Depends on the speakers, but I have a Connect connected to an old Sherwood 5.1 system and it sounds fantastic. Granted you have to go into the room settings and tweak treble & bass and turn on loudness but then you also have the added benefit of further tweaking the signal with the onboard treble and bass controls of your stereo system; however, if you go with the Connect Amp, you won't have that functionality, since you will be connected directly to your speakers. I was going to set up my Connect with my Luxman L430 hooked up to a couple of Paradigm tower speakers, but unfortunately the power supply pooped out just before I was able to do so. So, not exactly sure how that would have sounded with the higher end speakers since the Sherwood system doesn't have enough wattage to push those.

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I'd get the play:5s and put them as a stereo pair in one of your rooms. Buy directly from Sonos so you can do a no hassle return if you aren't happy about it. You may also want to consider gettting a pair of Sonos Ones if one of your rooms isn't as big as the others. It can do just fine in a medium size room, especially if you aren't blasting it in there. A pair of 3s is good too, but that is an older model.



I personally am a fan of stereo sound over mono, so I don't think I'd care for a single play:5 much myself. You are correct though that the size and ease of use of Sonos is a big plus. And you might find that you can sell your old speakers and amps to help pay for the costs.

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I’m curious why you’re looking at Connect:Amps - do you not already have receivers or amps for those two pairs of speakers? A Connect is $150 cheaper than either the Amp or the 5, and if you already have an amplifier that drives those speakers properly, then you can save a bit. What are the powe handling and efficiency specs for those speakers?



I’m going to say something contrary to most of what’s said on this board - I’m exceedingly unimpressed by my Play:5’s sound. I’m very glad I didn’t pay full price - it’d have gone back instantly. I haven’t heard a paired set of 5’s, maybe that’s where the magic comes arrives, but that’s a grand - if you already have speakers, than a Connect and a middle of the road integrated amp or receiver will probably well outperform the 5. Now my paired Play:1’s? They punch way above their weight class. A pair of Play:1’s have no right to sound that good for less than three bills.

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Thanks for the thoughts everyone. Lots to consider.



I’m curious why you’re looking at Connect:Amps - do you not already have receivers or amps for those two pairs of speakers?



I currently have a receiver that powers both as part of a 5.1 setup, but the receiver is crapping out on me and ready to be chucked. So I'm gonna replace that whole setup with a playbar, 2 (maybe 4) Play 1's, and a sub, as that sounds better than my current setup and I want to simplify the setup with all the wires and receiver (plus there's no need for 4 towers in a 5.1 setup). I have other rooms that need music though, so trying to decide if I should salvage the towers or go for the Play 5. Some here suggested 2 Play 5's per room. That's getting a little pricey though, especially after the new Sonos 3.1/5.1 setup. So, not sure on that.

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