Sonos 5.1 Surround Set - Home Theater Surround Sound System with Playbase, Sub and a set of two Sonos One Alexa Enabled Speakers for TVs on stands or other furniture. (Black)

I'd read the reviews for the Sonos Playbase, and checked out a demo unit at a big box store, so I knew what I could expect going in. Is this going to replace your 5.1 or 7.1 sound system in terms of surround sound? Absolutely not. But if you're tired of adjusting the volume to compensate for dialogue vs sound effects, or quiet vs loud scenes, the Playbase will absolutely deliver...without sacrificing fidelity in the process. In fact, the clarity is outstanding, with movie tests revealing crystal clear nuances which would be lost with anything else (even besting the Bose!).Look, when MY WIFE says she's impressed, that means something, since most of the time she simply tolerates my fascination with technology without comment (even when prompted for an opinion, I get, "Are you happy? If you're happy, then I'm happy."). But in this case, she stopped dead in her tracks when she walked in the room and said, "Wow! That's really good!"The Playbase has a built in subwoofer that delivers plenty of bass, at least for me, although you can add a satellite sub if you want. You can even add a pair of Sonos 1s or 5s and get a fully wireless 5.1 system. It's all controlled by a Sonos app for either iOS or Android. One caveat, however, is that the iOS version allows you to tune the system specific to the acoustics of the room it's in, using the microphone of an iPhone or iPad, while the Android version doesn't allow for that, due to the variability of microphone sensitivity between phone manufacturers, and this room tuning can make a dramatic difference, especially in the "width" of the sound space.Additionally, this is the first sound bar/base that has ever passed the "Interstellar Test". If you've ever watched this movie, you probably have an idea of what I'm talking about...a constant battle of volume adjustment because you either can't hear the dialogue, or you're getting blasted by music/effects. It's a real effort to watch...seriously. I'm happy to report that the Sonos Playbase slayed this demon, and for the first time, I could just sit back, put the remote down, and ENJOY THE MOVIE with a big ole grin!Maybe that's enough of a fitting tribute...the Sonos Playbase is simply stellar, in my opinion (NO pun intended). For what it costs, it better freaking be worth it, and it is, for my tastes anyway.

I originally purchased a Sonos playbar about 2 years ago as part of a 5.1 system with a sub and 2 2nd gen play 5s. Unfortunately the playbar is not compatible with Apple’s airplay 2. Even worse is that although the second generation play 5’s are compatible with airplay 2, the play 5’s will not work with airplay 2 while connected to a 5.1 system with the playbar.Long story short I needed to connect my Apple devices to my sonos system for listening to stuff other than just music (movies, streaming, gaming, DJ and VJ software, pretty much anything). Airplay 2 is perfect for just that so I ended up buying a playbase to replace my playbar.As far as the playbase goes, it’s much much more aesthetically pleasing than the playbar. I bought a Sanus swivel TV base to go with my playbase which I highly recommend if you’re like me and don’t find a tv sitting on top of a speaker that attractive.As far as sound goes, the difference between the two isn’t that striking. I think the playbase handles the low range a little better and has a little more oomph overall. I notice this particularly during music playback: My play 5’s seemed to overpower my playbar, especially when I cranked up the volume. The playbase seems to compete well with the play 5 during high volume music playback.The last thing that I noticed with the playbase is there seems to be less latency, maybe because it’s a newer product from sonos? Changing songs on the sonos app and swapping from tv mode to music playback mode seems to be overall quicker.If you’re trying to decided between the playbar or playbase, as an owner of both, I’d definitely recommend the playbase.

