Best solution for my new houses current in ceiling speakers.

  • 15 July 2021
  • 3 replies
  • 90 views

Hello,

I currently have quite a few Sonos products for my house.

•Arc

•Sub

•7 One’s

•Move

•2 Ikea Symfonisk Shelf

 

I just bought a new home that we move into in Sept.  This house has in-ceiling speakers throughout the house, I didnt count, but looking at the photos I think its around 6-8 total.  These speakers are all setup under one zone, so there is no separating them.   I would like to add those speakers to my Sonos system as a zone. I am not sure what the best way to do this though.  The wiring from what the current owner said, is in the living room and setup in the wall, but from what I can tell, its only one channel that they are all on (which is why its only one zone). From what I can see, I can get a Sonos amp, but it says only 4 speakers.  

 

Does anyone have a thought from the brief info that I have.  Once I move in I will be able to tell more, but if it is an easy setup, I would like to buy everything before I move in.

 

Thanks for your help!


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3 replies

There could be a miscommunication between you and the owner, but it’s possible that the speakers are connected in series rather than parallel.  If so, then yes, it’s only one zone, mono audio, probably one speaker per room?  And you can’t connect that to a Sonos amp,  you might be able use an impedance matching switch between  the speakers and the amp.    Possibly a 3rd party amp + a port.  If the previous owner left their amp, that’s what you would want to use.

I suspect though that the speakers are not of high quality, and just there to provide light background music...perhaps it was a model home at one point.  While I get that you want to use what you have, you might find that’s it’s just not worth the effort.

Thank you for your reply.  I think you are correct that they are just connected in series, but I will have to wait until I get there to see that.

It wasn't a model home, and was build to suit in 2004 for the home owner.  All his seen speakers are Bose, even outdoors, and he seems to have high end for all his multimedia equipment and appliances. This leads me to believe he didnt cheap out when getting these installed, but you never know.  

I have never had to think about these types of Sonos solutions so I dont know much about the port and amp.  I do have an older Harmon Kardon receiver I used before I used Sonos.  Are you saying that it is possible to connect that to the speakers and use a port to control it as a Sonos device?

 

 

Thank you for your reply.  I think you are correct that they are just connected in series, but I will have to wait until I get there to see that.

It wasn't a model home, and was build to suit in 2004 for the home owner.  All his seen speakers are Bose, even outdoors, and he seems to have high end for all his multimedia equipment and appliances. This leads me to believe he didnt cheap out when getting these installed, but you never know.  

I have never had to think about these types of Sonos solutions so I dont know much about the port and amp.  I do have an older Harmon Kardon receiver I used before I used Sonos.  Are you saying that it is possible to connect that to the speakers and use a port to control it as a Sonos device?

 

 

Speakers have impedance, usually 8 ohm for household speakers.  And sonos can handle that.  2 pairs of 8 ohm speakers is 4 ohm presented to the amp, and Sonos can handle that.  6-8 speakers is not likley to present a impedance that Sonos can handle.  However, there are amps that can, and obviously the previous owner did.    Maybe your Harmon Kardon can, I have no idea.  Regardless, the Port can be wired with RCA cables to your receiver/amp as a an audio source,  You’d see the Port as a Sonos room, just like your other sonos rooms. You can then control the audio and volume (if you want) through the sonos app.