Setup, Install, and Getting the most from Sonos Amp

  • 18 March 2019
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62 replies

K
No, I was unable to create a wireless connection to my Amp Connect for surround sound. I went with a Sony Soundbar plus two wireless Sony bookshelf speakers in back.
N
Userlevel 2
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No, I was unable to create a wireless connection to my Amp Connect for surround sound. I went with a Sony Soundbar plus two wireless Sony bookshelf speakers in back.


Was it a fault with your particular unit?

Living room: Playbar | Dining: Play 5 | Bedroom: Sonos One
K
No, I was unable to create a wireless connection to my Amp Connect for surround sound. I went with a Sony Soundbar plus two wireless Sony bookshelf speakers in back.


Was it a fault with your particular unit?

 No, I was unable to create a wireless connection to my Amp Connect for surround sound. I went with a Sony Soundbar plus two wireless Sony bookshelf speakers in back.


Was it a fault with your particular unit?

Niraj, no, it was not a problem with my unit — the Amp Connect is an older design that has limited wireless abilities. But it’s great for my wired connections!

M

I’m looking for a “How to” in setting up my home theater surround sound.  Here is what I have:

1 Smart TV with the HDMI ARC cable run to a central location

2 Polk Audio Front speakers, already run to the same central location

2 Polk Audio Rear speakers, already run to the same central location

2 Sonos Amps (new, not Connect), located in the same central location

 

Can anyone provide me with the steps to create a 5.1 surround sound, please?  Thanks so much for the help.

 

R
Userlevel 3
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I’m looking for a “How to” in setting up my home theater surround sound.  Here is what I have:

1 Smart TV with the HDMI ARC cable run to a central location

2 Polk Audio Front speakers, already run to the same central location

2 Polk Audio Rear speakers, already run to the same central location

2 Sonos Amps (new, not Connect), located in the same central location

 

Can anyone provide me with the steps to create a 5.1 surround sound, please?  Thanks so much for the help.

 

Hey Mike,

The two amps can't do 5.1, they only actually do 4.1. You probably know that, just wanted to point it out since you mentioned 5.1.

 

Sonos has some docs online on what you are looking for

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/4717?language=en_US

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/2927?language=en_US

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/2237?language=en_US

 

M

Thank you!  I do recall that it can do 4.1 and the 5th channel ends up being a virtual channel?  Don’t really understand the how or why but I get it. 
 

I’ll go read the links you’ve provided and let you know how it goes. Thanks again for the quick assistance. 

B

Hi,

I’ve been using my amp and I love it.  It has great versatility, and I’ll use it with external speakers and group it with the rest of my house simultaneously to play LPs.

A couple questions:

  1. given that it doesn’t have standard line in, what would be the best way to connect my PC to it?  Is there a way to use the HDMI arc port, given that the RCA line in is taken up by my record player currently?
  2. any benefit or best practices to using the amp to support streaming services such as spotify premium?

Thanks!

B

I am looking to impliment this variant, similar to some others here but (I think) slightly different.

In the same room I want to have a music setup and a surround setup, that shares some components but not others.

This is what I am thinking.…

 

Music (2.1) System: Amp powering 2 passive 3rd party speakers, Amp bonded to Sonos Sub.

Home Threatre System: Beam bonded to Sonos Sub, with 2x Sonos Ones as Rear Left and Right, and IDEALLY using Amp/2 passive speakers as front left/right BUT this is sacraficible as those speakers are not equal distance from the tv (one is quite close, the other 2m away). I suspect I will have to ditch these OR the Beam in this set up.

If I need to compromise/adjust this that's fine but the one thing that I definitely want is to utilise the Sonos Sub for music AND home threatre, even if that means going onto the app to remove it from one and add it to the other when necessary.

TV does NOT have ARC (sadly)

What do you think, is this possible:

1) switching the use of the Sub between the Amp/passive speakers and the Beam when needed.

