Monaco 5.1.2 with WiSA SoundSend

The Monaco system is absolutely great!!!! I want to give this more of a review and will do so when I have more time. I just ordered a set of the Milan speakers for Atmos and when I get them installed I will give a more comprehensive review. Buy these now..on sale for $799 is a steal. DON'T WAIT..THIS IS A REAL DEAL!!! Update: 10/8/2022 I have everything done, installed and working for a 5.1.2 system with Dolby Atmos using the Platin system. Here is a write up I did for another review which may give some insight to this wonderful system and my layout. I have a Platin Monaco 5.1 system with 2 added Milan speakers I use for the Dolby Atmos. It works amazing with the Soundsend transmitter as my "Height speakers" as I can adjust the trim, distance, etc. from the app. The layout is center channel facing me angled up from the floor, subwoofer off to the side (adjusted on the subwoofer to 8), front left and right speakers wide (not spaced proportionately due to room limitations), rear speakers about 2 feet above my head and 30 degrees behind me due to the wall immediately behind my chair. The rear speakers face directly over my head at each other, one is on the wall to my right (again 30 degrees to my rear) and the left speaker is bolted to a decorative metal bar ( it sticks out just enough to face the right speaker}. The Monaco speakers only have mounting holes on the bottom of the speaker which make it difficult. My method is really overkill, but it works. The Milan (Atmos or Height) speakers are mounted near the top of a 8 foot ceiling facing directly at me halfway between the front left and right speakers and the rear left and right speakers. The right Height speaker is mounted to the wall and the left Height speaker is mounted against the brick of the chimney. These use different mounting brackets that can be angled down because the Milan speaker have mounting holes on the back. You will need extension cords in some cases, but that is the cheapest part of this whole project! Everything is adjusted for sound with the Soundsend app using the Zone measurements (distance to my chair), trim, loudness due to distance, etc. The mounting brackets were difficult due to the mounts of the Monaco speakers. I had to buy 4 large speaker units, which of course were too big for these smaller speakers, and just use the large bars which mounted to the wall. Then I used a mm bolt to secure them to the speaker which sat on the bar. The decorative metal had to be drilled to accept the one mounting bar. One mounting bar had to have a hole drilled through it to mount the speaker so it wouldn't stick out to far. The Soundsend has a few "quirks" as it is a work in progress. It will stop communicating on occasion and you have to unplug it from the transmitter (hockey puck) for 5 or 6 seconds and then plug it back in to get it talking again. You may also have to push the locate speakers if you can't get one of them to "beep" when setting them up or if one is unplugged for a time. IN ADDITION YOU MAY HAVE TO PUSH A LITTLE BUTTON ON THE BACK OF THE SPEAKER UNTIL THE LITTLE LED TURNS GREEN. IT WILL BE RED IF THE SPEAKER IS NOT CONNECTED. (IF THE SPEAKER IS NOT CONNECTED, IT WILL SHOW AS "GREY" ON THE SCHEMATIC OF SPEAKERS ON THE APP). Also if you set up for the Height speakers, on the app they will sometimes sit slightly on top of the front left and right speaker icons in the Zone adjustment portion of the app. You have to push on the icon and move it slightly to see the Height icon. You can then push on the Height icon and move it to the top of the layout to see the full 5.1.2 setup on the screen of the app. It won't be in the right position if you mount them where I did, but it still works right. This system is just amazing. The sound is great, the product is very sturdy, it's really really loud if you want it to be. It makes any soundbar I have heard just...inadequate. The ability to wide space and position the speakers based upon your room layout no matter how oddly shaped or how many openings there are, just makes everything work due to the Soundsend app. With the distance adjustment in the Zone portion of the app and the Trim adjustment for loudness for each individual speaker, you get a THEATER sound for movies, live sports, television shows etc., and when Dolby Atmos kicks in you can really be enveloped in sound. I have an LG OLED 65 CX television. I had an old LG SJ9 soundbar that I gave to my daughter along with my LG OLED 55 tv for all the help she gave me in getting this system and helping me set it up. Without her I would not have managed to get it all done. Thanks! So, pick a movie that you have seen a lot to set everything up. I used The Highwaymen on Netflix to set up the original 5.1 system and then again when I set up the 5.1.2 system. I know all the nuances of the movie and can tell when something is right or wrong. Finally, just go listen to Formula One series.....you won't be disappointed at even the slow parts. UPDATE: 7/5/2024 I'm still very happy with this system. No problems as described by others. No more cutouts it was all user error. By the way, it does NOT use Bluetooth, it uses a special 5 Gz spectrum to communicate from the WISA transmitter (small hockey puck unit) to all the speakers so there is no interference from anything in your house...nothing operates in this frequency band.....all ex-military and similar kicked off long ago. It DOES use Bluetooth and requires location "on" when you use the phone app to make adjustments to "FINE TUNE" the sound when you have an imperfect room (not perfectly square or rectangular). After that you can use your TV remote to turn the sound up and down. I fiddle with it on occasion to fine tune if I get a new app that doesn't do a good job of right/left sound...just enough to keep the voices where they are supposed to be. It's an amazing system. Peacock is really good right now with The Tour De France and hopefully the Olympics will be the same. Anything in 5.1 Dolby and especially Dolby Atmos is also just great! Pricing is very competitive.

