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Multi Room Audio Set Up Help

  • April 28, 2017
  • 6 replies
  • 785 views
D
I'm going to try and keep this short.

I'm building a house which will have 3 floors and stand at 7,000 square ft. I plan on using 3 CONNECT: AMPS, CONNECT and a PLAYBAR/SUB which will get me to 5 total zones through out the house. Two of the CONNECT: AMPS will be located with the CONNECT next to my Verizon Fios router on the first floor. My 3rd connect amp will be located on the second floor of the house with my PLAYBAR. This is how I picture the configuration, and please tell me if there is a better way to do this.

FIOS ROUTER —> TP-LINK (SG-108) 8 PORT GIGABIT SWITCH (1ST FLOOR) —> 2 CONNECT: AMPS/CONNECT

FIOS ROUTER —> TP-LINK (SG-105) 5 PORT GIGABIT SWITCH (2ND FLOOR) —> 1 CONNECT: AMP/PLAYBAR/SUB

Will this work? Is there a better way to set this up?

Both switches will provide a hardwired connection to other devices in my home as well (TV's, game systems, etc.)
I'm also planning to have 2 additional wired access points throughout out the house to make up for any dead zones.

I've done some additional research on this topic and it looks like some people have advised to only hardwire 1 of the CONNECT: AMPS to the router and that will create "Sonosnet" which the rest of my sonos devices can then connect to wirelessly with no additional traffic on that network, or am I wrong?

I guess I'm asking which of these setups is best? Are there any others ways to configure a system like this?

Thank you!
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    6 replies

    K
    • Kumar
    • April 28, 2017
    Leaving the somewhat specialist TV application aside for a moment, for music why are you choosing Connect/Connect Amp instead of play units? Why bother with even speaker wires?

    And yes, wiring any one Sonos unit to the router is all it takes for a dedicated to Sonos layer to be activated. Note though that even this will have the constraint of WiFi like dead spots in a large home and interference from other wireless kit.

    If you are building a house, it is a very good idea/time now to also lay ethernet cable along with the mains power cables, such that you have a couple of ethernet jacks in every room of the house. This will eliminate the dead spots/interference issue for not just Sonos, but for any other WiFi connected equipment you may buy, that is getting more ubiquitous all the time.

    PS: the only place I would suggest a Connect Amp and laying the speaker cabling for it at this time, would be for external speakers for music in outdoor areas, with the Connect Amp kept indoors.
    D
    • D.Frazier24
    • Author
    • Contributor III
    • April 28, 2017
    @Kumar I'm running Cat6 to many different locations in the house and will be placing a wired access point on each floor to extend my wifi coverage.

    Would one of these set ups be better than the other? If I hardwire EVERY Sonos product back to a switch will that be more stable than connecting only 1 Sonos device to the router and then connecting the rest of the devices to the SonosNet? I'm just trying to plan which will be better before I start the wiring process.

    Thank you for the input!
    D
    • D.Frazier24
    • Author
    • Contributor III
    • April 28, 2017
    Leaving the somewhat specialist TV application aside for a moment, for music why are you choosing Connect/Connect Amp instead of play units? Why bother with even speaker wires?

    And yes, wiring any one Sonos unit to the router is all it takes for a dedicated to Sonos layer to be activated. Note though that even this will have the constraint of WiFi like dead spots in a large home and interference from other wireless kit.

    If you are building a house, it is a very good idea/time now to also lay ethernet cable along with the mains power cables, such that you have a couple of ethernet jacks in every room of the house. This will eliminate the dead spots/interference issue for not just Sonos, but for any other WiFi connected equipment you may buy, that is getting more ubiquitous all the time.

    PS: the only place I would suggest a Connect Amp and laying the speaker cabling for it at this time, would be for external speakers for music in outdoor areas, with the Connect Amp kept indoors.

    I'm running Cat6 to many different locations in the house and will be placing a wired access point on each floor to extend my wifi coverage.

    Would one of these set ups be better than the other? If I hardwire EVERY Sonos product back to a switch will that be more stable than connecting only 1 Sonos device to the router and then connecting the rest of the devices to the SonosNet? I'm just trying to plan which will be better before I start the wiring process.

    Thank you for the input!
    K
    • Kumar
    • April 28, 2017
    Wired is always better than wireless Sonosnet; no dead spots and no possibility of interference. Just run a lan cable from each Sonos unit to the access point that should then be close by, in the room for convenience.

    Some care needs to be used while using switches for this, that I am not fully conversant with. I am sure someone else here will chip in with what to look out for in this respect.
    D
    D
    • D.Frazier24
    • Author
    • Contributor III
    • April 28, 2017
    Wired is always better than wireless Sonosnet; no dead spots and no possibility of interference. Just run a lan cable from each Sonos unit to the access point that should then be close by, in the room for convenience.

    Some care needs to be used while using switches for this, that I am not fully conversant with. I am sure someone else here will chip in with what to look out for in this respect.

    Since my AP's aren't going to be located where my sonos devices are to be placed, does it make sense to bypass the switch and instead take a home run from my router and daisy chain my sonos devices together?
    K
    • Kumar
    • April 28, 2017
    Again, this is something I will leave to a network savvier person to reply to. Along with this question: What if you hang a wireless extender from the nearest AP, and have Sonos connect to this wirelessly. Can Sonosnet be invoked and used in this mode, with just one unit hardwired to the network at some convenient point?
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