2) with the passive speakers acting as Front L/R with Beam, Sub and Ones completing the full surround.

Cheers in advance for any input/thoughts.

 

Airgetlam
  1. I have found that unbonding and rebonding the SUB, and then re TruePlaying the room to be onerous. You may feel differently.
  2. If you’re using one of the Sonos sound bars, you are not able to also have Left and Right speakers. All Sonos sound bars contain the right, center and left channels in the single box, and the software doesn’t provide an opportunity to split them out. You could instead use the Sonos Amp to drive third party speakers as right and left, and have the “phantom” center created by Sonos. In that situation, you could use a second Amp to drive the surrounds, or use other Sonos speakers as surrounds.
Bruce
B

Thanks Bruce, that's what I suspected. I'm not sure I always want the TV coming through my main speakers/with full surround (e.g. when our daughter is watching something) - so if I went for the Amp+passive speakers Front L/R, Sub, and possibly Sonos Ones as Rear L/R, can I easily disable/enable the entire Sonos routing so sounds just plays through the TV. I know that is dependant on others things like the TV but I guess I just keep the Optical connection between the TV and Amp unplugged, and plug it when we are going to watch a film/want full surround sound...

B

...another thought.

 

If I only had Beam, Sub and Amp (powering 2 passives), I could easily switch between these two setups just by using the 'remove sub' and ' add sub' button if they are set up as individual 'Rooms' (even though they are in the same physical room) :

Beam and Sub in 3.1 surround (for films)

Amp and Sub in 2.1 stereo (for music)

 

That way I wouldn't need to reapply Trueplay each time as the Beam settings wouldn't change and it would just be a 3-4 button press operation to switch, which would only be when we watch a film once or twice a week (for normal TV I'd leave the Beam disconnected).

Is that right?

Airgetlam

When you remove any speaker from a “room” in the Sonos software, it automatically strips any TruePlay tuning from that room. 
 

Depending on your setup, that may, or may not be an issue. Since there is zero cost in the experiment, beyond your time, I’d suggest that you try it, and see how it works for you. 

Bruce
B

Ok thanks... Back to the drawing board then.

I don't own any Sonos stuff yet, so want to know what will work before spending £1k+.

You're input has been invaluable, many thanks!!!

melvimbe

Thanks Bruce, that's what I suspected. I'm not sure I always want the TV coming through my main speakers/with full surround (e.g. when our daughter is watching something) - so if I went for the Amp+passive speakers Front L/R, Sub, and possibly Sonos Ones as Rear L/R, can I easily disable/enable the entire Sonos routing so sounds just plays through the TV. I know that is dependant on others things like the TV but I guess I just keep the Optical connection between the TV and Amp unplugged, and plug it when we are going to watch a film/want full surround sound...

 

Why would you want to disable surround sound?   I’m not following what the concern is regarding your daughter. Are you think it will be too loud or scary, or something of that nature.  I honestly wouldn’t think so.

 

Regardless, I don’t know that unplugging the amp would work well.  Your TV is still going to send audio over the optical connection as it would not know the amp is unplugged.  You would need to reconfigure TVs audio settings each time.  But you could prevent the rear channels from coming on by unplugging them, maybe a smart plug. Not exactly recommended, there would be boot up time, etc.  That way sound is only from the Beam/Amp + sub.  I wouldn’t recommend unplugging the sub as the Beam/Amp won’t make up for the missing bass.

Danny
B

Hi Danny.

Thanks for your response.

Here are the three scenarios and what I would want in each (ideally)

i) Films: surround sound, either 3.1 or 4.1 as seems to be the options.

ii) Music: Stereo 2.1.

iii) TV: TV speakers (My Little Pony through a  4.1 system just makes my teeth crunch!, though to be honest we only generally watch comedy so don't want it played through the stereo system, surround or not). 

FYI in iii) I would just disconnect the optical cable and turn the volume back up on TV (or whatever was needed).

