Question

How to connect Sonos Connect.Amp and TV

  • 30 December 2016
  • 5 replies
  • 5619 views

We have pre-installed Sonos system; Connect.Amp, Launch pad and speakers in the ceiling. In order for a newly purchased TV to get connected to Sonos system, which connection needs to be purchased? An optical cord mentioned by a retailer cannot be connected to any on Sonos side (Connect Amp is installed far away from the TV room). We wish to do without a sound bar purchase.

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5 replies

An optical cord would be useless whatever the distance, as the Connect:Amp has only an RCA analogue input. But if it is too far away for an optical cable, what sort of cable is it close enough for? Are the ceiling speakers positioned to act as main speakers or rear surround speakers?
Thank you for your answer. I think the system is supposed to be blue-tooth type - none physically connected to each other. I Pad like launch pad to source music. 4 speakers in one room and 2 in another are embedded in the ceiling, There are no other speakers - so main? but for surround effect? Sorry, they were pre-installed as we moved in and they were no instructions.
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Hey MHW.

So... assuming you haven't yet done some detailed digging... you will want to spend a bit of time confirming how the speakers are connected... I *think* it is unlikely they are all to the same connect amp. (But one can never totally know what someone else actually did). In a perfect world, the sonos app you are using would allow you to select multiple/different speakers sets... and they would point you to how they are paired. E.g. If the app allows you to select a "room" and you select it only and only two speakers play something, then you can conclude that they are (if they are standard ceiling speakers of some type) connected to their own connect amp.

The Sonos system works over a wifi network (not bluetooth) and indeed the connect amps (like all the sonos audio speaker products) are wireless devices that typically source their audio from the internet or source files on the network and play it.

Now to the core of your question. I'm not totally sure you can achieve what you want, but it partly depends on the tools you have to configure the solution. The connect amp does have "RCA" connectors... so you need to have audio come out of your TV (or another source) and into a connect amp, but how you can do that depends largely on your TV... most newer TVs have optical out... but not much else. However how do you get signal to your TV... it is possible that you could send the audio to the connect amp from a source (e.g. Cable box or old style receiver or computer for streaming) direct to the amp and send the video signal only to the TV.

Perhaps a few more details of what you have to work with may help the community help you.
It is hard to advise with total confidence without seeing exactly what the setup is, but.....

Given the distance from the Connect:Amp to the TV my best guess is that the Connect:Amp was used for music only, not TV. It is possible that it was used to provide the rear surround speakers in a Sonos home theatre setup, but I doubt it. My personal view is that ceiling speakers are rubbish for TV sound anyway because the sound comes from the wrong place. Another reason for advising against using the RCA line in to C :A for the complete TV sound is the audio lag. The C:A isn't designed fundamentally for TV, but for music.

As @SHARKB8T says, it is not a Bluetooth system at all and there is no way to get sound from your TV to the C:A wirelessly. (Well...a Bluetooth transmitter and receiver is theoretically possible but just don't go there.)

I would use the C:A for music only and find whatever solution for TV sound best meets your requirements, whether that be the TV's own speakers, a Sonos Playbar, a conventional soundbar or soundbase, or a full-blown conventional wired home theatre system. I know you said you wanted to avoid such a purchase, but that is obviously your call.
Dear Both, thank you very much for your replies. Yes, Wifi vs Bluetooth, or TV or audio, it seems there is a misunderstanding of our own expectations, also with the retailer... We shall go for the soundbar purchase. Thank you again.