The Sonos speaker for high-fidelity listening
Sonos Five is a six-driver wireless speaker, with three tweeters and three mid-woofers in a sealed cabinet, six class D amplifiers, a 3.5 mm line input, Ethernet, Wi-Fi and AirPlay 2.
Five is the speaker Sonos dedicates to high-fidelity listening, and it suits larger rooms as well. It has an analogue input on the cabinet, with no adapters needed, and it can be placed horizontally or vertically: the speaker detects its orientation and adjusts the way the drivers work. It is humidity resistant and can be operated from the app, from the touch controls or from an Apple device.
Key features
- Three tweeters, one central and two side-firing
- Three mid-woofers in a sealed cabinet
- Six class D digital amplifiers
- 3.5 mm analogue line input
- Wi-Fi on 2.4 and 5 GHz and 10/100 Ethernet port
- Apple AirPlay 2
- Horizontal (stereo) or vertical (mono) placement
- Trueplay tuning with iOS devices
Six drivers in a sealed cabinet
The centre tweeter is dedicated to vocals, while the two side tweeters widen the soundstage. The three mid-woofers cover the midrange and drive the low frequencies, and the sealed cabinet avoids reverberation and distortion. Each driver is powered by its own class D amplifier. Bass and treble can be adjusted in the Sonos app.
Line input and network
The 3.5 mm input accepts a turntable, a CD player or a computer, using an auxiliary cable that is sold separately. The source connected to Five can then be sent to all the other Sonos speakers in the home. On the network, Five works over Wi-Fi or by cable through its Ethernet port, and it also plays lossless and high-resolution content; Wi-Fi streaming is not interrupted by phone calls or by the distance from the phone.
Horizontal or vertical
Placed horizontally, Five separates the left and right channels and plays in stereo. Placed vertically, upright or upside down, digital processing switches it to mono, and the touch controls adapt to the orientation as well. Two Five speakers form a stereo pair: vertical for more focused listening, horizontal for a wider soundstage.
Trueplay and controls
Trueplay uses the microphones of a compatible iPhone or iPad to measure the acoustics of the room and correct the speaker's equalisation. The touch controls on the cabinet handle playback, volume and track skipping; Apple devices can stream with AirPlay 2.
Included accessories
Five comes with a 2 metre power cable. The auxiliary cable for the line input is sold separately.
