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Towercrane
Contributor I
May 19, 2021

Sonos Five vs Beam and Sub

  • May 19, 2021
  • 5 replies
  • 1957 views

I’m no audiophile, but there is a noticeable difference in quality between the Five and the Beam plus Sub when playing music.  Am I expecting too much from the Beam and Sub given they are not designed for music?  Am I setting things up incorrectly?  
Thanks folks 

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    5 replies

    melvimbe
    melvimbe
    May 19, 2021

    Noticable difference in what way?  It’s entirely possible that your Five is trueplay tuned and your Beam+Sub is not.  That would make a difference.  Also note that the Beam is designed primarily with TV audio in mind, so perhaps that’s what you’re noticing.

    Danny
      Belly M
      Belly M
      May 19, 2021

      I’m no audiophile, but there is a noticeable difference in quality between the Five and the Beam plus Sub when playing music.  Am I expecting too much from the Beam and Sub given they are not designed for music?  Am I setting things up incorrectly?  
      Thanks folks 

       

      I have a Bean and in my opinion its rubbish even compared to a single One when playing music.

      Kumar
      May 20, 2021

       Am I expecting too much from the Beam and Sub given they are not designed for music?  
       

      I would not say that - after all there is so much music on movie sound tracks…and then there are music videos.

      The Beam IS a compromise to save space and cable clutter such that even for TV audio I prefer a stereo amp with two quality speakers flanking the TV that give a much better reproduction of sounds that pan across the screen from one side to the other and such speakers usually don’t even need the Sub. But Beam may well do TV dialogue anchored to the centre of the screen a little better.

      These are all personal preferences and also depend on how one has been accustomed to listening to music - someone used to a well placed stereo speaker set up for listening to music is always going to prefer that to listening to music via beam+Sub.

      TowercraneAuthor
      Contributor I
      May 23, 2021

      Thanks folks. Will try setting it up again with the true play. I think it’s the mid range that is suffering. The sub is a bit too much for the beam - as if they are mismatched in some way. 

      Kumar
      May 24, 2021

       Will try setting it up again with the true play. I think it’s the mid range that is suffering. The sub is a bit too much for the beam - as if they are mismatched in some way. 

      Almost certainly bass bloat is the reason for the mid range muddiness. True play tuning should fix this.

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