Please pop in to your nearest Electrical Store and have a listen first.

I have 2 Play:5's in a stereo pair as I thought that would be THE best sound Sonos do. To some degree I was impressed, mostly impressed in fact but... I was previously using NAD VISIO 1, which I thought and still do think is BRILLIANT. Looks wise, not to everyones taste but the sound was amazing, with the only complaint as with any single speaker like this (Play:5 included) is the lack of stereo separation.

Hence why I bought 2 Play:5's. Now, quickly to the nitty gritty: the sound from 2 Play:5's is great. Great on songs like Hey 19 by Steely Dan, amazing on anything acoustic and anything recorded probably before the last 10 years. Stereo separation works perfect too.

Here's the kicker: BASS.

For me when you turn any Sonos up loud, you do so at the detriment of bass. It just somehow, dissipates with volume. Everything else stays perfect with no distortion - crystal clear. Trust me, it happens with the 2 Play:1's in the Lounge and the 2 in the bedroom too. At casual listening volumes they all sound spot on but crank it up and you lose the earth shattering bass.

I've spoken to Sonos about this (and on other forums) and the only thing to do is buy the sub. Again, reviews of the sub are amazing but at an amazing price too. Put all that price together though, and at £1400 you have a very expensive system. I have toyed with the Denon Heos systems but the looks aren't to my taste (personally) but the sound is supposed to be better. Ultimately, I've spent too much money already on Sonos. Besides the system is a breeze to use.

Would I recommend Sonos then? In short, YES. Undoubtedly in fact BUT I would advise listening to it first.

Would I buy 2 Play:5's again? Probably not. In hindsight, I would probably have gotten two Play:3's or Play:1's and bought the Sub too.

I hope my waffle helps someone :smiley:

p.s. the sub will be with me on Friday - I hate myself. :neutral_face:

Just be aware of the sound type limitations of the PlayBar. If you're after it as a main Home Theatre setup, I would stay clear. No HD Audio, no Atmos, no DTS X, not even DTS in any way shape or form. You can have a Xbox One S decode this on the fly, so you actually get some sound but all you will get is Dolby Digital and nothing more.

Just making people aware of this :smiley:

All Sonos products can be found here: http://www.cramptonandmoore.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=sonos

Funny superfi did the same deal over blackfriday, I'd much rather by from Superfi

It's not free delivery, which abit of downside to the deal. Heat if you can click and collect though.

£521 for the Playbar seems a good deal too, anyone know if Playbar has/is cheaper anywhere?

Does the little convertor option still work? I mean, the Optical Cables's bandwidth isn't enough for uncompressed file formats like Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD-Master Audio? Or do you mean just to convert the 2 channels of PCM in to 5.1? :smiley:

I have a Samsung HW-H355 at the moment, nothing fancy as only a small living room. The appeal of the Sonos was we often like to stream music throughout the house and we have Sonos on the bedrooms and kitchen, but lately have been frustrated not having in the living room. Would it be better to kee the Samsung and just buy a Sonos for the front room, maybe a Play 5? Any guidance is appreciated

If you are happy with your TV Samsung HW-H355 I would say get a Play 5.

Think the playbar come out what in 2012/3 and I have been waiting for them to add support to for DTS/5.1 or bring out a new playbar. unless my GF gets me the new Samsung 9 Series then i know it can support the playbar in full DTS/5.1

Your Samsung Soundbar comes with a sub which gives you 2.1 sound. I don't know anything about the quality of the Samsung but I'm going out on a limb here to say; the Sonos will sound better. BUT - buying the Sonos PlayBar alone will only give you 3.0 sound (not 2.1, 3.1 or 5.1), so you'll have to buy the sub too (on this 10% off deal) at £512 to make it 3.1. You could add two play ones later at the rear to make it 5.1, which is a nice touch.

The stupid thing is, your Sammy SoundBar does DTS as well as Dolby Digital, which is more sound formats than the Sonos does. But like the Sonos it can't handle any of the HD or lossless sound formats of the new era.

If it's only music you're after, you're on to a winner with either the Play:5, 3 or 1. Maybe get 2 Play:1's and add a Sub at a later date? It's your choice.