So I gave it 5 stars because the sound system is low and it still sounds amazing. Still too soon to decide if it was worth the prize but I got it during prime with a $200 discount so kind of already feel like I got a great deal but I do want to keep this as accurate for others as possible. Set up was not hard but there are things to keep in mind when trouble shooting the audio system: 1. Make sure your TV supports 5.1 Audio before you purchase. Luckily my TV does but otherwise you just bought a 2.1 Audio because that's all your TV will be able to support naturally. So before you even add this to your cart, make sure your TV can support 5.1 Audio Output in HDMI ARC or Optical. If it does, you're set! If it doesn't, I would not recommend getting anything 5.1 Audio Output. 2. There are 2 apps in the apple store for this system (not sure about android) but you definitely will need both. One is "Soundsend" and the other is "WiSABluetooth" and both are a must to properly run this system. The bluetooth one will give you the updates your system needs. The soundsend will not only allow you to control the system through your phone but also modify speaker, reset to factory settings, etc. Using the speaker check function will allow you to see if your speaker was connected or not. I saw 2 speakers greyed out in the app and assumed the problem was the speakers didn't connect, but all are actually connected and those are just 2 additional spots to change your speaker location as needed. 3. Your TV settings will need to be updated. Only 2 of my speakers had sound coming out of them. After a long and extensive internet search, I discovered the problem was my TV sound settings. My TV was automatically in "PCM" for my Digital Audio Out; I changed it to Auto and that seemed to fix the problem. Depending on your TV you might have to change it to "Pass Through" or to "PCM" to fix your audio problem. 4. The sound in the rear speakers is faint but it could be because I just tested them, I didn't finish setting them up properly and I don't know yet what the sound will be like when I fully finish installing them. But I can confirm, all speakers have sound and work properly. All in all, so far so good!

No remote, tried the option of the HDMI ACR port but nothing and tv remote doesn't work the volume, stayed with the optical port and works great but I have to use the APP on my tablet for volume control. Quality of sound is amazing and very easy to set up speakers. Just wish a remote was available.

This system is incredible…no other way to put it. I bought it for my den, and after the ease of set up, the superior sound quality, and amazing customer service, I just ordered another set for my living room! First, and probably the biggest initial selling point is, of course, the wireless feature. It works flawlessly. It’s just as easy as advertised…plug in the speakers, plug in the Soundsend, download the app, and a minute later you’ve got beautiful, full sound. I have it set up as a 7.1 currently, but I ordered tall speaker stands to put behind my tv so I can use 2 speakers as height speakers, so I’ll get 5.1.2, which will be perfect for Atmos. Looking forward to that! The speakers are extremely high quality. They’re heavy, the cases are metal, and they feel solid. They look great too…originally I wasn’t sure I’d like the fact that there were no covers…but honestly now that they’re set up, I really like the look…they look great and don’t need covers. I’ve seen some reviews complaining about the app…but I didn’t find it that bad. It’s a little basic, but with the exception of a few minor quirky things, I think it works fine. I do not use it to control volume…I use my tv remote, so to me the app is just for set up and tweaking. A note on Platin’s service…I had on minor issue when adding 2 additional speakers to get 7.1. The extra speakers shipped separately and arrived a few days after the main system. There were clear instructions on how to add the speakers and what to do in the app…but I didn’t read them (yeah, I know — typical!). So I had a self-imposed issue with how to move the speakers on my app. I made a support call, got VM and left a message. I fully expected to have to call back multiple times until getting a return call (like you get with so many support lines these days). Much to my surprise, I got a return call from a real human being less than 5 minutes after I left my message. The gentleman spent a few minutes walking through what I did wrong, and had it resolved without issue. We also chatted a bit about the system and some updates they’re working on…it was a pleasure to talk to someone that actually cares about what they do. I can’t recommend this system highly enough, as evidenced by my purchasing a second setup for another room. If you’re on the fence, take the plunge!

