What to buy for long open plan kitchen/living/dining room

  • 19 September 2018
  • 3 replies
  • 1866 views

Hi, I don't have any Sonos products yet but am mulling my options. I have a an open plan living/dining/kitchen room that is 8m long and 6m deep. It is all shiny tiles and hard surfaces with a long sliding glass door from wall to wall at the living room end (see attached for layout). I don't have a stereo at the moment. For those familiar with the Sonos products, what Sonos products would you buy for this room if you were in my shoes? Would you buy 1x Sonos Five; or 2x Sonos 1; or 2x Sonos Five or some other combination? Where would you place the products? I spend my time on the couch or cooking at the kitchen and rarely at the dining table. Would two Sonos One products either side of the TV console be the best bet? I should mention that I am only interested in sound quality for music, as I am not so interested in sound quality for movies and TV watching. I listen to folky sort of music (e.g. Bon Iver), blues, and classical. Thank you very much in advance!


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3 replies

Userlevel 7
Hi JackofallTrades

Here are a couple of possibilities:

The Top diagram is designed for sound, flexibility and features

Play 1's
Stationary for the main listening area in a stereo pair (couch)
Optional Sub bonded to Play 1's for enhanced low end. Cannot be bonded to more than 2 speakers as a stereo pair.
Sonos One's
Flexibility for placement
Alexa voice control
Play 1's and Sonos Ones
All the above plus moving the patio speaker in doors for maximum coverage
Temporary bonding of Sonos One's as Stereo pair then desired placement
Ability to isolate dining area for desired listening level based upon placement and volume levels

The Bottom diagram is designed for acoustical sound

Play 5's
Best stereo pair
Great low end
Best for all types of music and especially classical
Great coverage all the way into kitchen with a slight dampening for dining area
Can be used for TV via line-out to Line-in of a single Play 5 (3.5mm to 3.5mm or RCA to 3.5mm)

If you have an iOS device the environment can be tuned using TruePlay in the Sonos App. Suggest reading the information in the links for desired setup, Sonos One w/Alexa, TruePlay, Grouping/Creating Separating and Placing stereo pair
https://www.sonos.com/en-us/support/setting-up-sonos
https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3439?language=en_US
https://support.sonos.com/s/global-search/trueplay?language=en_US
https://support.sonos.com/s/global-search/grouping?language=en_US

Note: Play 1 and Sonos One cannot be bonded into stereo pair

Please post back and let us know what you decide upon. Cheers!
Hi Legnum Nick, I think I edited my post as you were writing your post. I am not interested in sound quality for the TV. I do like high sound quality music but I am aware that acoustically I don't have the greatest room. I was worried that two Sonos Ones wouldn't fill the room sufficiently. I do not need loud music though.
Userlevel 5
Badge +11
What are you hoping to achieve from a sound point of view?
Two Play:1 or Sonos One would be okay but maybe not enough to fill the whole room if you want volume and or bass. They also would not be a solution for TV sound. Depending on budget I would add a sub too, and possibly look at the Beam or Playbar instead of the Ones.