SONOS Soundbar - Any good?

Long story short, we built a house in March. It was $550 to run wiring for surround sound in our living room. Who wants that put into a mortgage, right? Opted out, figured I would get it done later. Had a wiring guy come today who my friend recommended and he let me know how much sheet rock would be cut to get around the fireplace and to get to the rear of the room (There is no attic access as there is a bedroom above the living room). I decided to start researching wireless surrounds and came upon the Sonos. It's a bit pricey but gets pretty amazing reviews across the board. I have a friend who has the Sonos 1 and loves the speaker and the sound it puts out. My wife and I are looking at the Sonos Playbar + subwoofer combo. Cost for these 2 would be $1400 but covers what we need in the living room. What I really like about the system is the ability to add additional speakers in the future. I believe he said we can add up to 31 additional speakers and have them all programmed to play the same music or play something independently. The ability to do this and have that expansion is what is really making me think this is a great idea, but it still is $1400 I'd be shelling out for this.

I know there are cheaper systems but I'm looking at ease of install being a large bonus. That and the ability to expand the system easily in the future. Do any of you have experience with the Sonos system? Are there any other alternatives that I should be looking at?

Sonos makes a great product. I've got 7 stations throughout the house, and it's super slick. Adding new stations or a sub is easy. There are more expensive options, and cheaper, I think sonos is in the sweet spot.

I've experimented with the sound bar, and the surround/sound bar/sub system is very cool, it creates its own network and sounds great. The only drawback to that surround system is that it only takes an optical input, and most tvs can't pass through 5.1 sound. And it doesn't decode DTS or any system except Dolby 5.1.

So if your tv is one of the ones that can pass through a 5.1 signal, I'd go for it unless you're hung up on fancier sound.

I don't think DTS is going to matter much. This is going to be the living room TV which will be used but not for the loud action movies or anything. That is going to be reserved for the media room which will have my current Onkyo receiver + Entergy 5.1 setup. I'm pretty sure I'll be fine with Sonos because of this but apparently have to do a little more research. People on the Sonos forum are really hung up on the no DTS thing but I think they are much more of an audiophile group than I am. I'm 95% sure it will work for my needs.

I don't have the sound bar but I have other Sonos components and I highly recommend the system. Very, very easy to use, and they have a UI designer who really "gets it."

The Wire Cutter had some good soundbar reviews, but I think they're rather out of date at this point, and haven't been updated with this year's models. The reviews amounted to: 1 - the Sonos is good. 2 - the Vizios are also generally quite good for their price. 3 - the Paradigm is really good, and really expensive. I think Sonos is the only option that gets you the sort of expandability you're talking about though.

Question- Are you going just for the Playbar, or are you looking to add a pair of 1s or 3s, or even the sub?

I love love love my Sonos Play 3. Sound quality is great and ease of setup is fantastic. I seriously considered the Playbar in the past, and would probably have gone that direction if wires weren't an option for me. If your TV supports 5.1 optical out, it should be a no brainer -YES.

If not, you'll probably still love it, but might be missing out on full awesomeness.

The sub will be added. As for additional speakers, yes. But they would be throughout the house, not for a 5.1 for the living room (I don't think).

My TV is a Samsung PN51E550 51-Inch. Work is over so no time to do additional research but can check when I get home. The TV is a few years old so not sure if it supports 5.1 optical out.

You really need to examine the connectivity piece or you'll wind up disappointed. The optical out from TV thing helps simplicity a lot, but I think I want something that has like 5 HDMI in. Of course I'm not looking to have the speakers all over the house, which is a really cool thing.

Yeah, the connection may be an issue, but there are workarounds, and if this isn't your main theater room, a stereo connection will probably meet your needs.

On the Sonos forums, a user was having an issue with his Samsung TV not passing 5.1 audio through the optical output through any of the TVs HDMI inputs, so he solved it with a Monoprice HDMI switch:

Sonos Forum User wrote:

Hi everyone,

An update - I got everything to work as I wanted.

I got this switch from Monoprice - http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_i... - and set it up like this:

- HDMI from cable box into Monoprice switch
- HDMI from TV into Monoprice switch (the ARC HDMI slot - this is important)
- Optical from Monoprice switch to PlayBar

At first, I wasn't getting 5.1 sound to the PlayBar with this setup. I read the manual that came with the switch, and changed the jumper setting to pull/push 5.1 no matter what (Mode 2), and that solved the issue. The jumpers are on the back (there are three switches).

Now, when I watch TV, I have 5.1 sound. And, when I watch Netflix through the Netflix app on the TV, I have 5.1 sound then as well.

I did have some issues with the HDMI-CEC Support between the TV and the switch and trying to get that to work. When I turned off the TV, the CEC commands would turn off the switch fine, but it wouldn't turn the switch back on when the TV was turned on. Ultimately, I ended up turning CEC off on the TV. Now the switch is on 24/7, but I have it tucked behind the TV, so it's not a big deal for me.

Hope this helps someone.

-Matt

Another way would be to use your Xbox One (or possibly PS3/4/x360) optical out to the Playbar.
Sounds like just a stereo Playbar will get you what you're looking for, but it does look like there are a few options available for 5.1 for future expansion if you want it...

The sub is very good, and seamlessly integrates.

I had some issues trying to use a switcher for a workaround, just be aware that it may not work. Still, they have a 60 day trial, definitely worth trying out for the cost of shipping back.

Yeah, that monoprice switch is the one i had trouble with, couldn't get it to work for me, but YMMV.

Arise! If anyone's interested in getting any Sonos stuff in the next few weeks, PM me and I may be able to hook you up with a discount code. No grinders, please.