Curious how others approach the math side of planning out a multi-room Sonos setup, especially for larger or open-plan homes where speaker placement and coverage really matters.
When mapping out a new room I usually calculate square footage first, then work out roughly how many speakers I'd need based on typical coverage radius per speaker (varies depending on model and room acoustics, but I generally plan around 200-300 sq ft per speaker as a rough starting point for even sound distribution).
For open-plan spaces I also factor in:
- Total square footage of the open area
- Percentage of that area that's "primary listening zone" vs background coverage
- Distance between speakers to avoid both dead zones and excessive overlap
I run through these calculations manually before committing to a speaker count and placement plan, since getting it wrong means either gaps in coverage or paying for more speakers than actually needed. I've used https://aliciacalculadoras.es/ for working through the area and percentage math step by step when planning bigger rooms.
Anyone else have a process for this, or do you mostly just place speakers by ear and adjust after the fact? Curious if Sonos has any official guidance on coverage-per-speaker that's more precise than the general placement tips in the app.