Also FYI, if I had 2 x Sonos Ones to act as Rear L/R (and access Trueplay if using Amp rather than Beam), these would live in separate rooms normally and just be moved into the TV room when wanting full surround and/or Trueplay.

Basically my main passion is music and this would be any gears primary purpose, but having the facility to have an immersive cinema experience without too much extra outlay is obviously appealling. Which is where Sonos wins over others.

From previous post I think I am having to ditch the idea of having two 'rooms' that I can switch the Sub between. 

I think my current preference of the possibilities is Amp driving 2 passives, with Sub and 2 x Sonos Ones. TV will connect to Amp as and when needed via Optical, at which point I may or may not bring in the Ones for surround/Trueplay. If I can't be bothered bringing in the Ones/resetting up Truplay I believe I can still adjust L/R balance of passives and overall bass/treble to ensure dialogue comes through.

....I think!

🙈

 

 

melvimbe

Hi Danny.

Thanks for your response.

Here are the three scenarios and what I would want in each (ideally)

i) Films: surround sound, either 3.1 or 4.1 as seems to be the options.

 

 

The options are really 5.1 or 3.1.  5.1 would be the 3 front channels + 2 rear channels + sub.  The Beam plays all 3 front channels, while using amp would be the L+R  plus simulated center (is that what you’re calling 4.1?).    If it’s 3.1, they you simply don’t have rear channels setup.  It’s not the number of speakers, it’s the number of audio channels.

 

 

ii) Music: Stereo 2.1.

iii) TV: TV speakers (My Little Pony through a  4.1 system just makes my teeth crunch!, though to be honest we only generally watch comedy so don't want it played through the stereo system, surround or not). 

 

 

I’m not seeing why that would be bad, and not sure MLP is recorded in dolby digital (5.1), could just be PCM (stereo) so you would only hear it from the front speakers anyway.  But you could just unplug the rears if really bothers you, or possibly set the audio on the TV to PCM if available.

 

FYI in iii) I would just disconnect the optical cable and turn the volume back up on TV (or whatever was needed).

 

 Seems unnecessary, but ok.

 

Also FYI, if I had 2 x Sonos Ones to act as Rear L/R (and access Trueplay if using Amp rather than Beam), these would live in separate rooms normally and just be moved into the TV room when wanting full surround and/or Trueplay.

 

 

Trueplay is available when using the Beam.  Trueplay is only on the Amp if you’re using Sonance passive speakers.  And again, I don’t think reconfigure Sonos rooms on a regular basis is a good idea.

 

 

Basically my main passion is music and this would be any gears primary purpose, but having the facility to have an immersive cinema experience without too much extra outlay is obviously appealling. Which is where Sonos wins over others.

From previous post I think I am having to ditch the idea of having two 'rooms' that I can switch the Sub between. 

I think my current preference of the possibilities is Amp driving 2 passives, with Sub and 2 x Sonos Ones. TV will connect to Amp as and when needed via Optical, at which point I may or may not bring in the Ones for surround/Trueplay. If I can't be bothered resetting up Truplay I believe I can still adjust L/R balance of passives and overall bass/treble to ensure dialogue comes through.

....I think!

🙈

 

Diaglue/bass/treble settings are separate from trueplay, correct.  But again, you won’t get trueplay unless you Sonance speakers.  Which doesn’t mean it’s bad at all,  just not quite as good as trueplay.

Danny
B

Thanks, and fair points. Some is choice driven, others may be a few gaps in my knowledge, so thanks as some of your info I hadn't considered.

To be fair, it's more of a faff than I first envisaged, but the benefit is having a good 2.1 system with the flexibility of either having a multi room or a surround sound experience availabl via the Ones. So a price and a payoff.

If I can afford to add 2 more Ones later, then they could make a permenant fixture in the TV surround setup, amd as you say just disable them if preferred.

Sonos loose my need to buy their Sub, as that is now free to be what ever as the benefit would have been to easily swap it between the different scenarios. I will probably get something that can be used in a small music studio setup (yes, another consideration!).

