Anyone gone full 5.1 setup with decent speakers to Sonos?

ChrisD.

ChrisD.

ChrisD.

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Current setup is as follows:

Pioneer SC-2024 AV amp
Roksan K2 amp (doing left and right channels)
Monitor Audio Gold 5.1 speakers

I hardly ever listen to music in the living room, when I do I think the amp is at around 10% of the total volume. Movies wise I like it pretty loud and play Blu Ray rips, but I watch one film a month at best. The rest of the time it's Netflix, Amazon TV and Sky.

I've been thinking about downsizing to gain more space in the living room. The left and right speakers are huge, as is the 15" sub. Between them they take up a good 40% of the back wall, space that could be used better such as a book shelf and what not.

I've thought about getting a Sonos Playbase and Sub, then using two spare Play 1's as the rears and upgrade them to 3's or 5's down the line. I figure I should be able to do this, gain a lot of space and pocket a fair amount of cash in the process.

Has anyone done this? I'm interested to know your thoughts.

I'm tempted to order the Playbase and Sub, give it a go and if I don't like it I can return them as I think you get some time now with Sonos kit?
 
I had a Mordaunt Short 5.1 setup before going to Sonos. While the quality of my setup isn't anywhere near the level of yours, I do have some thoughts to give:

  • Sonos app is great, when it works. Without it, you have a dud system. Same with internet. If it goes down, nothing you can do. Fine if you have TV autoplay on, which automatically selects the TV as a source of audio when it detects a signal, but I find this annoying as I often like to listening to music while gaming on my Xbox One: this can't be done with the option selected. It does work most of the time, but it's terribly frustrating when it doesn't.
  • Trueplay, which uses the microphone on your device to optimise the sound from the setup, a must to bring out the best in the system, only works with iOS. This is fair enough, but an annoyance nevertheless.
  • I bought a Playbar and Sub, costing me £1200. Sound is roughly the same as the Aviano stuff I had from Mordaunt Short. That is to say, good, not great. Definitely not £1200 great (well 1400 now).
  • Anyone on your home network can change the song/alter sound source.
  • Sonos customer service is so-so. With the problems I've had over the course of owning the equipment, I've just been told to reset it. This is especially a pain when setting up music accounts and stuff every time.
  • Stereo separation on the Playbar is exceptional. Really really immersive sound.
  • Sub digs deep. Really really deep. A song like "Too Cool" by Rudimental really shows the potential of it. Not quite as punchy as I'd like though.
Honestly? If you're looking for the wireless home audio, coming from quality speakers, Sonos isn't the way to go. I'd invest in a Denon (Heos) or Yamaha (Musicast) amp.
 
Sound quality will take quite a hit, particularly as you're running a very good front channel system with the Roksan driving the MAs. Make sure all your sources can output at either DD or PCM Stereo mode. None of the Sonos TV products handle DTS or HD audio.

There are a few folk on the Sonos forum that have gone Playbar, Sub, 2x Play1s from a decent 5.1 system. They've commented it doesn't sound as good but that it's an acceptable compromise to get the space back or because they play more streamed content now. That's fair enough. It's not a move I could make though. I sell and install AV gear including Sonos, but I couldn't live with my vinyl or CDs played through a Playbase or Playbar, but then again my room is pretty good acoustically. I've been in customer's homes where there's tiled floors, lots of glass and exposed wall surfaces. Gear doesn't sound that good in those conditions so downgrading isn't so noticeable.

I wouldn't bother changing the 1's for Play3's for rear channel duties. You won't hear much of a difference, not with a sub in the system as it is automatically set to take a lot of the lower midrange and bass from the speakers.
 
No freaking way I'd go from full on decent gear to speaker music box just to save space. All I would do is replace the Squeezebox to a new thing, but it seems to work fine as it is (and it'll be the same speakers and amps anyway)
 
Thanks for the comments. Seems I will get a marked decrease in sound quality then, shame.

I have the Playbar and two 1's in my bedroom and I've been happy with how it sounds, but it is a small room!
 
If you already have, at least some, of the gear, can you not try it out in the main room to see if you like it? It may well be that the sacrifice in sound quality isn't as important to you as the regaining of space. And if you already have the gear, there is nothing to stop you trying it in the other environment.

But yeah, I couldn't switch from my proper 5.1 to Sonos anything.
 
If you do decide to go ahead, make sure your tv is capable of outputting Dolby Digital, or you will be stuck with stereo sound.
 
^^ this is a minefield, trying to find which TVs support 5.1 pass through via optical is hard work. Just to expand on this, be aware a lot of TV's will play 5.1 from in built TV apps or tuners, but will not pass the 5.1 from HDMI sources to the optical out. Normally the TV specs and manuals do not distinguish between the two and I had to write to Panasonic technical support to get a definitive answer before buying my new telly. The Sonos forums are a good resource, but are also peppered with people complaining they only get PCM stereo whilst watching films off their blueray player etc.
 
you can check in the Sonos App if you wanna make sure. In the About My System tab it says whether the sound input is stereo or 5.1.
 
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