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Beam + Port better than Beam + Connect?

  • 8 October 2020
  • 5 replies
  • 224 views
P

I currently have a sonos beam and on old sonos connect.
The connect is wired to a 12 zone amp that powers 4 additional stereo speakers throughout the house and yard.

They play music in sync just fine, but if I watch TV, there is a delay with the audio that goes through the connect.

If I upgrade my connect to a “port”; what are my configuration options to get everything to play well with the beam soundbar?  Ideally I’d like to be able to have it configured at the lower end to handle the bass a bit more.

The play 1’s I bought initially as surround, but I like them better as bedroom/office speakers for party mode/background music.

 

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Best answer by John B 8 October 2020, 19:54

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5 replies

J

Hi. There is no difference between the Port and Connect as far as lag is concerned. The lag allows perfect multiroom sync for music. Neither the Connect nor the Port is designed or intended for use with a TV. 

P

Hi. There is no difference between the Port and Connect as far as lag is concerned. The lag allows perfect multiroom sync for music. Neither the Connect nor the Port is designed or intended for use with a TV. 


Well, that’s disappointing.

Now I’m wondering why I spent all the money to upgrade a connect to a port. 
Hooray - more RAM?

K

I don’t understand - if the Connect is wired to an amp and with the Connect and the Beam grouped together they play music in sync from streamed services or from a local disc, but the Connect plays later when the Beam is using the TV as source?

I don't use the Beam, but I don't see why this should be the case. Someone more familiar with Beam may clarify.

As to the Port, for now, more RAM. But, for now the ability to move over to the S2 controller if that offers you benefits.

106rallye
Userlevel 7
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With any Sonos soundbar, sound from  a TV is played instantly, so there's no delay. This is the reason Sonos uses a dedicated 5Ghz connection to surounds as this will also mean there's no delay.

Any music played from a Sonos source (i.e. Spotify) to grouped speakers will not result in a noticeable delay because Sonos makes sure the delay is the same for all grouped speakers.

There are two cases that spring to mind in which a delay will be noticeable:

  • when you play TV-sound from a soundbar to a group (the group will lag);
  • when you play music from a source that can produce sound itself, i.e. a receiver playing radio via a Connect to a group (all Sonos devices will lag compared to the receiver). 

The lag is the result of buffering needed to sync the group.

K

Ahh, ok. So if one wants to pipe TV audio from the Beam around the house via Sonos groups, that does not work.

I use a “not designed for TV” Connect to which my TV is wired which does allow such piping, all in perfect sync. The effect on lip sync caused by the Sonos delay is very hard to notice and therefore not intrusive. 

And in the second case above, the lag can be eliminated by playing the receiver in direct or stereo mode.

Perhaps Sonos needs to have a toggle for the Beam to allow it to lag to remain in sync with the rest of the lagging group for those that prefer this mode and find the effect on lip sync as a consequence to not be intrusive.

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