Sonos Play:5 has booming sounds and intriguing smarts

Sonos is well known for its Wi-Fi connected, multi-room sound systems and virtually every new speaker it introduces is a variation on its theme of room-filling, connected audio. The redesigned Play:5 fits that mold, but arrives with some secret sauce, the new Trueplay home audio tuning system. The combination is interesting, though not yet too impressive.

At $499, Play:5 is the most expensive and impressive of the Sonos Play line, which includes Play:1 (my personal favorite) and Play:3. It has double the number of drivers found in the Play:3, as well as three woofers and three tweeters, and can produce intense, clear and thumping office-filling sound. Unlike most of Sonos’ other speakers that you can easily lift with one hand, the Play:5 is a 14 pound, 14-inch-by-8-inch-by-6-inch deep device that will easily fill a bookshelf or demand attention on a hutch. Read more...