Question

Help with adding a volume control to a pair of speakers

  • 17 October 2016
  • 2 replies
  • 1498 views

Userlevel 2
Badge
Hello, I've moved into a house with some odd wiring for ceiling speakers and am looking to add a volume control to 1 set.

Currently there are 2 4-wire lines coming into the media closet. 1 4-wire is powering speakers in 5 rooms, I'm assuming these are daisy chained or something. Each room of these speakers has an independent volume knob.

The other 4-wire line is powering 2 speakers in an individual room with no volume knob. (I guess somehow the previous people used those speakers as part of their video system?? no idea)

Anywho, I can connect the 2 4-wire lines just like this image https://www.sonos.com/graphics/rn/FAQ269/connect_amp-4_speakers.png and sound comes out of all speakers. Since there is no volume control in the single room, it is always the loudest. Even if I turn up the volume to the max in all other rooms, that one room is still noticably louder than the rest of the house.

I went to my local bigbox and bought a volume knob control. It has L/R +/- inputs and outputs as well as 2 jumpers that go from 1, 2, 4, or 8. I've tried both 1 and 8 and when I try to play music it will start briefly then mute itself and flash white/amber. This article mentions to check that the speakers are connected properly https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/227/~/led-lights-on-sonos-products#Alternating_Orange_and_White

My question is does anyone know what the 1, 2, 4, and 8 setting is? I've looked at the other volume knobs installed in the house and they have a single 8x switch. Here is a picture of the new volume control



What am I missing that when I add the volume knob to the pair of speakers without one sonos starts the amber/white flash but removing it the sonos works again. Is 8x the right setting on both input and output?

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

2 replies

Badge +1
Hello gifpaste,

Sorry for the delay.

As that FAQ you linked mentions, when the CONNECT:AMP is flashing white and amber it means the unit is going into amp fault for some reason. This can happen if the amplifier is being overdrawn, or if there is a fault in the line out to the speakers. To identify which problem the CONNECT:AMP is experiencing, we’d like to get a bit more detail on how everything is wired up.

Do you have all of your speaker wires running to a volume knob now, or is each of the rooms going back to the CONNECT:AMP except for the one that was too loud? Do you have the model number or ohm rating of the speakers? How many speakers are there coming back to the CONNECT:AMP?

It sounds like you have all of your wires going back to the CONNECT:AMP except for the one in the room that was too loud, we just want to confirm that. If that’s the way you’re wired up, try disconnecting the speaker wire from the other side volume knob, and playing the audio at 100% on the knob and the CONNECT:AMP.

If the unit goes into amp fault again, then there is a good chance the wiring may be the cause.

If your CONNECT:AMP does not fault, then we’ll need to refer to the documentation for the volume knob to set the jumper in its correct position. I did locate some possible information regarding the jumpers located here that might help determine the correct position, but this may vary depending on the model of your volume knob.
Userlevel 2
Badge
Do you have all of your speaker wires running to a volume knob now, or is each of the rooms going back to the CONNECT:AMP except for the one that was too loud?

Each room, but the bedroom, has a volume knob.

The five rooms are all on a single 4-conductor cable that comes out in the media closet. 4 of these rooms have 2 speakers, 1 room has a single speaker

The bedroom has 2 speakers and there are two 2-conductor cables coming out in the media closet, one labeled left and the other labeled right. The bedroom has no volumne knob


Do you have the model number or ohm rating of the speakers?

I'm sorry, I don't. Is there an easy way to tell? The single speaker room was recently replaced and they used a KLIR-1650-CSM KLIPSCH DUAL VOICE COIL SPEAKER

How many speakers are there coming back to the CONNECT:AMP?

Current setup has 9 speakers running to the CONNECT:AMP and has been working fine the past 2 months.

I can add the 2 bedroom speakers to this, minus the volume knob, and it works (if one can tolerate the bedroom speakers being on full blast)

When I add the 8x volume knob to the bedroom speakers the amp faults.

It sounds like you have all of your wires going back to the CONNECT:AMP except for the one in the room that was too loud, we just want to confirm that.

Just to be clear, I am uncertain how they wired all the speakers together in the walls/ceiling, but I do know that all of them run off a single 4-conductor cable. The bedroom which is too loud has two 2-conductor cables, 1 for each speaker.

If that’s the way you’re wired up, try disconnecting the speaker wire from the other side volume knob, and playing the audio at 100% on the knob and the CONNECT:AMP.

Sorry, could you elaborate on this? I'm not sure I follow. I'll explain what I have running and perhaps you can guide me from that :)

Two 2-conductor cables coming to media closet
--> I then take the red wires from each conductor and put them into the volume knob's INPUT L+ and R+ then the black wires go into L- and R- on the same INPUT side. OUTPUT is similar with L+ L- R- R+ where the reds come out of L+ R+ and the blacks come out of L- R-
--> The blacks connect to the blacks on the AMP likewise for the reds

Again if I remove the volume knob from the above and run the reds/blacks directly from the 2-conductor cables to the AMP it works, I just have no volume control for bedroom and those speakers run at full

If the unit goes into amp fault again, then there is a good chance the wiring may be the cause.

I did notice while I was reviewing the above that the speaker wires I are 18 gauge while the 2-conductor cables are 16 gauge. Could that have anything to do with it?


If your CONNECT:AMP does not fault, then we’ll need to refer to the documentation for the volume knob to set the jumper in its correct position. I did locate some possible information regarding the jumpers located here that might help determine the correct position, but this may vary depending on the model of your volume knob.

Each of the working rooms are set to 8x. The volume knob I'm trying to add I've tried at 1x 2x 4x and 8x, all cause the AMP to fault