Of course, if you want to turn your living room into an impressive home cinema, you not only need a large television or an alternative projector, but also a high-quality speaker system.
Many cheaper versions are nice to look at, but they don't exactly convince with a flawless sound experience. But do you have to invest 1.800 euros for one? The US manufacturer Sonos would like to have a few euros less than the sum mentioned for its noble 5.1 home cinema set - in our following test report we will tell you whether this demand is justified.
Scope of delivery and first impression of the Sonos 5.1 home cinema set
The 5.1 home cinema set from Sonos is basically made up of several individual items that can also be purchased individually at any time in the range of the traditional US American company: The buyer gets a Sonos PLAYBAR WLAN soundbar for around 740 euros, a Sonos SUB wireless subwoofer for around 715 euros and two Sonos PLAY: 1 loudspeakers, which together cost around 330 euros.
You don't have to run speaker cables across the room. Just set everything up, set up your PLAYBAR, connect it to the TV with an optical cable and sit back. Your SUB and rear speakers sync wirelessly over WiFi. Without any extra cable or additional programming.
If you add up the prices of the individual components, you could assume that you would get at least a small discount if you bought the entire bundle - but in fact the price is absolutely identical to the price of the individual purchases.
As you are used to from products from this manufacturer, all four components supplied are convincing with their very high quality of workmanship. In addition, the chosen design proves to be a real eye-catcher, even if the appearance of the two loudspeaker boxes does not necessarily seem to match the design of the subwoofer. In fact, this is pure complaining at a high level, because you definitely don't find such a noble home cinema system every day - even if you unfortunately have to dig deep into your pocket for it.
Equipment of the Sonos 5.1 home cinema set
The heart of the Sonos 5.1 home cinema set is of course the impressive subwoofer, which thanks to its speaker drivers placed opposite, ensures a particularly powerful bass. He meets the Sonos PLAYBAR, which knows how to convince with nine amplified drivers - six mid-range drivers and three tweeters.
The integrated Sonos speech enhancement of the PLAYBAR has a positive effect when watching movies, which contributes to the fact that spoken dialogues are placed directly in the foreground and are therefore even easier to hear. And those who prefer to watch films late in the evening or at night will be happy about the integrated Sonos night mode, which automatically makes quiet noises louder and loud noises quieter.
The two PLAY:1 Speakers, on the other hand, convince with a surprisingly powerful sound despite their compact dimensions of only 12 x 12 x 16,2 cm: This is made possible by two powerful class D amplifiers in combination with drivers specially made for this product. These are combined with the unique Trueplay speaker tuning, which helps ensure that the reproduced sound always sounds optimal in every room of the apartment - regardless of whether it is a small or a very large room.
What is striking, however, is that the home cinema set is equipped with a digital audio input, a HDMI port You won't find any modern sound formats like DTS or DTS HD - for a home cinema set in this price range, that's actually a real minus point.
By the way: You can find more information about the included components in our more extensive individual tests.
- Go to the Sonos PLAY:1 Speaker test report
- to the test report Sonos Sub
- to the Sonos WLAN PLAYBASE test report
Handling of the Sonos 5.1 home cinema set
In most cases, connecting a home cinema system is anything but easy. Not so with the Sonos 5th home cinema set: Thanks to the enclosed operating instructions, which guide the buyer step by step through the setup process, the first sounds can be heard from the speakers within a few minutes.
The PLAYBAR is simply connected to the television using the supplied fiber optic cable. Now set up the two PLAY:1 speakers and the subwoofer in a suitable place in the room and then connect all the components together using the free Sonos app - done.
Exemplary: While many other wireless speaker systems rely on a Bluetooth connection with mobile devices, all Sonos products stream music via WLAN - this has the extremely important advantage that unsightly jerks and dropouts are almost impossible.
Sound experience of the Sonos 5.1 home cinema set
The sound experience of the Sonos 5.1 home cinema set can absolutely be heard: Even without the subwoofer, the soundbar already convinces with a pleasant bass, but including the subwoofer, the bass output is really breathtaking. This is particularly effective with feature films, but less so when enjoying music: Since the intensity of the bass is extremely powerful, owners of a rented apartment will quickly get into trouble with their neighbors if they have not made one or the other adjustment in the made equalizer settings.
Nevertheless, the subwoofer's bass is flawless and never rattles or trembles - you shouldn't turn it up too high out of consideration for your neighbors. The two PLAY:1 speakers and the PLAYBAR, which know how to impress with their crystal-clear sound, are also convincing: If you compare this with that of a conventional home cinema system, you can already tell the difference from the first notes.
And finally ...
The 5.1 home cinema set from Sonos is very expensive to buy, but it convinces with a harmonious overall package, which consists of a stylish design, easy handling and an impressive sound experience. However, an HDMI connection for modern audio formats such as DTS would have been nice.
Cover photo source: amazon.de
