Excellent and easy entry into a Sonos system.
359282
After buying a couple of Play:5s I wanted to see if this would be OK for secondary zones (and to see if I could save a 100 bucks). It really sounds great, and holds its own against the Play:5 - the 5 has more bass and is a little more clear in a larger room (and at higher volume) but in a smaller room at lower volume the differences are very subtle.

It integrated fine with my other Sonos systems, and with my all apple network - everything just worked.

The real high point is the Sonos system - I spend a huge amount of time listening to Mog and Songza, and occasionally Tune In or my local library. The sound and streaming quality is great, and the controller app works fine. IT would be nice to have integrated airplay for things that Sonos does not have in the controller - but I hooked up and Airport express for that.

If you have the cash, the 5 is a better product - but the 3 still sounds better than any iPhone speakers I have tried. The matte black is unobtrusive, and it blends in to the background. The integrated power supply (no wall wart) is really nice as well.
2307680
I just replaced my old (huge) multi component stereo system with a Sonos system and I could not be happier. Ok I would be happier if it didn't cost a fortune to do it, but other than that this system is amazing. It is super easy to install and updates the firmware on each component as you connect it.

My intention was primarily to use my music library from my iPod (I loaded the music onto a network NAS drive) but I find I use the Pandora, Rhapsody, streaming radio etc more than my stored music so far. All of it is easy to access from the controller or from the app on my laptop. Mostly I've been using my laptop to control it so far but the controller is very slick. If they weren't so darn expensive I'd get a second controller to keep in my bedroom along with the Sonos S5 but it's just too much money to justify so I take the controller off it's charger in the living room and take it to my room with me when I want music there. If I had an iPhone or iTouch I could load the Sonos app there but alas I have an old iPod classic. And even a used iTouch costs as much as a Sonos controller. Oh well - something to save up for.

This kind of system is definitely the way to go - the wave of the future. I have a small Toshiba dvd player&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Toshiba-SDK1000-DVD-Player-with-1080p-Upscaling-NEW-Model-Includes-HDMI-Cable/dp/B003H2LW7I/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Toshiba SDK1000 DVD Player with 1080p Upscaling (NEW Model) (Includes HDMI Cable)</a>&nbsp;hooked to the Sonos 120&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Sonos-ZonePlayer-ZP120-Add-On-Player/dp/B001CROHU4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Sonos ZonePlayer ZP120 Add-On Player</a>&nbsp;so I can still play cds etc, but mostly my cds are already ripped to my network drive so it's easier to just line up a queue of music on the Sonos app and play them that way. The sound on the S5 is very nice; plenty of bass and nice sound. It's not like a 12" sub or anything but sounds great for what it is. And I can take it out to the patio and play it there! So slick. Joe Bob says check it out.
831854
I've used Sonos components for a good 4 years now and have been very impressed by both their software and hardware. Started with the Play:5 and Bridge, then expanded with Connect ZP90 the following year, bought a Play:1 last year and recently added another Play:1 to my Sonos network and couldn't be happier. Contemplated buying a Play:3 at first and glad I went with another Play:1. Aside from it sounding better than the Play:3 in my opinion, I can now pair it with my other Play:1 for stereo sound listening. If you think one speaker sounds good, wait til you hear them paired! Music becomes alive with distinct sound separation. I originally bought the latest for the basement but it sounds so good paired that I might just keep them in the den and get another for the basement eventually. Besides, I can easily unpair and move one downstairs anytime I want, which by the way is my favorite Sonos feature. Corner placement is best for these little speakers as bass becomes more solid while not drowning the mids/highs. For those still researching which way is the most economical, two Play:1s sound much better than a Play:5 for the same price. And you'll have the choice of separating them to stream music in a different room. If you already have the $ and thinking about getting one (or two), really nothing to think about here. Go for it! This one is a no brainer.
2957119
After marriage and kids forced me to dispose of my old tube amplifier and big energy-hog speakers, I had been forced to endure average surround sound through the multiple small speakers that encircled the room where the big-screen HDTV was located. When we recently decided to redecorate that room, my wife demanded we get rid of all the "ugly" speakers on the walls that didn't match the new decor.

