Sonos 9.1.4 Theater Mini-Review

[highwayinthesky]

FYI, just in case anyone’s interested: having had the Q990D for a month, I’m quite satisfied, especially for the discounted price. Good, solid, balanced sound. Doesn’t tamper with the mix much, to my ears. The sub the most noticeable area where the Sonos is more refined, though.

 

[D700]

FYI, just in case anyone’s interested: having had the Q990D for a month, I’m quite satisfied, especially for the discounted price. Good, solid, balanced sound. Doesn’t tamper with the mix much, to my ears. The sub the most noticeable area where the Sonos is more refined, though.

How does stereo separation compare when listening to 2 channel music? How's the Front L/R/C mix?

 

[highwayinthesky]

How does stereo separation compare when listening to 2 channel music? How's the Front L/R/C mix?

Depends on the “Sound Mode.” In Standard it won’t do any upmixing; this’ll give stereo the most natural sound but separation will be limited to the width of the bar. Surround and Adaptive will upmix to varying degrees (they don’t really publish exactly what each does, but subjectively most agree that Adaptive pushes it further), and with that you’ll get more spaciousness. I’m happy with it, although I would still say proper separates would be better for pure stereo.

Personally, I would say in standard I actually prefer it over the Arc Ultra for stereo; maybe a bit less separation, but, I believe, a touch more neutral.

 

[Pretorious]

Say I have a pair of separates setup for stereo listening 6-7 feet apart and a soundbar (Arc, Q990D) setup in between them. The listening position is 6 feet from them. How would stereo imaging be between the two? Would the image be the same or comparable? Does the soundbar need to be in a certain mode to achieve the same effect? If so, can the soundbar be made to sound indistinguishable from separates in terms of imaging/width/spaciousness? Are the surrounds necessary to get a similar image?

I'm just looking for more descriptive examples of what the difference is when I read that separates are better for pure stereo.

 

[D700]

Say I have a pair of separates setup for stereo listening 6-7 feet apart and a soundbar (Arc, Q990D) setup in between them. The listening position is 6 feet from them. How would stereo imaging be between the two? Would the image be the same or comparable? Does the soundbar need to be in a certain mode to achieve the same effect? If so, can the soundbar be made to sound indistinguishable from separates in terms of imaging/width/spaciousness? Are the surrounds necessary to get a similar image?

I'm just looking for more descriptive examples of what the difference is when I read that separates are better for pure stereo.

I've been living this. Soundbar systems are a trade off.

2.1 channel stereo: Meh

1. While it's listenable and doesn't sound bad, you will not get the same imaging as even rudimentary speakers at 6 or 7 feet.
2. Mixing in surround "Ambient" helps a bit.
3. Interestingly, I find sound is excellent if I'm listening from across the room, in other areas of my basement or walking around...but from the prime listening position, its just not meant for 2 channel listening. This is probably because overall frequency response and bass extension is fantastic.

Atmos/DD5.1: Amazing

1. At movie volumes (not quite theater loud) Atmos or DD5.1 movies on my ARC Ultra system are fantastic.
2. Hearing Star Wars V Snowspeeders come from back high left and cross to front low right...or practically the entire soundtrack of Blade Runner Directors cut, especially the city transit scenes...chef's kiss.
3. Atmos Music: Anything recorded for Atmos is typically really good to amazing. Remixes are well, a mixed bag.

Note: I did come across the Sony HT system which uses 4 satellites and a sub with a virtual center, naturally has good separation.

 

[soundwave76]

Chiming in. I tested the Q990D during the weekend and it was better than I imagined. I also compared it to a set og Genelec 8340 on/off in various different scenarions. The bass of the Q990D was all over the places and required manually adjusting the woofer via remote quite a lot. I decided to return the Q990D and wait for the new flagship model Q990F which was released in CES. I must say, for a 2-way Genelec person for maaaaany years, this was an eye opening experience and not just with movies, but with spatial audio tracks as well.

 

[D700]

Chiming in. I tested the Q990D during the weekend and it was better than I imagined. I also compared it to a set og Genelec 8340 on/off in various different scenarions. The bass of the Q990D was all over the places and required manually adjusting the woofer via remote quite a lot. I decided to return the Q990D and wait for the new flagship model Q990F which was released in CES. I must say, for a 2-way Genelec person for maaaaany years, this was an eye opening experience and not just with movies, but with spatial audio tracks as well.

Bass on the Sonos has been exceptional, lower than my 2.1 system upstairs and evenly distributed across the whole space. I’ve been reading about their upcoming streamer (codename pinewood) which apparently will allow adding separate front left and right speakers alongside the bar. This should be endgame for me if so.

 

[highwayinthesky]

Bass on the Sonos has been exceptional, lower than my 2.1 system upstairs and evenly distributed across the whole space. I’ve been reading about their upcoming streamer (codename pinewood) which apparently will allow adding separate front left and right speakers alongside the bar. This should be endgame for me if so.

Sonos has canceled its streaming video player

The company won’t compete with the Apple TV and Roku after all.

www.theverge.com

Canceled, unfortunately

 

[D700]

Sonos has canceled its streaming video player

The company won’t compete with the Apple TV and Roku after all.

www.theverge.com

Canceled, unfortunately

That's probably a wise move on their part. Now, if they could take the code for adding front L/R separates and add it to existing soundbars to handle, that would be fantastic.