Which Gen of Play 1 or 3 will be 100% compatible with beam?

By the PLAY:1, it would be compatible with the Beam as a surround speaker. In fact, the only speaker that would *not* be compatible is the PLAY:5 gen 1. All the other Sonos speakers would work.

For surround speakers, I'd stick with either the PLAY:1 or Sonos Ones. No need for something more expensive, especially in that small a space.

PLAY:3s are hard to find these days. Sonos has been "out of stock" for a long time, although some retailers may still have them. I don't find them substantially different, sonically, from the PLAY:1s Slight difference, but not huge. The PLAY:5 is where it's at, if you're doing lots of music. But again, I think the PLAY:5 is overkill for surround speakers.

Your ears may not agree with mine 🙂

Thanks Airgetiam. I was actually hoping to use the Plays more for music around the house. Not sure if that is possible.

Is it necessary for a separate speaker other than the beam for TV? I imagine the beam alone is better than the speaker from the TV but I'm not sure how much.

My plan was the beam in one room. A play:1 or 5 gen 2 in the kitchen and one in the basement. Is that even a possibility? I apologize, I'm new, what is the difference between play:1 vs. sonos one? Thanks so much for your help.

That is possible. You could also add them to the Beam room as surround speakers. The Play:1 and Sonos One are similar. The difference is the One has built-in Alexa and Airplay 2 support, whereas the Play:1 does not.

That is possible. You could also add them to the Beam room as surround speakers. The Play:1 and Sonos One are similar. The difference is the One has built-in Alexa and Airplay 2 support, whereas the Play:1 does not.

It's possible, but not through the official Sonos application. You would have to search through the Community to find out how to do so.

That is possible. You could also add them to the Beam room as surround speakers. The Play:1 and Sonos One are similar. The difference is the One has built-in Alexa and Airplay 2 support, whereas the Play:1 does not.

It's possible, but not through the official Sonos application. You would have to search through the Community to find out how to do so.

Huh? Are you talking about pairing a Play:1 with a One? Because nobody asked about that, nor was I speaking about it.

I would like to pair play:1 with sonos one, beam and possibly gen 1 play:5. Would that work?

No. Mix and match doesn't work well with sonos.

Pair Play 1 with Play 1, Sonos One with Sonos One, Play 5 with Play 5.

Bond Beam with a pair of Play 1s, Sonos Ones or Play 5s and a Sub if desired.

Thanks Stanley. I already bought a beam and a play:1.

Could I pair/group (is that the same thing?) Beam with play:1 in one room and have the same music playing on a Sonos one in another room?

Pair is connecting two speakers into a Stereo Pair, shows in the controller as one Room.
Bonding is connecting speakers into a surround setup, shows in the controller as one Room.
Grouping is connecting two or more Rooms into a Group, shows in the controller as a Group with multiple Rooms in it.

So you'd have a Room that was the Beam and two Play 1s bonded into a surround system and another Room that was your other Sonos speaker. You could group the rooms together and they would play the same music and be controlled by the same Group in the Room menu.

You do have a master volume control that you can tap and open a volume control for each Room so you can control the volume of either or both.

Thanks everyone for the excellent advice.
-Michelle