After multiple estimates from local media companies, describing ingenious and very expensive ways of hiding wiring and speakers using the state-of-the-art electronic devices combined with some destruction and reconstruction of walls and ceilings - it came down to better quality 2-channel sound or poorer quality surround sound, but they said we couldn't have both.

That's when I noted the Yamaha YSP series of sound processor/sound bars.  I took a chance on the most recent model, the YSP-4300 (which isn't cheap, but can be purchased for more than 1/3 off retail price if you look hard enough) and the results have been fantastic.  You get a wireless sub and a large, but trim and stylish soundbar that looks great under the TV.  Actually the term soundbar doesn't do the 4300 justice. It's actually a 24 speaker array plus subwoofer, amplifiers and digital signal processing technology to generate up to 7.1 output. There are 4 HDMI inputs, optical inputs, USB, etc. It can process Dolby digital, DTS and various other audio formats to generate surround sound from two channel input. It even imports iPad video with the apple HDMI cable. All at a price less than 1/3 of what the stereo installer guys wanted to charge.

I've eliminated 2/3 of my previous wires, which helped make set-up actually fairly fast and easy. The manual is on CD, which is unfortunate, but is easier to navigate on-line from Yamaha on a tablet you can have with you where you need it. The instructions are a little minimalistic, and there are a few quirks, and some things needed to be done twice to work right, but in particular the sonic calibration is fast, easy and automatic -- an included microphone sets speaker distance, angles, volumes, etc. accurately in only several minutes  Set-up of the entire unit  takes a while, but only because of the many, many features and variations the system includes.

I was worried because the TV is in a room with a loft above, an irregular height tall ceiling, several open walls, a staircase and multiple other features that I thought would interfere with good surround sound - but the system calibrated 7.1 with the wireless subwoofer and the sound is GREAT. I get great surround sound as well as high-quality audio. It's not the audio quality I had with my tube amp and speakers, but I wasn't expecting or needing it to be.

There are available modes for everything including FM, iPhone/iPod/iPad, cable, sports, music, DVD's and Blu-ray's, and virtually every kind of audio/video input you can think of - including 4K pass-through for stuff that hasn't even been invented yet.  The remote works well, and can control some of my other equipment. My Logitech Harmony universal remote recognizes the 4300, and controls the functions without a problem - except the 4300 has so many features and choices that they go on for pages and pages on the remote's little screen. Easier to use the Yamaha remote to do anything complex.

All in all, I'm ecstatic that the sound quality and available features are as well designed and implemented as they are, and that I don't have to worry about my wife complaining about the ugly speakers any more.  For me, it's a "win-win" situation, and one of the best purchases I've ever made.
529458
The Orbitsound SB60LX is easy to set up, functional (with 2 aux audio and one optical audio; connecting cables included), and sounds terrific.  This soundbar is intended to serve as a base system for a television and is sturdy and looks good (all black).  It's approximately 23.5 inches across and nearly 13.5 inches in depth and as a result will accommodate a fairly good sized television (I placed it beneath my 40" Sony television and it fit nicely).

There are five speakers w/ two on the side and a built in subwoofer (all self contained).  Max volume for the system can be set with a knob on the back.  Off/on and bass/treble and volume are easily controlled with a small black remote (slightly smaller than an iPhone 5).  It's a good looking system that's a breeze to set up and use (far less complicated than my Samsung soundbar) and the sound is very good and fills the room.  The system indicates off/on state with a red/blue light that's quite bright and somewhat annoying in a room where sleeping is meant to occur, but that's my sole complaint.  This is an excellent product that sounds great and is very easy to use.
4189067
Simple installation. Up and running in minutes. A great alternative sound system without all those speakers that come with most sound systems. Ideal for rooms not suitable for surround sound systems.
4436158
Pretty easy set up if you are familiar with how to set up your home wifi network.  The speakers establish their own network at first. You join it with your phone, and then connect the speaker to your home Wi-Fi network from there. They work great with the receiver. This is very similar to Sonos, but the base AV receiver is superior and connected in with our existing expensive wired speakers
2919931
We have a small 10'x12' game room for our Xbox 360 and Wii U. Each console is hooked up to a LG 47" LED TV. The video quality is fantastic but the sound left a lot to be desired. This "problem" needed a solution. I set four simple goals to address this.

