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Speakers for a Turnrable

V
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Receiving a U-Turn Orbit turntable this month and need to get a speaker(s) for it.  Turntable will have a built in phono preamp and a Ortofon Red cartridge. I’ve started into the Sonos ecosystem with a Beam for my TV and a pair of Ones (Gen 2) to place around the house. My natural thought was to get a Five and use that. My question is two part…  First will a single Five be able to compete with a pair of powered bookshelf speakers like the Audioengine A5+ or the Klipsch R51 PM?   My house is open floor plan so the Five would be feeding a decent sized space.  

Secondly, how do I setup the lossless feature for the turntable feed to the Five and can I stream that same quality to my other Sonos speakers without any glitches?

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Best answer by AjTrek1 3 June 2020, 03:53

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11 replies

AjTrek1
Userlevel 7

Hi @Veloweave 

  1. I’ve never heard the sound produced by either the Audioengine A5+ or the Klipsch R51 PM. However, in my experience a stereo pair of a comparable speaker to a single Five will trump it for soundstage imaging.  Also, having never experienced either speaker you are referring to I can’t comment on loudness versus a Five.  Additionally, it’s difficult to know how a Five or any speaker would perform in what you consider a “decent sized space”. Only you can decide what’s adequate.
  2. What lossless feature are you referring to?
  3. If using a Five you can group to other Sonos speakers to achieve whole home audio. If all Five’s the sound will be identical. If grouping to Sonos One/One SL’s the sound characteristics will change. 
  4. As far as glitches are concerned it really depends upon your network and signals passing through walls and the like.  If wi-fi is an issue then the SonosNet created by wiring a speaker or Boost module to your router may be the answer.

Note: All comments about the Five are based upon my use of the Play 5 (gen2) as the Five has not yet been released to the general public. However, all reviews/comments to date indicate that the Five and Play 5 (gen2) are acoustically similar.

Cheers!

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.
K

First will a single Five be able to compete with a pair of powered bookshelf speakers like the Audioengine A5+ or the Klipsch R51 PM? 

It almost certainly will not, if you are accustomed to listening to your music via a well placed speaker pair. A 5 pair will compete, though sound signature preferences for one pair over another are subjective.

N
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

I think Sonos offer a money-back trial in your region: buy it and try it, and return if it’s not what you like.

V
Badge +3

Thanks @Kumar and @AjTrek1 . Two Fives would be cool but shelling out a grand is twice as much as I want to spend right now. Perhaps starting with a Five and adding another next year would be feasible. Or I could go with a non Sonos set but then I’m sure I’ll be disappointed that I cannot stream turntable to my other Sonos speakers. 

I have a follow up question. Would Two Fives and a Sonos Sub take the turntable setup to a whole new level?  Secondly, Can a single Sonos Sub pull double duty and work with my Beam for a 3.1 setup and also work with the Fives on my turntable for a 2.1 setup?

Airgetlam

In my opinion, a stereo pair of speakers beats a single one any day of the week.

No, the SUB can’t be switched between two rooms easily. It can be done, it’s a lot of keystrokes that you’ll tire of quickly, and you lose any TruePlay tuning you may have done each time you swap it from one room to the other. 

Bruce
AjTrek1
Userlevel 7

Hi @Veloweave 

Question #1: Most definitely! IMO. Furthermore you are going to have equipment (Sonos) that was designed to be mated together. One more point I would suggest is to consider stereo imaging detail versus loud when auditioning speakers.

Question #2: Yes, but not without a lot of hassle as indicated by @Airgetlam. A sub can only be bonded to one Sonos speaker, stereo pair, Home theater setup or Amp at a time. To move the sub would be a constant bonding and un-bonding process between speakers.

Cheers!

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.
V
Badge +3

Hi @Veloweave 

Question #1: Most definitely! IMO. Furthermore you are going to have equipment (Sonos) that was designed to be mated together. One more point I would suggest is to consider stereo imaging detail versus loud when auditioning speakers  

Cheers!

Thankyou @AjTrek1 .  Can you expand just a little on what you mean by stereo imaging detail?  
 

If I stick with Sonos it will take a couple of years to build the system I want but that’s not a big deal. What I want is nice turntable setup which is probably two Fives and a 3.1 Home theatre setup. All I need is the Sub as I already have the Beam. 

AjTrek1
Userlevel 7

Hi @Veloweave 

Stereo imaging detail means for example...if there is a conga drum being played on the left can you hear it or is it lost under other instruments.

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.
K

Stereo image is the illusion produced where you think that the band is in your room in the sense of music from it coming at you from the breadth of the stage, as it would in a real life performance. So some instruments would appear to be playing on the left, some on the right, and the vocals usually from the centre. Music then sounds more spacious and closer to the real thing.

This needs the stereo recording to be done in a way to deliver this illusion and two speakers placed in a way that your two ears can play the role they need to in order for this illusion to be created in your brain.

One way to go would be using a Sonos Amp and two passive speakers driven by it. If you have access to used HiFi kit markets, passive speakers usually can be found there at bargain prices. Good ones can do away with need for a Sub.

V
Badge +3

Stereo image is the illusion produced where you think that the band is in your room in the sense of music from it coming at you from the breadth of the stage, as it would in a real life performance. So some instruments would appear to be playing on the left, some on the right, and the vocals usually from the centre. Music then sounds more spacious and closer to the real thing.

This needs the stereo recording to be done in a way to deliver this illusion and two speakers placed in a way that your two ears can play the role they need to in order for this illusion to be created in your brain.

One way to go would be using a Sonos Amp and two passive speakers driven by it. If you have access to used HiFi kit markets, passive speakers usually can be found there at bargain prices. Good ones can do away with need for a Sub.

So I ended up achieving some of my goals sooner than I thought I would. I now have a respectable turntable with two Fives paired for stereo, two Ones in other rooms and a Beam for the main TV. I have been playing around with the soundstage with my Fives turning them horizontal and then trying them out vertical with controls facing in. I can’t seem to discern a big difference when the Fives are vertical vs horizontal. I feel like I do notice that the soundstage is a bit wider when horizontal. Is this to be expected with a horizontal vs vertical orientation?  I do redo the Trueplay function each time I change orientation even though in speaking to a Sonos rep he told me that Trueplay retains its settings when turning speakers so long as I don’t move them to a different place. 

K

Trueplay needs to be redone when the orientation is changed and what sounds better is a matter of personal preference. Beyond a point, don’t overthink this.

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