. On the other hand, they are blessed with line in jacks.

The only gripe I have with the play 1 is the lack of line in jacks which would have taken them from good to great.

Absolutely, this is something I really like about the 5 pair: You can just plug in a CD player (or other source) and have a system with the best of both worlds (Sonos streaming plus physical media).

It’s such a shame Sonos didn’t add this feature to the Sonos One. Then again, it seems clear that they regard physical media as very much a legacy option that will get less and less important over time (although, perhaps the vinyl revival might change their minds?).

The Sonos One is just a modified play 1 on the hardware side, and the addition of a line in would have entailed more than that, is my guess.
For more on why the line in would have been a big feature for much more than adding a CD player - see my topic linked:

https://en.community.sonos.com/wireless-speakers-228992/the-case-for-making-line-in-a-standard-feature-6800582

The statement from Sonos quoted in the last post in that thread seems pretty definitive, sadly, though your question as to why the Play 5 then still has a line in is of course valid.

One thing to consider in terms of flexibility is that a setup of play:1s + sub can more easily be converted to a home theatre setup than a pair of play:5s.

For my main living space, I have a playbar + sub + play:3s. I've considered delgating this for TV only and then adding a pair of play:5s to this for music. The problem, besides cost, is that I don't know that it would be much of an improvement sound wise. Then the there is the fact that I would really need to wall mount the 5s and pay an electrician to do the wiring. Lastly, I'd want to ensure that the system switches between TV and music without me having to turn one off before turning the other on.

In my perfect world, Sonos develops a 5.1 setup wiithout a sound bar, that way I can remove the playbar, add 5s .