BTW, I think Trueplay can be used with Amp IF using Sonos speakers as rears.

thanks again, really is very much appreciated.

mtylerr
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I don't believe this question has been asked, but here we go…

 

I am planning my home theater setup and want to make sure things will work correctly. 

My plan is using a playbase + sub, 2 ceiling-mounted speakers connected to an amp, and two Sonos ones as the rears. Would the amp work correctly with everything?

 

Also, the setup I’m looking at would include 2 patio speakers that I can choose to be wired wherever. I thought about wiring them to an aux and connecting that to the Sonos Amp. I read above that this setup would not work correctly, what/where do you suggest I run the wiring for the patio speakers to? I plan on having a patio TV but do not wish to run the sound to those speakers. I would also not want the patio speakers to play the family room sound. I would ideally like to be able to control them from my Sonos App, but I'm not sure if that’s possible outside of buying a separate Sonos Amp for them. 

Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26

Hi mtylerr, “working correctly” here kind of depends on how you’re hoping to use the Amp. The Playbase (as with all Sonos home theater components) can support a pair of speakers for surrounds. This would be a pair of Sonos Ones, or a pair of ceiling mounted speakers connected to an Amp, either option would get you the Sonos 5.1 surround setup. If you have both the Sonos Ones and the Amp, only one of those can be set up with the Playbase as surrounds, the other pair would be used as a separate Sonos room and could be grouped with the Playbase in a more temporary setup than as a surround room. For music playback, this would work great, but for TV audio, either the Amp or the Sonos Ones (whichever isn’t set up as surrounds) will not be in sync, and will not be playing the same Dolby audio. 

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mtylerr
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Okay thanks, that’s what I was hoping to avoid. Using this setup for primarily home audio, would you be better off running the amp to a set of rear ceiling-mounted speakers? Would that give better sound or would it be better with no amp and just sonos playbase, sub, and sonos ones?

Ryan S
Userlevel 7
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That’s a tricky one to be honest, it really depends a lot on the room. Strictly speaking, 5.1 home theater dictates that the surround channels should come from the side and slightly behind the listener, at ear level, which would be a point for the Sonos One option. Also, Sonos Ones will give you the option of having built in voice control for the room through Alexa or Google Assistant. The Amp option is a bit more hidden and might be a little cleaner of a design for the room.

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mtylerr
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Awesome, exactly what I was looking for. Any ideas on the patio speakers? Either how I can integrate them when listening to audio or another idea? I guess I could use the amp there but I’m not sure where the amp would be best placed. 

Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26

Yep, using the Amp with them would be the way to go. You would control the Amp as a separate room or zone of music. It could be grouped with your Playbase controlled system, or play different things. When playing any non-TV source, it’ll be perfectly in sync, with TV audio, it will be a bit delayed, but you probably wouldn’t notice if the rooms aren’t very close to each other.

 

Depending on what sort of setup you’re looking for on the patio, another option would be a Sonos Move, a portable, battery powered unit you could take to the patio when you want music there, or take it outside the home and use it with Bluetooth. When on your wireless, you could even use a pair of Moves in stereo.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
R

Does anyone know how I would set up my TV with both a Sonos Arc bar and an Amp wired to in-ceiling speakers? My TV has an optical out which can be connected to the HDMI into the Amp. But if I want an Arc to also be used and do either 3.1 or 4.1 how does that happen? (And how do I even just connect both the Arc and the AMP>speakers to my TV?) Thanks.

Airgetlam

Setting up Amp or CONNECT:AMP as surround speakers is your best bet. If you were to set up the Amp to be a separate room, then there would be a slight delay between the two rooms. 

Since you’re on an optical connection, the best you can do, due to bandwidth issues, is Dolby Digital 5.1. With what you’ve described, doing the above process would get you to 5.0. If you set up the ceiling speakers as a separate room, you’d get just 3.0 from the Arc. 

Bruce
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