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Mikkel Secher
Contributor I
November 14, 2017
Answered

Two "rooms" in one room? (Sub, Playbar, 2x Play One, 2x Play: 5)

I'm getting a new TV within a week or two and I plan on getting a full Sonos system. (Sub, Playbar, 2x Play One, 2x Play: 5).
I want a system that that will excel at both music and movies, meaning surround AND strong stereo speakers.
I guess that I assumed that Play:5's could be paired with the Playbar as front L and R (why on earth isn't that the case?) - and I almost gave up, until I saw that you could just make them a new "room" and output the same sound as the Playbar receives from the TV - and this could be the solution for me...
The question is though, will this be synced well enough or will it sound horrible, and how will the Play:5's act, when not paired directly with the SUB? (since I guess the SUB can't be paired to both groups, right?)

Are there any possibilities I'm missing?
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    melvimbe
    melvimbeAnswer
    November 14, 2017
    You may want to consider skipping the Play:5's at first, just to see if your happy with the sound quality without them. I have a decent size space and am pretty happy with it over all. That said, if Sonos did decide to allow you to setup extra front L&R speakers, I think I would do that rather quickly.
    Danny
    View in thread

    21 replies

    Stuart_W
    Stuart_W
    World-Class Superstar
    November 14, 2017
    If you group the stereo paired Play 5s with your TV/Surrounds/Sub for TV audio there will be a delay to the Play 5s of 70ms.

    I'm quite sure this would be horrible.

    My advice. Use the Play:1s as surrounds and the sub as Sub to get 5.1. Set Music Playback to "Full" in the relevant setting. Either return or use the Play:5s elesewhere
    Arc + Sub (Gen 1) + 2 x Play 1/ Stereo Play 3s/ Era 100 Stereo in Kitchen, One Stereo in Bedroom, Play 1 stereo pair in Study, Play 1in Bathroom, Sonos Move 2
      Mikkel SecherAuthor
      Contributor I
      November 14, 2017
      Thank you for the fast reply!

      So music playback will be able to sync properly, as long as the input source is not the TV?
      John B
      November 14, 2017
      Thank you for the fast reply!

      So music playback will be able to sync properly, as long as the input source is not the TV?      That is correct.
      melvimbe
      melvimbeAnswer
      November 14, 2017
      You may want to consider skipping the Play:5's at first, just to see if your happy with the sound quality without them. I have a decent size space and am pretty happy with it over all. That said, if Sonos did decide to allow you to setup extra front L&R speakers, I think I would do that rather quickly.
      Danny
        Mikkel SecherAuthor
        Contributor I
        November 14, 2017
        You may want to consider skipping the Play:5's at first, just to see if your happy with the sound quality without them. I have a decent size space and am pretty happy with it over all. That said, if Sonos did decide to allow you to setup extra front L&R speakers, I think I would do that rather quickly.

        Also for music, my experience with the two Play Ones i already own, is that they get "scratchy" when turned up loud. I don't know how they behave with a Playbar and a SUB attached though... Are they equalized differently when they are backed up by other speakers?
        John B
        November 14, 2017
        @melvimbe. Indeed. I have seen a few requests for an optional configuration in which the Playbar acts as centre only and two Play speakers handle FL and FR. A nice-to-have, certainly, but no idea whether we will see it one day.
        Mikkel SecherAuthor
        Contributor I
        November 15, 2017
        Ok, so I ended up going to a Hi-fi store to see how powerful the regular 5.1 setup was. And the quality and power really surprised me! Like @melvimbe said, I think I'm gonna skip the Play:5s and get some extra Play Ones, to put in other rooms :)

        Thank you all for chiming in!
          ROBBSKI
          Enthusiast II
          November 15, 2017
          Ok, so I ended up going to a Hi-fi store to see how powerful the regular 5.1 setup was. And the quality and power really surprised me! Like @melvimbe said, I think I'm gonna skip the Play:5s and get some extra Play Ones, to put in other rooms :)

          Thank you all for chiming in!

