Contributor I

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Sonos connect + active subwoofer

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Is it possible to use an active subwoofer (not sonos sub) for example Dali e9-f by connecting audio out from a Sonos Connect directly to the line in RCA-s of the subwoofer? I intend to use the subwoofer together with a single Sonos play:5 ( grouped ), until i might expand and combine with old loudspeakers through a new stereo reciever.

This way I hope to add the play 5 with the extra boost of bass of a subwoofer, that later I can also use with a classic stereo reciever and loudspeaker. Buying a Sonos sub is not something I want to do because of personal sonoc preferences and beeing strictly bound to sonos.

Thanks!

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rydeAnswer

Contributor I

To follow up. I now have a third party subwoofer plugged to a sonos connect and it works great! I can adjust the volume separately in the sonos control app. And also when increasing the overall volume on my grouped setup of a single play 5 and the connect (plugged to the subwoofer) the levels adjust appropriately (the sub volume increase in the same ratio as the play 5 volume).

The crossover on the sub makes adjustments of the frequency range easy to match with the play5 to make it sound great.

The sonos connect triggers the auto turn on function of the subwoofer when I start a song. You may have to raise the volume a little if its turned down really low since some subs demand a higher signal to engage.

Overall this experiment has left me increadably satisfied. Amazing bass from a used XTZ w99 12 together with a used but as new sonos connect has left me with what I intended. Less money spent, better bass, better and more adjustments available for controlling the bass and lastly the flexibility to later team up the sonos connect with a full scale stereo setup with the bass connect to the amp at a later stage.

So I highly recommend this type of setup!

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rydeAuthor

Contributor I

Thanks! Good to hear! Tell us how your setup sounds!

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Niraj.Shr

Avid Contributor I

Is it possible to use an active subwoofer (not sonos sub) for example Dali e9-f by connecting audio out from a Sonos Connect directly to the line in RCA-s of the subwoofer? I intend to use the subwoofer together with a single Sonos play:5 ( grouped ), until i might expand and combine with old loudspeakers through a new stereo reciever.

This way I hope to add the play 5 with the extra boost of bass of a subwoofer, that later I can also use with a classic stereo reciever and loudspeaker. Buying a Sonos sub is not something I want to do because of personal sonoc preferences and beeing strictly bound to sonos.

Thanks Ryde, this post of yours is really helpful and helps me to add a non Sonos sub to my Sonos Base and Play 1 surround set up :D

Could you pls share if it works with surround setup, interested to experiment with connect and non Sonos subwoofer

Living room: Playbar | Dining: Play 5 | Bedroom: Sonos One

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Roydj64

Contributor I

Is it possible to use an active subwoofer (not sonos sub) for example Dali e9-f by connecting audio out from a Sonos Connect directly to the line in RCA-s of the subwoofer? I intend to use the subwoofer together with a single Sonos play:5 ( grouped ), until i might expand and combine with old loudspeakers through a new stereo reciever.

This way I hope to add the play 5 with the extra boost of bass of a subwoofer, that later I can also use with a classic stereo reciever and loudspeaker. Buying a Sonos sub is not something I want to do because of personal sonoc preferences and beeing strictly bound to sonos.

Thanks!

Hi Ryde,

Great explanation and exactly what I wanted to hear, thank you very much and now to get a subwoofer

Regards

Roy

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bfitzhugh

Lyricist I

Thanks guys for the post. I just bought a Klipsch Sub 8 on ebay for $80 and plan to pair it with my existing unused Connect. Hopefully it will improve the sound when paired with 2 Play Ones. Ill let you know how it sounds.
William

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ccalboni

Trending Lyricist I

So @bfitzhugh how does it sound?

I want to complete my system with a Playbar + sub but the Sonos sub price is indecent. I already have a Connect, so adding an active subwoofer from third party would be pretty easy and inexpensive.

melvimbe

So@bfitzhugh how does it sound?

