Bose vs. Sonos

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soonerwings

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Here in 9-10 months, I should be moving into a newly constructed house. For my living room, I’m thinking I’ll just do a simple sound bar/wireless sub setup. It seems that the two most popular brands are Bose and Sonos. I’ve bought Bose stuff for years, and have zero Sonos experience.

Which is better? Why?


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dlbleak

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I’ve got a college buddy that does all the media for S&B burgers, sunnyside diners and just finished up a bank here in town. He talks about the Sonos stuff and keeps trying to get me on board.
 

SoonerP226

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The audiophiles I know (both professional audio guys and dedicated amateurs) wouldn't touch Bose with a 10' pole, but I couldn't give you a satisfactory explanation because, frankly, I don't really care enough to understand why (although they could go on and on about it themselves). I, personally, don't own any Bose equipment because it all seemed way overpriced and never sounded much better to me than anything else.

Sonos, on the other hand, is almost universally very highly regarded for what it is. It's not going to replace an audiophile's system (some of those guys spend more on their speakers than I spent on my last two brand new cars combined), but for multi-room sound, it's freaking hard to beat.

FWIW, I gave my brother a lower-end Sonos speaker for his birthday, and I was surprised at how good it sounded. I mean, it sounded great for a single combined speaker and amplifier unit.

Check out Robert Heron's Web site at http://www.heronfidelity.com/ Robert does more of the video side (one of the ways he pays his bills is doing high-end TV calibration), but he has solid recommendations. His partner in crime on the AVExcel podcast, Patrick Norton, is more of the audio expert, but he seems to have gone quiet over the last few months (I gather that he was missing too much home life, and has scaled back his broadcasting schedule). You can check out their podcast at https://www.avexcel.com/ .
 

MilitantBEEMER

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I have had both and prefer the Sonos hands down! If you can add the additional sub woofer, it makes a HUGE difference. That being said I am running mine without it and it is still great. On sale at Costco frequently.
Good luck!!
 

rawhide

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I've considered the same setup when move into our new house. 2018 I replaced Harmon Kardon receiver with a digital Yamaha. The wireless Yamaha speakers got me to thinking of going that route to avoid the wires. I have no experience with Bose or Sonos, but my research into wireless always seemed to point to Sonos.
 

Fredkrueger100

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I
Here in 9-10 months, I should be moving into a newly constructed house. For my living room, I’m thinking I’ll just do a simple sound bar/wireless sub setup. It seems that the two most popular brands are Bose and Sonos. I’ve bought Bose stuff for years, and have zero Sonos experience.

Which is better? Why?


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I have the old bose cinemate 2 setup in my living room and it is excellent. It has two speakers with two gemstone speakers inside and a base module. The sound is incredible. I also have a polk audio sound bar and wireless sub in my master and it is great as well. I have always been a huge Bose fan. They make top notch sound equipment. I know there new stuff is even better. I think you would be very happy with it. I would get the bar, wireless sub and two wireless speakers. I used to be a huge audiophile when I was younger. Had a 10K Plus system in my dodge stealth in high school back in the 90’s. I am pretty picky still.
 

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