1) The system had to sound great.
2) High Wife Acceptance Factor. :)
3) I did not want to run a separate A/V receiver. I simply don't have the room.
4) I did not want to run wires under the baseboards or carpet.

To achieve these goals I decided to build a complete Sonos Home Theater System, with the new PLAYBAR front and center (literally).

Here are the components I chose for my system:

 - Sonos BRIDGE
 - Sonos PLAYBAR
 - Sonos SUB
 - Sonos PLAY:3 (x2 as Surround Speakers)

Let's start with the setup. First thing I did was download the Sonos software for my laptop and hooked up the Wireless BRIDGE to my router. After the software downloaded and installed, getting the BRIDGE recognized by the software was as simple as pressing a button.

After the BRIDGE was set-up, I went on to tackle the PLAYBAR. Installation was equally as simple. An optical cable from the TV along with power from an outlet are the only two wires needed to get running. Press a couple buttons to sync the PLAYBAR with the BRIDGE, follow a few prompts in the software, disable the TV speakers, and the PLAYBAR is handling audio for my TV and game consoles. It was super-simple and a dramatic improvement in fidelity compared to the TV's built-in speakers.

Next up was adding the subwoofer and surrounds. I found a nice spot in the corner of the game room and hooked up the power cable to the sub. Press a button on the front of the SUB, follow a few prompts in the software, and the subwoofer is handling the low frequencies. Adding the two PLAY:3 surround speakers was just as easy. Provide power to each PLAY:3, press two buttons on each speaker, follow the prompts in the software, and your done.

My new Game Room/Home Theater system was complete. Installation took less than an hour from start to finish. No big bulky receiver, no running wires under the carpet or baseboards, and the wife approves!

How does it sound?

After minimal tweaking in the Calibration Menus I got the sound just right. Mids and highs are clean and crisp, voices are clear, and the SUB is in perfect lock-step delivering deep/tight bass to Movies, Music and Games. This is an incredibly balanced combination that fills the room with accurate, high-quality sound. I honestly wasn't expecting to be this impresssed. I'm stunned by quality delivered without a dedicated A/V receiver. Incredible job, Sonos!

Here are a few of the software features that I found most helpful.

1) You can turn off the white status light on each speaker. This is great if you find those lights to be a distraction when the room is dark.
2) You can enhance/amplify "Voice/Speech" which makes hearing dialog at low volume levels much easier.
3) Not all room seating is rectangular. When calibrating the Surround Speakers you have the option for setting distances independently for the main seating position. Note: This is somewhat limited as the only three options to choose from are less than 2ft, 2-10ft and over 10ft.

I took some screenshots of the software menus I found helpful. Check 'em out under Customer Images along with some photos of the PLAYBAR in my game room.

I almost forgot. A review wouldn't be complete without at least a "Con". Here is my one real pet peave. There are no official Windows RT or Windows Phone 8 apps. It would be great to use my Surface RT tablet and/or my Nokia Lumia 920 phone as a controller for the system.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading!
3528706
I had a new digital television hooked to a digital cable DVR system and an old fashioned but excellent analog home theater sound system, and the speakers on the new TV sucked.  The small, inexpensive FiiO Digital to Analog Converter and the accompanying optical cable allowed me to still use the analog sound system.  It took under three minutes to set up and in a flash I had good sound again.  Inexpensive, easy to set up and easy to use, and it works as advertised.  What more can a person want?
1807422
This device was easy to install and went in without a hitch. The sound was crystal clear and I couldn't have asked for more.
1030489
Sounds great and plays over Sonos wifi mesh.
Flawless setup within minutes.
App is very user friendly as well.
4804107
Incredibly easy to set up, and the sound is excellent. If you're already using Sonos for your music, this is the next logical step. After you set it up, you use whatever remote you're used to using and the sound bar volume is controlled right from that remote. There's no additional buttons to push, receivers to turn on, or remotes you need to keep track of. It just works, and the days of having to explain to your guests how to use your TV/home theater system are gone.
2290412
The speaker sounds great.  Set up was easy with the Android app. I have sonos speakers in every room so I can hear my music throughout the house at a nice uniform volume.  Again I was very pleased with the ease of set up.  Great product.
1417692
I've been a big fan of the HEOS speakers, but this Integrated Amplifier is a wonderful way to make use of older speakers that I had put into storage. So out came the Bose 201 Series II's and after a few minutes of setup and firmware upgrading, I filled a room with music streaming from Amazon Prime.