I must say I am at a loss with all these glowing reviews. The sound quality is decent when you can get it to work. That’s where the positive ends… Glitchy is an understatement. I have yet to have it work correctly without having to re-sync the connections or to the phone or between speakers. Why is there a star rating for the remote that doesn’t exist? You are forced to use an app on your phone to control this. Nowhere does it say that’s your only option. In order to get the app to connect you have to shut it down on your phone and then unplug the unit, wait and then reopen the app as it starts blinking. I cannot stress this enough. If you don’t have a smart phone, this system is unusable. There is 1 physical button. That’s it. No volume buttons, nothing. It only works in mono with an optical connection and I was forced to buy another hdmi to get this to even play stereo. Very very unhappy with this $1000 system. There is absolutely no excuse for cutting corners and not including basic functions like a volume button. I cannot stress enough that there are far better products for less.

I haven't spent this much on a speaker set in a long time, and I had high hopes for experiencing modern, wireless sound from this well-reviewed system. The setup is a breeze, and from a wireless functionality standpoint, these are great. The full 5.1 system worked out of the box with no setup needed. The sound, though, felt very small and separated. Left and right were distinctive sounds from the center, and the range of sound was minimal. It was better than my old soundbar, for sure, but not $849 better. After packing this all away, I went and got my 10+ year old receiver and 20+ year old speakers from the garage to try. They blew away this set in terms of richness and soundstage. Overall, very disappointing.

The sound is great for the money even though it does not support DTS (which the product clearly states) nor does it upscale 2-channel to 5.1 (which they do not state). The only problem is that the sound cuts in and out for a second every now and then during a movie. I think it is an issue with the SoundSend unit. I have an LG OLED77CXPUA set it to bitrate, HDMI out, Dolby Atmos, and eArch in advanced settings. Also rebooted the SoundSend unit. Sound though still cuts in and out on occasion during a movie which is very annoying. I read another reviewer had this issue and that the company sent a new Soundsend unit which fixed the problem. Wish they would contact me too for this and try to fix the issue – possibly with a new unit. Other than that, it really is an awesome piece of tech and I wish success to this company! Update April 2, 2021: I played with TV settings at the suggestion of WiSA Product Manager Jeff Noah that mentioned sometimes the right settings may actually not work. I have an LG TV model year 2020 (LG OLED77CXPUA) and after making the change for #3 below the system worked perfectly with AMAZING sound. The problem is that this is new technology and TV manufacturers are not yet including detailed instructions in their manuals regarding proper settings for WISA SoundSend tech—also it would be nice if WISA could start compiling instructions/settings for TV models, which is a labor intensive task. So, my 4 star rating is being changed to 5. Hope this helps other customers. Enjoy! Also note: this is a real in-the-box surround system because you do not need an AV receiver which although has more options/is more versatile costs a lot of extra money --- and you need to wire the speakers to the receiver unlike this Wisa SoundSend. LG OLED TV settings are: 1) TV WiFi can be on 2.4 or 5 GHZ there is no interference with the speakers (which use 5 GHZ). 2) Sound out: set to HDMI ARC (the only setting option that allows the use of HDMI connection) 3) All settings → Sound → Additional settings→ Digital Sound Out: three options “auto” “PCM” and “Pass Through”. I had it at “auto” then changed it to “Pass Through” and that fixed the problem! 4) All settings → Sound → Additional settings→ eARC: turned on (must be set to on to use eARC)

This is my second Platin surround sound unit. About 2 years ago I purchased the Milan system and was very happy with it. I had the Milan system set up to work on a projector, while I used a Bose Cinemate 2.1 on my TV. While I liked the Milan because it is wireless, (except for the power cord), the Bose was much much lighter and would shake the house when turned up to a decent volume. The only complaint I had with the Milan is that the subwoofer just didn't seem to have a lot of beef. I decided to give the Monaco a shot since it is THX tuned. Setup was very easy as the system pretty much sets itself up after plugged in. You download the Sound Send app so that you can set your levels. And distances from your speakers. The app is amazing and allows you to tweak your system to your specific liking. If you have a television that supports CEC, you can use your TV remote to control the volume. If not, you will need to use the app when turning the sound up or down. My honest comparison of the Monaco next to the Bose is that the Monaco is much richer in sound. Don't get me wrong, the Bose will get so loud that the neighbors will be able to hear what you're watching, but the Monaco with the THX tuning is amazingly crisp and clear. We found that we don't need to have the volume so high to get a theater-like experience. As with the Milan, the subwoofer is a more subtle base sound than what we were used to with the Bose. I would describe the Bose as shaking the room during explosions, and I would describe the Monaco as a rumble. It is a different experience for the low tones, but The satellite speakers add so much more bass that I do not miss the shaking experience. Overall, we enjoyed the Monaco so much that we removed the Bose system and are strictly using the Monaco for our projector and also our television. The main reason I started looking at the Platin systems was because they can be placed anywhere that there is a outlet without the need for running speaker wire. We have been extremely happy with the Monaco and would buy another in a heartbeat!