designed, Eastside,
thanks for the advice. We're sticking with the 500 and we're using it in the LCR mode. Looks like I lucked into the best choice of things with that model! The system has a sub, so we're good.

I disagree completely. I have done a/b comparisons with customers between the Sonos and the $300 range sound bars. The dialogue on the Sonos was clear and concise. The dialogue on the $300 sound bars is muffled and hard to understand, especially in an action scene. Movies and music were also significantly better. I think it is a great solution for the what it is. A $300 sound bar will get you better sound than the TV. A Sonos sound bar will get you much better sound than a $300 sound bar.

InHomeDemo,
will a Sonos sound bar get you sound comparable to other products in its price range? It would be horrible if it did not sound better than a $300 bar. I don't think that's any great accomplishment and it does not rise to the level of answering Eastside or recommending the product.

That's a fair question. I have not compared it to other Sound Bars in it's price range. I was only responding to his point that it didn't sound any better then a $300 sound bar.

Has anyone dealt with anything that sounds better at the same price range as Sonos? Even if a competing sound bar in that price range is a little better, I would still choose Sonos because of it's features.

The Leon LCR speaker bar is a great way to go with an existing av receiver. If the budget is small, kef makes passive speaker bars that fit under the stooopid logo bump-outs by both Samsung and Sony.

Speaking of logo bump-outs, the Sonos can be fitted underneath these TVS, but it causes the top to tilt away from the wall too far IMO. It looks bad. Keep this in mind when quoting for TVs with a logo that keeps the TV from being flat across the bottom.

$300 sound bars are merely the speakers that should have come in the TV to begin with and we all know how crappy those are. Because the sets are so slim today the TV's built in speakers are really dinky (and sometimes point to the wall or down at the floor through a tiny slot)and folks need the sound-bar so they can actually *Hear* the TV. Utilitarian, NOT high performance by any stretch of the imagination.

$300+ to $2000+++ Larger sound bars as designed by most manufactures are a very compromised design tradeoff that can play louder and maybe a bit more distinct than lesser models. The biggest trade off is the horizontally splayed drivers that cause frequency response variations, different for all listeners, that may lead to the "what did he say" syndrome. Merely raising the volume cannot correct for that!

I think a sound bar should always be the last choice if any other options will be available to the client! Do them a favor sell them the better options!

I disagreee completely as well. The SONOS used very high qualtiy drivers and can fill a mid to small room very nicely.

There is also a lot of infor mation off to the sides with the Sonos, and very ggod dialogue info. Its a good solution especially when you want a powered sound bar.

I have demoed the Sonos PlayBar in several elderly customers' homes and they all agreed that voices were easy to understand compared to a TV or budget sound bar. I have had a customer that was absolutely in love with some Australian TV show about a family farm. Every one on the show had a deep "country' accent. Once I demoed the Sonos Play Bar, she was so happy to be able to understand everything they were saying. She whipped out her credit card and bought it on the spot.

There is no replacement for a quality, mulit-channel system, but this does fill a need for some customers.

Atlantic Technology's passive soundbars sound good...Check 'em out.

The one thing I point out to anyone considering the sound bar that scoffs at the price in comparison to the lower end models is the fact is has features built in that would cost $350 to add to another system. Given that fact, they usually look at it differently. Personally, I am not a sound snob and go with what sounds good, and to my ears and apparently my clients ears, the Playbar sounds pretty darn good. Not saying it is the best thing out there, but for the folks that either have a challenging room/home, or simply do not want speakers around the room, they all seem thrilled with it.

When i sell a Sonos sound bar I always make sure music is important. If not, there are so many $300-$400 solutions w/wireless sub. Most of these customers do not appreciate anything better. They just want there TV to sound better..

I think the Sonos bar provides a good value for its native feature set.

I am now back to selling center channels from Leon and real speakers left and right of the TV.

Yep. I like the Sonos personally much more than the Polk. Add SONOs sub and its very satisfying. Crappy profit margins-but a nice product. Ive dond a couple of the Polks due to price point concerns-but personally I like the SONOS...

Couldn't have put it better myself.

Ernie how did the Polk sound?