Added Sonos Playbase and Sub
Today I finally broke down and got the Sonos Playbase and Sub, and I have to say it's as easy to set up as I had hoped. I was a little concerned - because it was going to be using the optical audio out of the TV into the Playbase, but I really shouldn't have worried about it. It's nothing special these days - a simple (but very thin) cable came with the Playbase, and there was no way to put it in wrong. With a nice click it was in and the rest was easy.
Creating the 5.1 surround sound was very simple in the Songs app on my iPhone, and in a few minutes I was sampling the room and checking the balance, and it was just up and going. Very nice. Very simple.
I will say that my TV was doing about what I expected for a 4+ yr old set, and it was a lot harder to figure out how to turn off the internal speakers than I expected. But hey... I know where it is in the settings now, so it's not impossible, but it required scanning every menu on the TV to find it.
Now it's easy to watch TV, and then listen to music. Really nice sound for the living room.