Actives or Sonos

[BillDay66]

Hi

Having sold all my gear a few years back due to an extended stay living in a building site, I am now just about ready to reinvest in some hifi. We have 'got by' with a Play 5 as a stop gap (which has incidentally spawned quite a few Play 3s and 1s around the rest of the house!).

I am leaning towards Actives for ease of use and lack of clutter along with the remarkable reviews of some, however as Sonos will be the primary source, I'm wondering wether to just add another Play 5? As I understand it I'd then have a pair of 'active speakers' albeit with no further connectivy, which I could live with.

So has anyone compared say the ADMs with a stereo pair of Play 5s? Will the ADMs give me more than just the extra connectivity?

Option 3 is a passive system which I guess could be 'tuned' to its environment, its all wood floors and glass everywhere - I used to be an Arcam fan so guessing that may again fit the bill if I go that route.

thanks for any input

 

[The_Lhc]

If you're desperate to spend money, some actives plus a Sonos Connect would seem to be a good solution, particularly if your actives have a digital input... I can't imagine a stereo pair of Play:5s is going to be up to the standards of a decent pair of active speakers.

You do have a line-in on the Play:5 incidentally.

 

[EvPa]

Option 3 is a passive system which I guess could be 'tuned' to its environment, its all wood floors and glass everywhere

You can "tune" actives, just looks for ones with EQ shelves or DSP.

I personally have a SONOS Connect plugged to a pair of ADAM Audio ARTist6s plus their Sub7 and I can tell you that I am more than satisfied with the music.

 

[richardw42]

I've always thought just a pair of Play 1.3 or 5s would be the ultimate fuss free system. And might be more than acceptable to you.

Taking AVI (as that's what I have). You could use a Connect via the RCA out to a pair of DM5s, or via optical to the ADM 9RS. In terms of absolute quality the Play speakers don't come close.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

Hi

So has anyone compared say the ADMs with a stereo pair of Play 5s? Will the ADMs give me more than just the extra connectivity?

Option 3 is a passive system which I guess could be 'tuned' to its environment, its all wood floors and glass everywhere - I used to be an Arcam fan so guessing that may again fit the bill if I go that route.

thanks for any input

IME Play 5 is significantly inferior to ADM9s in sound quality.

Also, actives do not have to be instead of Sonos. Just hook up good actives to a Sonos Connect.

The actives do not have to be ADM 9s or ADMs at all. If you use ADM9s in a one-source setup you are paying for a DAC and a pre-amp that you will never use so consider other simpler and cheaper actives liek e.g. AVI DM5, Adam Audio artist 6, 5 or 3, Genelec 6010, 8020, KEF 800A etc.

I do not recommend a passive system in place of actives.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

Hi

So has anyone compared say the ADMs with a stereo pair of Play 5s? Will the ADMs give me more than just the extra connectivity?

Option 3 is a passive system which I guess could be 'tuned' to its environment, its all wood floors and glass everywhere - I used to be an Arcam fan so guessing that may again fit the bill if I go that route.

thanks for any input

IME Play 5 is significantly inferior to ADM9s in sound quality.

Also, actives do not have to be instead of Sonos. Just hook up good actives to a Sonos Connect.

The actives do not have to be ADM 9s or ADMs at all. If you use ADM9s in a one-source setup you are paying for a DAC and a pre-amp that you will never use so consider other simpler and cheaper actives liek e.g. AVI DM5, Adam Audio artist 6, 5 or 3, Genelec 6010, 8020, KEF 800A etc.

I do not recommend a passive system in place of actives.

 

[BillDay66]

Thanks for the input, sorry if I wasn't clear, Sonos will still be the source if go with actives or passives I understand that.

Question (which seems to have been answered!) is will a stereo pair of Play 5s come close to the quality of a pair of ADMs for example being fed by a Sonos connect.?

 

[professorhat]

Question (which seems to have been answered!) is will a stereo pair of Play 5s come close to the quality of a pair of ADMs for example being fed by a Sonos connect.?

It seems extremely unlikely (of course I've not heard the AVIs), but I'm not sure it's entirely a fair comparison though. After all, a pair of Play:5s would come in at about £700, whereas ADM 9RSs with a Sonos Connect would be £1,500 - more than double the price! The Play:5 is also really designed for an entirely different purpose compared to the ADMs as well.

 

[BigH]

Question (which seems to have been answered!) is will a stereo pair of Play 5s come close to the quality of a pair of ADMs for example being fed by a Sonos connect.?

It seems extremely unlikely (of course I've not heard the AVIs), but I'm not sure it's entirely a fair comparison though. After all, a pair of Play:5s would come in at about £700, whereas ADM 9RSs with a Sonos Connect would be £1,500 - more than double the price! The Play:5 is also really designed for an entirely different purpose compared to the ADMs as well.

Well compare Sonos to DM5s then which are about £700.