I want to complete my system with a Playbar + sub but the Sonos sub price is indecent. I already have a Connect, so adding an active subwoofer from third party would be pretty easy and inexpensive.

Your scenario is significantly different then @bftizhugh though, since he’s playing from an music audio source while, presumably, you’re playbar will be playing TV audio. For TV audio, Sonos ensures that all the speakers in the defined HT room play in sync with video. For other speakers you want to group with your HT room, there’s a necessary delay to properly buffer the audio, approximately 75ms. This results in an echo effect between your HT room speakers and other room speakers. For your scenario, your sub will be behind the other speakers.

When playing music service, everything is buffered since there is no need to sync audio with video. Music played in different rooms will play in sync, so you can cheat and setup your play:1s (or other speakers) as one room, Connect with attached sub as another, and play them in sync. Hopefully I explained that clearly.

I think this is actually a very good time to be looking at getting a Sonos sub though. Best Buy’s black friday ad shows the Sub at 20% off. It’s safe to assume that same discount will be at other retailers and the Sonos site. Sonos also has the tradeup program going on now, allowing you to tradeup your Connect for 30% off the price of any new Sonos product, including the Sub. This might be more than want you want to spend, but for a Sonos HT setup, it’s really your only option right now.

Danny

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ccalboni

Trending Lyricist I

I understand the buffer-delay thing, but I don’t fully get the difference between having a Play:1 or a Connect in said “HT room”. I must say that I don’t currently have a playbar, so I don’t know if something different is visible within the app in that case.

Anyway, in a classic home theater setup one can have the bar, the sub, two satellites play:1. I’m sure Sonos sync everything with the video. What’s the difference if I also add other Sonos items, like a connect, or other play:1 or :5 or whatever? Does the system blocks me or what?

Unfortunately I’m outside US and can’t buy from Best Buy. I’ll see what Black Friday brings, since it’s a thing also here in Europe now, but 699 Euros for a subwoofer, even with a 30% off is a pretty high price. I didn’t know that I could trade Connect for a Sub but I’ll eventually think about it.

melvimbe

Sonos has a concept called “room’ or “zone” in which it allows you to “bond” speakers together to always play in sync. A room could be a single speaker, a pair of speakers, a pair with sub, an amp, a Connect (now Port), a HT setup for example. There are more, but they are limited to what you can do. You cannot have 4 play:1s as a same room for example. And you cannot use a Connect/Port in a HT room. The Connect/Port can’t actually be bonded with anything else, it’s always stand alone as it’s own room.

Whenever you want to play a single audio source in multiple rooms, you must ‘group’ them temporarily in the Sonos app. When the source is music, everything is in sync. The audio is buffered in all rooms. When the source is TV, only the HT room that is connected to the TV will match the video on the TV. Any other grouped rooms will be slightly behind, buffered for multiroom audio.

So, for your plan, you would necessarily have your Playbar as one room and the Connect w/attached sub as a separate room….even though they may physically be in the same room. You can group them together to play the same audio. For music sources, it will work fine. For TV sources, your connect/sub will be slightly behind, creating an echo effect.

To give you another option to think about, you might want to consider using a Sonos Amp instead of playbar. You can use your own speakers for the front channels with a phantom center channel and your own third party amp. The overall cost may be a little bit more, depending on what speakers you get, but you can trade in your Connect, bringing down the price of the Sonos amp by 30%.

Danny

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ccalboni

Trending Lyricist I

Ok, so if I’m not getting it wrong, the feature I’m currently using to see more speakers as a single one (I have it for a couple of :1 coupled as stereo speakers) would NOT be available to merge playbar+connect. On the other hand, it IS available to merge playbar+sub.

I’m currently using a 3rd party home theater that can alternatively play audio from TV, Playstation etc, or audio coming from the Connect. What I want to do is get rid of this system and replace it with a Sonos based HT.

Thank you for your help!

jgatie

Correct. A Connect cannot be bonded with other devices as a single room. A Playbar and Sub can. See this link for details on Sonos surround sound offerings:

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/2927?language=en_US

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