An amplifier, traditionally, has no controls, but simply takes the output from the preamp, amplifies it, and sends it to the speakers. The preamp contains the switching and tone controls as well as the volume control. If you move those controls over to the amplifier, but you don't add a tuning mechanism, you have an "Integrated Amplifier," which is what we have here, the equivalent of the tuner being present in the remote app. So the HEOS AMP can play whatever gets streamed from your phone using the HEOS or Spotify app, or it can play material brought in through the optical or RCA jacks on the rear panel (for instance, from a cassette deck or CD player), or it can play directly from a USB flashdrive. The speaker attachment points easily handle banana plugs as well as bare wire, a surprising feature on a unit in this price range. There is a separate output for a powered subwoofer (some information on the crossover point would be useful here, Denon, as would a choice to send particular frequencies ONLY to the sub).

Setup went very smoothly, taking perhaps 5 minutes for a newcomer to the service to download the app, set up an account, and then enable various desired services utilizing your password. About the only major service not supported is Apple Music. Switching over to high quality streaming and then adjusting the equalization for the speakers is easy, though the HEOS app remains non-intuitive at various points (such as how to go from listening to music to adjusting the speaker settings). The full manual is available online. Note that although this is an HS2 unit (the second generation of HEOS products), it does not have bluetooth built in as the other HS2 components do. It does, however, have the higher quality output capabilities.

Overall, very impressive amplifier and streaming source!
3222977
Like the last few reviewers, I also don't know what the earlier people who complained about the setup of this system were talking about.  I followed the quick installation guide and had the system connected to my PC in half an hour.  I've been playing mp3s all morning from my computer.  It's very cool!

The sound quality of the system is excellent for a bookshelf unit.  In a home office environment where the system won't be pushed to it's full volume the sound quality perfect.  Excellent midrange with crisp highs and lows.

The navigation of the playlists from the remote is abit cumbersome, although I think with better organization it shouldn't be too much of an issue. I'm also planning on looking into the Cidero software the previous reviewer recommended.
1133155
The SONOS mobile app and OSX app are so well designed - not only intuitive and simple from a single user perspective, but the simple, multi-user (mutli-device) access makes brilliant sense (i.e. if you have access to the wi-fi network, you should also be able to get access to SONOS). We now have three separate speakers - it's easy to group or play different tunes on each one. Incredible. Only challenge now is to hook up to Home Entertainment System...
4506911
If you're looking to put a little more oomph in your TV sound but don't want to run a bunch of wires or purchase an AV receiver, this is going to be the option for you. I chose to install this soundbar in a guest bedroom over a TV (as the TV was already mounted to the wall with a conduit) to provide a better sound than is available from the factory installed speakers.

Installation was fairly straightforward with the included template and wall bracket; the whole process took about three minutes, and that includes the measuring. On the whole, the sound itself is highly satisfactory, even at low volumes. When I turned the TV on for the first time to test the sound (with the volume turned up to 15), I jumped nearly three feet when the sound came in, because it was loud! That seems like a good thing to me because it indicates that, even at a low setting, the volume will fill a standard bedroom and, at a higher level, could fill a living room as well. The display is what I was most impressed with: on most soundbars, the display is on the top so that it cant be seen if it is mounted to a wall, but LG has placed the display on the front, meaning you don't have to use a step ladder to see where the volume is set, which channel you are using, and what audio settings you have selected. Honestly, I don't know why everyone else isn't doing this, too.

The only complaint I have (and the reason I gave it 4 stars) is because the optical input and the power line are on opposite sides of the device. This isn't such a major problem if you are placing it on a TV stand, but if you are mounting the device on a wall you will have wires hanging from opposite ends which looks messy. It would have been great if LG had found a way to put the power cable in the middle and include clips on the back for routing the optical cable; maybe these are minor complaints, but no one likes to look at messy cables on the wall and a little bit of additional engineering would have turned this really good product into a great one.