 

[richardw42]

Question (which seems to have been answered!) is will a stereo pair of Play 5s come close to the quality of a pair of ADMs for example being fed by a Sonos connect.?

not even close.

 

[professorhat]

Well compare Sonos to DM5s then which are about £700.

Seems fairer, though you've still got to add in the extra Connect at £250.

As I also noted though, the Play:5 and the AVIs are not really designed for the same purpose.

 

[richardw42]

! The Play:5 is also really designed for an entirely different purpose compared to the ADMs as well.

i agree. I think if you're contemplating a pair of Plays it's for reasons other than absolute sq. Having said that they're still very good.

OP. CONNECT + DM5s is a lot closer in price, but the SQ is a long way ahead.

 

[BillDay66]

It seems extremely unlikely (of course I've not heard the AVIs), but I'm not sure it's entirely a fair comparison though. After all, a pair of Play:5s would come in at about £700, whereas ADM 9RSs with a Sonos Connect would be £1,500 - more than double the price! The Play:5 is also really designed for an entirely different purpose compared to the ADMs as well.

[/quote]

I think what I am getting at is that i don't really need the extra connectivity (although wouldn't mind the options it opens up) and the Play 5 in my opinion has an amazing sound for a shoebox sized object at its price - only shortcoming to my ears is that unless you sit about 3 feet away from it, then it isnt really stereo, and doesn't project any kind of soundstage etc, so adding another 'should' address this? That isn't a critism of the Play 5 btw just stating the obvious limitations of this kind of product.

For background music I think it's amazing but now want to get a system that I can sit and listen to for the sake of listening! Budget wise the ADM9RS and a connect would save me a fortune over the amp / connect / speakers route that I would normally have headed down so thats not the issue, just wondering how good a stereo pair of Play 5s really is compared then to similarly priced active speakers, was just using the 9RSs as a reference because if you removed the dac and preamp they are probably not that far away in terms of price

 

[The_Lhc]

It seems extremely unlikely (of course I've not heard the AVIs), but I'm not sure it's entirely a fair comparison though. After all, a pair of Play:5s would come in at about £700, whereas ADM 9RSs with a Sonos Connect would be £1,500 - more than double the price! The Play:5 is also really designed for an entirely different purpose compared to the ADMs as well.

I think what I am getting at is that i don't really need the extra connectivity (although wouldn't mind the options it opens up) and the Play 5 in my opinion has an amazing sound for a shoebox sized object at its price - only shortcoming to my ears is that unless you sit about 3 feet away from it, then it isnt really stereo, and doesn't project any kind of soundstage etc, so adding another 'should' address this?

Well it'll definitely give you stereo or course, I couldn't honestly say what the soundstage will be like though, I've never listened to a stereo pair of Play:5s, I'm definitely going to get a second Play:1 to give me a stereo pair in my back room though. For the money they cost it's a bit of a no brainer IMO.

 

[BigH]

Well compare Sonos to DM5s then which are about £700.

Seems fairer, though you've still got to add in the extra Connect at £250.

As I also noted though, the Play:5 and the AVIs are not really designed for the same purpose.

I don't know anything about Play 5, what were they designed for?

 

[professorhat]

I don't know anything about Play 5, what were they designed for?

Clearly, to be a bigger alternative to the Play:3 for larger rooms. Yes, you can run them in stereo mode, but I don't think Sonos ever designed them that way to compete against equally priced, dedicated active hi-fi speakers. It's not a fair comparison, since these won't do all the things the two Play:5s will do (without adding a Connect of course).

Don't forget, each Play:5 has got all the technology included to allow it to be a standalone Sonos component - of the £700 then, I wonder how much is actually allocated to reproducing music, and how much is for streaming music wirelessly from any computer / NAS + streaming Spotify, internet radio etc. etc. that has been duplicated in each unit.

 

[The_Lhc]

I don't know anything about Play 5, what were they designed for?

Clearly, to be a bigger alternative to the Play:3 for larger rooms.

I thought the Play:5 came first?

 

[professorhat]

I don't know anything about Play 5, what were they designed for?

Clearly, to be a bigger alternative to the Play:3 for larger rooms.

I thought the Play:5 came first?

Fair enough, the Play:5 was therefore designed to provide the Sonos experience without having to purchase a separate speaker / amp / active speaker kit and a Connect (or ZP90 as I think it was called then). Then the Play:3 was designed to be a smaller version of the Play:5.

 

[farawaydave]

Ihave a pair of play 5s set up for stereo and they do sound pretty good.Add the sonos sub and they will blow you away a bit pricey at 1300 quid but you wont regret it.I also have a pair of play 3s set to stereo and these are also mighty impressive.I only have 1 play one so dont know as yet how they sound with the sub but another one is on my shopping list.will keep you informed

 

[steve_1979]

The Sonos sound quality is alright for what it is but a good quality pair of actives from the likes of AVI, Adam or Genelec are in another league altogether. You owe it to yourself to go and have a listen to some good quality active speakers because the sound quality is massively superior to a Sonos Play 5.