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New Amp and surround sound

  • 17 October 2018
  • 10 replies
  • 3657 views
M
Can anyone at Sonos provide some info on using the forthcoming Amp with a pair of Left and Right Speakers to give good stereo for music plus rear speakers for TV surround sound.

I’m wondering if Trueplay would work with a pair of Play3s as rear speakers plus some other make I already have connected to the Amp plus maybe a Sub.

Or is the Amp really for just a 2 speaker stereo left/right setup?
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Best answer by Chris 17 October 2018, 02:24

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10 replies

Chris
Userlevel 7
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The Amp will provide front 2.0 (with a fantom 3rd channel they say but how good that will be is yet to be determined).

It can be paired with Play Speakers for left/right rears (or another Amp to power the rears) thus creating 4.0 (of phantom 5.0). Then a Sonos Sub or other powered sub from the Amp to make it full 4.1 (phantom 5.1).

As far as trueplay goes. It sounds like the only way you will be able to trueplay is if you use Sonance certified speakers as the passive speakers with the Amp. Using speakers you already have or non-certified Sonance or other speakers will mean no Trueplay.
Respect the Queue (1)Move (2)Beam (1)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1)Connect:Amp (3)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings
C
I'm trying to set up 5.1 with a Playbar and Amp (the new Amp), with the Amp powering passive speakers as rears as well as a non-Sonos sub. I can't get the sub to work. When I use the Amp to power the speakers and sub as a stereo pair, the sub works (via the Advanced settings for the Amp Room Settings). But in surround mode, that option disappears and the only option for a Sub appears to be to add a Sonos sub. Am I missing something?
Airgetlam
No, that's the way it's designed. When being used as a surround speaker system, it's sent only the data for the surround speakers, and not the LFE channel.
Bruce
C
Thanks for the reply. That's BS though. If the Sonos 'system' has the 5.1 knowledge, there is no reason the ".1" can be sent to a Sonos sub but not to a Sonos amp for playback. That's just lazy SW engineering and/or product management. You should be ashamed Sonos.
M
To be fair, I guess there is only a finite resource available for supporting all the various speaker combinations. One has to develop the features in some sort of priority. Hence, it is hardly surprising that some features are still to be developed.

Like others however, I would appreciate the ability to integrate the Amp into a comprehensive and speaker-flexible Home Theatre type system alongside a simpler hifi system when playing music. I’m still waiting for the Amp to be available here in the UK.
C
You're totally right, and I understand about resources vs features. But for their brand new, more powerful amp, that is intended for the CI channel, that includes a sub-out to support the sub for stereo mode but not in surround mode is crazy. Doesn't seem like such an obscure scenario and I can't imagine it's a lot more work.

Would also be awesome to use the amp (with the sub-out) as rears + .1 for surround mode and easily switch to a true 2.1 setup for music listening. Using the "full" setting for the rears while still part of a 5.1 setup isn't the same as 2.1. Again, I get the resources vs features argument, but the existence of a product like Amp implies a desire to cater to customers who appreciate the difference and want to use their own speakers in flexible setups.
Q
Hi, I’m also trying to use the new amp to connect surround speakers with my existing Playbar and Sub. I’ve followed all the instructions to add surround speakers and the Sonos app shows (+Sub+LS+RS) but so far I can’t hear anything from the surround speakers when I turn on the tv or music. (I also set Music Playback to ‘full’ in the Surround Settings.)

I have tried to detach the amp as surround and run the speakers off the amp separately and they work.

Is there a way I can play something that will definitely show whether the surround speakers are actually working? Also any tips to diagnose the cause would be great. Thanks.
Airgetlam
I'd be checking the audio signal you're receiving, if you think that there's nothing coming from the surrounds. It's a better than even chance that your TV is sending a stereo signal to the PLAYBAR, rather than a 5.1 Dolby Digital signal In that case, the amount of sound coming out of the surrounds would be insignificant. For instance, as I type this on my couch, I'm watching a show on the TV about the Pompeii eruption, and there's nothing coming out of my surrounds at all. If I go to my controller, and look at the "About My Sonos System", for the Audio In line under the PLAYBAR, it says "Stereo". That means that the TV show is only in stereo. If I switch over to a movie, however, say "Jurassic World", I immediately get sound out of my surrounds, and that line changes (when I reload it) to Dolby Digital.

So, it's likely that either you're watching a show that happens to be only in stereo, or you haven't properly set the audio settings, both on the TV, and whatever you're using to feed the TV, so that the signal is being sent as Dolby Digital.

Note that doing so doesn't automatically change everything you watch to Dolby Digital. As indicated in my example, the show itself is only in stereo, and I can't change that. It just allows, when the show is using a Dolby Digital signal, to send that to my Sonos, so it can be interpreted.
Bruce
B
What’s the reason for disabling the sub out LFE channel in surround mode, but allowing wireless Sonos SUB? Technical or commercial?
jgatie
What’s the reason for disabling the sub out LFE channel in surround mode, but allowing wireless Sonos SUB? Technical or commercial?

Technical. The Sonos Sub can connect to the main unit (the Playbar/Playbase/Beam/Amp) that is receiving the '.1' signal. When configured as surrounds, the '.1' signal is not received by the Amp, thus it has no way of playing it.
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