I'm struggling with whether or not to keep the playbase. I've become a 'SONOS guy' this year, purchasing four play:1s, a One and now the playbase since August, and overall the transformation of the quality and convenience of music in my home has been amazing. Audio on the playbase is beautiful, it is far surperior to my Samsung soundbar and it really does make movies come alive. Unfortunately however the playbase is not without its weaknesses in my opinion, weaknesses that you should not have to endure on a $600 soundbar. Let me explain.1) LACK OF AUDIO FORMATS AND DD PASSTHROUGH = FAKE SURROUND - Getting true surround sound to your playbase can be a nightmare. The playbase's lack of support for many audio formats and TVs issues of passing through Dolby Digital is well documented, but I was being an optimist and hoping that I wouldn't have issues, unfortunately I was being naive.In a nutshell for those not aware, the playbase doesn't support very many audio formats via its optical port. No DTS, no new DD formats, just plain old Dolby Digital. If your DVD/blue-ray/other players don't support original Dolby Digital then the best you will ever have is stereo going to the playbase, which it then converts to fake surround, which means no true 5.1 experience. There's a big difference between hearing (for example) the helicopter flying in from behind you moving forward between the rear and front speakers, and the rears just playing a portion of what's coming up the fronts.Even if your devices do support DD (my Apple TV, Fire TV stick and Xbox One do), if your TV cannot pass the DD signal (my Samsung UE48H6700 can't) then the best you will ever get is stereo going to the playbase, unless you invest in optical switches and make the audio bypass your TV. If like me you have an Amazon Fire TV stick, well that has no optical output, so now you have to buy an HDMI switch with optical output just to get the Dolby Digital 5.1 track out for your TV/movies. It's a real inconvenience (and cost) that SONOS could have fully avoided by putting an HDMI socket on the playbase.2) SURROUND SPEAKERS CEASE TO WORK AS A STANDALONE PAIR IN SONOS - If you are currently using the SONOS speakers that you plan to use as surrounds with the playbase, then you need to be aware that they will work differently going forward. The rears once setup are fully integrated with the playbase, that means no playing music on them without playing music on the playbase (note that there is a dynamic music setting that turns the volume of the surrounds up when you're streaming music to the set). This was a bit of a surprise to me since the Play:1s that I am using as surrounds are my living room/kitchen speakers and now when I have guests over and we're having dinner in the kitchen, the playbase in the TV area is effectively the center speaker, which isn't how I wanted it. It's a pain to separate them, so if my wife wants to listen to some music in the kitchen whilst I watch TV, that can't be accomplished anymore. I'd imagined that I would be able to group the soundbar and Play:1 pair when I wanted surround, but it doesn't work like that.I am now trying to weigh up the pros/cons of keeping it. The thing sounds amazing, but the lack of support for new surround formats, the need to bypass many (most?) TVs to get Dolby Digital 5.1 and the way it has taken over my existing Play:1s is making me think long and hard about returning it and going back to my Samsung playbar/sub combo. The other option is to use the playbase on its own, without the surrounds, so the above issue goes away, but I'm just not sure that $600 for a standalone soundbar is worth it. :-(UPDATE: So I kept it, because it does sound so deliciously good. I purchased a HDMI switch with optical output (ViewHD Prosumer HDMI 3x1 Ultra HD / 4K | Auto Switch | ARC | Audio Extraction | Model: VHD-PRO3X1i | The Ultimate HDMI Switch https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U8WBOOG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_7SbiAbG2D57YS) which solves the 5.1 passthrough issue, and an additional Play:1 for the kitchen so it can be it’s own zone again. One extra star added.

Bueno para empezar creo que la primera duda que genera este producto es el precio, ya que no es una inversion chica pero cuando lo tengas vas a querer seguir comprando mas productos de la marca Sonos, desde la aplicacion a la conexion a la TV todo es muy sencillo de utilizar, la playbase esta diseñada para colocarla abajo de una pantalla plana (cosa que yo hice) aparte que le da mas vida a tu centro de tv.Para los que les preocupa que los productos sonos solo funcionan con wifi, dejenme decirles que no van a extrañar para nada quela bocina no tenga bluetooth, con el wifi la conexion es mas estable y la fidelidad de la musica es mucho mejor.La base la puedes usar para escuchar la TV y tambien para mandar musica directo desde tu telefono, si tienes un iphone puedes usar airplay 2 y mandar cualquier audio que estes escuchando en tu cel sin abrir la aplicacion de Sonos (super practico) eso es algo por lo que tambien escogi la playbase a la playbar (la playbar no soporta airplay), ademas de que la base es compatible con homekit.Con respecto al sonido, no tengo ningun problema, vivo en un departamento y la base llena todo con audio sin problemas, los graves son muy buenos y los agudos y medios se reproducen bastante bien aun con el volumen al maximo no hay distorcion.Puedes programar horarios para que la bocina se encienda como alarma con la musica de tu preferencia y tambien para que se apague a cierta hora.Si le tuviera que poner un contra a la playbase o a los productos de sonos seria que para utilizar spotify tienes que tener a fuerza suscripcion premium, lo mismo pasa con apple music, no hay problema si tienes musica guardada directo en tu iphone para los demas servicios tienes que se premium, pero lo bueno de la playbase es que como se conecta a la tv puedes poner youtube desde ahi y reproducir los videos musicales que quieras.En fin estoy satisfecho con esta compra, ya tengo una play one y planeo expandir mi repertorio de sonos.

The Playbase is sleek and would sit unobtrusively under a compatible TV. For a device that has no visible speakers or grille, it sounds very good.Unfortunately, as a soundbar the lack of connectivity gets in the way.In my case I had it connected to my 4K laser projector.In this configuration, if the audio went through the projector over HDMI and then to the soundbar over SPDIF, the dialogue was badly out is sync with the video. The projector is capable of slipping the video behind the audio but it never quite sync’ed up.Second option: video to projector and audio to sound bar over Airplay. Better but still not quite right. Also this config made the setup much more fiddly and limited to Airplay sources.In addition, dialogue never sounded particularly crisp.

No había comprado equipo de sonido en mucho tiempo porque esperaba un producto wireless de buena calidad y por fin hay uno. Ocupa poco espacio, el sonido es muy limpio y potente, es fácil de usar e instalar, de conecta a la TV y a la música del resto de equipos de la red de Sonos. Lo compraría de nuevo. Solo no pude configurar con el control remoto de la TV (y no he vuelto a intentar).

The quality of this is amazing, I knew from getting out of the box it would be good. Sounds great and set up was easy.Only thing is it isnt compatible with every format and a show I am currently watching has a format it doesnt like and wont play it and just makes a loud screeching sound instead. So I find I have to constantly switch between the speakers and this while I am still going through this show. Not the kind of experience you want with this price tag..

definitvo mejor que adquirir la barra de sonido y por fin puedo coordinar toda mi casa alrededor de esta estacion central de audio, discreta y de maxima calidad