Review – Sonos Home Theater Soundbar, Subwoofer, and Play3 speakers

Introduction

A disclaimer first – I’m not a big audiophile.  I mean, I love watching movies with a surround system, but I’ve never had a 7.1 or a 10.1 surround system.  I used to have the Energy Take5 system way back when, and I thought they were pretty good for the price point ($800 or so with subwoofer over a decade ago.)  I moved several times, and eventually I stopped using them because I got tired of the speaker wires running on the ground (see, I told you I wasn’t an audiophile.)  Plus, at the time, my condo was small, and so I made do with a Yamaha soundbar and subwoofer combo.  That was fine for a few years until I moved into a bigger place with a much larger living room.  Then one day, I saw a deal on a Martin Logan soundbar   It was a brand I had never heard of before, but I figure since it was a $1400 MSRP soundbar, it had to be better than my $800 Yamaha one.  Once I got it and played it, it didn’t sound that much better.  I mean, if you blind folded me, I probably wouldn’t not have been able to discern a difference between the two of them.

Enter Sonos

I don’t remember how I came upon Sonos; I had actually heard about them from a friend probably a decade ago, but at the time, they were too expensive for me.  Well, with that Best Buy AMEX offer from December and probably a combination of Slickdeals browsing and a recommendation from a reader, I went ahead and bought the soundbar open box from Best Buy.  I also went ahead and bought the subwoofer to replace my current subwoofer.  Then a few days later, I went and bought a pair of the Play3 speakers. Total cost – about $2,000 all in for all 4 components.

Installation

Installation couldn’t be easier.  I plugged in the power cord and the optical cable from the TV into the back of the soundbar.  I then installed the iOS app and ran through the setup, which had me walking around the room to optimize the sound.  Installing the subwoofer was also done via the app as well as the 2 Play3 speakers.  It really couldn’t be any easier.  Kudos to Sonos for having an easy to use app.

Quality

I had actually tested the Sonos soundbar + subwoofer before I got the Play3 speakers, and with those 2 alone, I noticed the sound was noticeably better than my old Martin Logan + subwoofer combo.  It wasn’t like a night and day difference, but close to it.  The key improvement was that I could crank the volume up on the Sonos and “feel” the sound vibrations.  My old combo couldn’t push the volume that high.  Right off the bat, I was already happy.

The Play3s came a few days later, and like I said, it was an easy install as well.  Right off the bat, I tested watching a sporting event and you can hear the sounds from the rear surround.  During a basketball game, you can hear the announcers from the soundbar, and you can hear the hecklers in the rear speakers. It even freaked out my dog and to this day, he keeps turning his head towards the rear speakers when he hears something odd (that’s a good test of surround sound right?)  When you watch something like the Tonight Show, you only hear the host coming from the soundbar and only the audience claps in the rear speakers.  The next test was the wife test.  I turned on some EDM music for her with the volume at 75%, and while it sounded awesome, she didn’t even recognize I had changed the system (e.g. this is akin to me not noticing her haircuts.)  Once I told her I had changed it, then she goes, “Oh, okay, that’s nice.”  FACEPALM!  So while the Sonos failed the wife test, at least it passed the dog test.  

Conclusion

Was it worth it?  For me, YES!  Now my movies and sporting events sound a heck of a lot better!  Was it worth $2,000?  Ehhh… if you have the discretionary income, then sure.  Could you do without the subwoofer?  I’m going to lean YES unless you really do like bass.  Could you do without the surround speakers?  I would say NO!  I think the rears are more important than the subwoofer, but that’s just me.  By the way, I did sell the Martin Logan subwoofer for $500 on Ebay, so that made me feel a bit better about the cost.