Question

SonosAMP acting as rear speakers

  • 29 June 2020
  • 9 replies
  • 1370 views
M

Hi All,

I currently have the Sonos Beam and 2x Play:1 acting as rear speakers with a Sonos Connect driving an active sub for 5.1 sound. System works well for movies, but our room has now changed.

 

Can I remove the PLAY:1's and replace with a Sonos Connect:AMP to act as rear sound with the beam? Configuration would be:

  • Beam (Front Left & Right)
  • Connect:AMP - (with 2x Rear ceiling speakers)
  • Connect - Driving Active sub

One thing I have notice with my current setup is that I must control the volume via the app to have both the Beam with rear (Play:1’s) and sub work together (grouping). If I control the volume via the TV, the Beam with rears will change while the sub volume doesn't alter. Will this happen if I move to the above setup (Connect:AMP driving rear sound)?

 

Also if I was to replace the Beam with the new ARC will the above still be doable?

Cheers

Wayne

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9 replies

buzz

You will have the same issue with Arc as you now have with BEAM. If you want an integrated experience you’ll need to replace your current subwoofer with SUB.

Airgetlam

No. In the above situation, the CONNECT would not be able to drive the third party subwoofer...with either the Beam or Arc. Sonos, when you’re using one of their sound bars, requires the use of there own Sub, and won’t allow the use of the third party subwoofer. The only Home Theater situation in which you can use a third party sub is when you’re using a Sonos Amp to drive your own set of stereo front speakers, with the phantom center channel. When the Amp is used to drive surround speakers, the subwoofer output is turned off. 

Bruce
M

So are you saying that I can have the ConnectAMP to drive some rear speakers with the Beam, but my Connect will not be able to part of the group to drive the sub?

 

Let me put it another way. Ignore the my 3rd party sub and Connect.

Can my Connect:AMP form part of the rear speakers with the beam, making it a 3.0 theater solution?

Cheers

Wayne

 

 

 

 

buzz

If you ignore your subwoofer and the CONNECT, you’ll be able to configure a 5.0 system with AMP and  Arc or BEAM -- no Group required.

J

But note that using a Connect:Amp for surround rear speakers requires the system to be in SonosNet mode and needs a wired connection between C:A and Beam - either direct or by having both wired to a router or switch.

This requirement does not apply to the Sonos Amp.

M

JohnB I just tried to do what you said, but not understanding the SonosNET mode.

Here is what I have done

  1. I have removed my Play:1’s from the beam.
  2. I then hardwired my Connect:AMP to the beam with a normal network Cat6 cable.
  3. Went into my S1 App → settings → Add Surrounds and selected “A Connect:AMP”
  4. As the Connect:AMP is already in my system as something else, white light was on. Just Press Play/Pause & Plus Volume to sync
  5. APP says Added Surrounds → Continue
  6. Added your Connect:Amp → Continue
  7. Preparing the speakers - Now this is where it goes all weird.
  8. Orange light starts flashing… after 30sec lights goes solid white. After 1min App says Setup Problem Check ethernet & power cord are connected → Try again
  9.  App now says Added your Connect:AMP → Continue
  10. App now says Audio setup problem → Done

If I go back to setting → Beam you can see that Connect:AMP is in surround mode with the beam, but the amp is not producing any sound or seem to be working.

 

 

 

J

For SonosNet to be working you need a Sonos device wired to your router. Is that the case on your system?

buzz

SonosNet is a private method that SONOS uses for wired and wireless communication between SONOS units. SonosNet is optimized for multi-room audio. The system will automatically switch into SonosNet when one or more units are connected to the wired network.

As a test, play some music and check for output from CONNECT:AMP. You can fuss with the rear levels at Settings → System → [BEAM] → Surround Audio. If there is music output from CONNECT:AMP, at least the raw setup is correct. Be sure to check the network cable. With respect to TV audio, it is possible that the program you tried did not have any rear channel component.

M

Guys.. Thank you so much for directing/helping me out. Your advice got me there!

To get it to all work I had to hard wire the Connect:AMP to my cisco switch instead of using my AP’s and then have the beam hard wired to the Connect:AMP.

What did before was hardwried the Beam to the Connect:AMP and the Connect:AMP was connecting via wifi to my switch. Interesting how this all works.

 

Once again that you all for helping me out :)

Cheers

Wayne

 

 

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