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billfromtr
Contributor I
January 31, 2019
Answered

Play 5 vs Connect for adding to existing system?

Hello Sonos people! My current system is a sort of a mess, and I'll do my best to explain it. I really only use it for 2 things, watching TV and whole house tunes when I have company over. I have a Vizio TV in the living room and the sound from the TVs built in speakers are pathetic. So I have it plumbed from my cable box to a basic Sony receiver and listen to 2 Sony speakers wired to that receiver. When I have people over or on the weekend when I want to listen to music, I typically listen to Pandora or Spotify that I airplay through an airport express that is then plumbed to that same Sony receiver and speakers set but I also have prewired outdoor speakers for the patio/ pool area that come from that same receiver. When I have both the outdoor and living room speakers going, the outdoor speakers sound decent enough, but I think the draw kills the power to the living room speakers as they sound like garbage. Maybe the receiver is to blame. Anyway, my mother in law gave us a pair of the Sonos one's and I am really impressed with them. I would like to get another Sonos piece to replace the living room speakers and improve the sound but from what I am gathering, if I want to keep my outdoor wired speakers in the loop, I would have to get a connect and wire it to the Sony receiver or a Sonos amp to replace my Sony receiver, but I am also thinking it's possible to get a play 5 to replace to living room speakers and just wire my existing receiver into the line in on the back of the play 5. These Sonos pieces are way out of my price range but since I was gifted the one's, I'm almost have to figure this out. Any suggestions?
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    Airgetlam
    AirgetlamAnswer
    January 31, 2019
    OK, let's boil it down.

    1) You watch TV
    2) You listen to music
    3) You have two areas, your living room, and outside
    4) You have a pair of PLAY:1s
    5) You may want to use the line-in on a pair of PLAY:5s for your living room.

    So, let's deal with 5) first. Yes, you could do that. You might run into an issue with lipsync on your TV, however, when watching the TV. The analog input on any Sonos device comes with a minimum of around 70ms, and might be more, depending on what settings you're using for the Line-In. Some people don't notice it, some people do.

    Given that, what I think I'd recommend to you is actually ditching the receiver all together, and get a Sonos PLAYBAR, PLAYBASE or Beam to connect to your TV. Then set up the pair of PLAY:1s as surround speakers, and go in to the settings for when you're playing music and set them to "full". That will take care of your living room sound for both TV and music. This takes care of 1), 2), 4) and 5)

    For 3), the outside, I'd recommend either a CONNECT:AMP (which may be retired in the near future, not sure....but will continue to work, I just mean no longer sold, not unusable), or a Sonos Amp. There's a lot of threads out there about the difference between the two. Personally, I'd get the Sonos Amp, it's the newest device right now in the Sonos stable, which means it's much more likely to be future proof for much longer.
    Bruce
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    3 replies

    Airgetlam
    AirgetlamAnswer
    January 31, 2019
    OK, let's boil it down.

    1) You watch TV
    2) You listen to music
    3) You have two areas, your living room, and outside
    4) You have a pair of PLAY:1s
    5) You may want to use the line-in on a pair of PLAY:5s for your living room.

    So, let's deal with 5) first. Yes, you could do that. You might run into an issue with lipsync on your TV, however, when watching the TV. The analog input on any Sonos device comes with a minimum of around 70ms, and might be more, depending on what settings you're using for the Line-In. Some people don't notice it, some people do.

    Given that, what I think I'd recommend to you is actually ditching the receiver all together, and get a Sonos PLAYBAR, PLAYBASE or Beam to connect to your TV. Then set up the pair of PLAY:1s as surround speakers, and go in to the settings for when you're playing music and set them to "full". That will take care of your living room sound for both TV and music. This takes care of 1), 2), 4) and 5)

    For 3), the outside, I'd recommend either a CONNECT:AMP (which may be retired in the near future, not sure....but will continue to work, I just mean no longer sold, not unusable), or a Sonos Amp. There's a lot of threads out there about the difference between the two. Personally, I'd get the Sonos Amp, it's the newest device right now in the Sonos stable, which means it's much more likely to be future proof for much longer.
    Bruce
    melvimbe
    melvimbe
    January 31, 2019
    Bruce is spot on...except you said you had Sonos Ones, not Play:1s. It's worth noting that if you get a Beam and want to use the Sonos Ones as surround, the microphones will automatically be turned off on the Ones. Since you don't currently have surround sound, perhaps it's not a big to you and you can put your Ones in the bedroom. Also worth noting that the Playbar is not compatible with airplay (even if Sonos Ones are used as surround speakers).

    If budget's an issue I would just leave the outdoor setup alone for now. Because you already have it connected to airplay, and Sonos One, Beam, and Playbase are all airplay compatible, you should be able to play everything together...in theory. Sonos Amp would be better for sure, but perhaps mother-in-law can do that for you next Christmas.

    Also, Sonos isn't going to recommend this, but you can't put your Sonos Ones temporarily outside as long as the weather is favorable.
    Danny
      billfromtrAuthor
      Contributor I
      February 1, 2019
      Thank you both for your response.
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