          I'm sure you won't regret taking that $1000 you were gonna spend on a pair of Play 5's and filling up 2 other rooms with STEREO sound from a pair of Play 1's, and then adding the 5th Play 1 to a bathroom! 😃
            Nando010
            Nando010
            Chromatic Producer I
            November 16, 2017
            Be aware when grouping other sonos speakers (play 1s, play ones etc) to your playbar/playbase 5.1 setup for TV you will more than likley experience plenty of sound drops as i have just bought a play one and i was getting them constantly so i ungrouped as it was a joke. I have a funny shaped room and wanted to fill a spot in between lounge and kitchen(open room plan) so i could listen to the tv when i popped into the kitchen.Play one is also closer to the playbase than my rears.
            Exact Quote from sonos yesterday in an email.
            " but if you are grouping the TV sounds to the PLAY One, you will always encounter issues"
            And
            "The PLAYBAR uses 5Ghz to communicate with the satellite speakers. 5Ghz is not efficient over longer distances. It is used to transfer a "lot" of information over a "short" distance, hence it is used as the means of communication between a PLAYBAR and its surrounds, to eliminate these issues of latency... The audio signal from a television is indeed classed as a lot of information.

            In turn, 2.4Ghz (which is what is used when you "group" instead of adding surrounds) is used to transfer Less information over Longer distances. Doing so with a TV signal can create issues of latency.

            Therefore, in essence, with the first situation, it's often too large a distance for the means of communication to handle. With the latter, it can, at times, be too much information for the method of delivery to cope with, so it takes a little bit longer (or does not get there at all)... Your wireless environment must be spotless and the network absolutely immaculate to stand a chance of success in this situation"


            Sorry,in all the excitement, i must have missed this info provided to me by sonos before purchase, when spending a fortune on my set up.
            Absolute shocking.
            Stuart_W
            Stuart_W
            World-Class Superstar
            November 16, 2017
            Be aware when grouping other sonos speakers (play 1s, play ones etc) to your playbar/playbase 5.1 setup for TV you will more than likley experience plenty of sound drops as i have just bought a play one and i was getting them constantly so i ungrouped as it was a joke. I have a funny shaped room and wanted to fill a spot in between lounge and kitchen(open room plan) so i could listen to the tv when i popped into the kitchen.Play one is also closer to the playbase than my rears.
            Exact Quote from sonos yesterday in an email.
            " but if you are grouping the TV sounds to the PLAY One, you will always encounter issues"
            And
            "The PLAYBAR uses 5Ghz to communicate with the satellite speakers. 5Ghz is not efficient over longer distances. It is used to transfer a "lot" of information over a "short" distance, hence it is used as the means of communication between a PLAYBAR and its surrounds, to eliminate these issues of latency... The audio signal from a television is indeed classed as a lot of information.

            In turn, 2.4Ghz (which is what is used when you "group" instead of adding surrounds) is used to transfer Less information over Longer distances. Doing so with a TV signal can create issues of latency.

            Therefore, in essence, with the first situation, it's often too large a distance for the means of communication to handle. With the latter, it can, at times, be too much information for the method of delivery to cope with, so it takes a little bit longer (or does not get there at all)... Your wireless environment must be spotless and the network absolutely immaculate to stand a chance of success in this situation"


            Sorry,in all the excitement, i must have missed this info provided to me by sonos before purchase, when spending a fortune on my set up.
            Absolute shocking.

            In the interests of balance.

            " but if you are grouping the TV sounds to the PLAY One, you will always encounter issues" - GROUPING other Plays with a Playbar whether it has a Sub and/or surrounds will NOT always give issues - What you WILL get is a latency of 70ms between the Playbar and the group. This would make, in my opinion, the grouped player audio unlistenable if the TV were visible and the Playbar system heard at the same time. If by "issues" you mean drop-outs then you have other network problems that need to be addressed - I listen to TuneIn and other music regularly through my Playbar/Surrounds and haven't had a single drop-out in 2 years.

            And

            "The PLAYBAR uses 5Ghz to communicate with the satellite speakers. 5Ghz is not efficient over longer distances. It is used to transfer a "lot" of information over a "short" distance, hence it is used as the means of communication between a PLAYBAR and its surrounds, to eliminate these issues of latency...

            The Playbar will use SonosNet or your 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi when group additional speakers. As I said above. If you are having drop-outs that will be due to issues with your network configuration.
            Arc + Sub (Gen 1) + 2 x Play 1/ Stereo Play 3s/ Era 100 Stereo in Kitchen, One Stereo in Bedroom, Play 1 stereo pair in Study, Play 1in Bathroom, Sonos Move 2
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