I have 4 Sonos amps in a central location for 4 different rooms (zones). I have ceiling speakers (2 each) for each zone/room. How can I connect my TVs to these amps? Do I need to run a long HDMI-ARC cable for each TV to the amp or is there another option? Please help. I am clueless and reading available information online is confusing. Someone suggests getting an HDMI extension and a receiver and run a cat 5 cable. I have cat 8 ethernet cable. I did not know you can run audio through this cable line.
Answered
Sonos Amps in different location than TV's
Best answer by Airgetlam
Your setup is not ideal, I would recommend doing similar to what you did with the Beam, and put a Sonos sound bar with each TV, and then put the Sonos Amp in each room, powering the ceiling speakers. Much better than messing with long run HDMI and baluns, and you can then connect each Amp to its soundbar with a normal 5Ghz connection.
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If each TV is equipped with HDMI ARC or eARC, connecting each TV with an HDMI cable to the Amp in the corresponding room (zone) is probably your best option.
My understanding from what I read online is that HDMI-ARC can not travel more than 50 feet. From my understanding of what you are saying, I can connect HDMI-ARC to an amp that is 100 feet away? Is that right? Thanks for responding.
Have you engaged a professional for this installation? This doesn’t sound much like a home install, with four TVs in different rooms and a central closet holding all the amps.
HDMI extensions via baluns that transfer HDMI ARC to CAT5/6 are fairly rare and expensive, the more common ones do not deal with HDMI ARC at all, something a professional should be aware of, in addition to the transmission distance across HDMI cable lengths.
I was able to use a Sonos beam in one room and linked it to the ceiling speakers in that same room That is one solution.
I have all the ceiling speakers and amps set up. At this point, I would like to set up the rest on my own rather than hiring a professional. I did hire two so-called professionals and they only know how to mount ceiling speakers and that was it. They are not very familiar with Sonos so they left everything for me to complete.
Your setup is not ideal, I would recommend doing similar to what you did with the Beam, and put a Sonos sound bar with each TV, and then put the Sonos Amp in each room, powering the ceiling speakers. Much better than messing with long run HDMI and baluns, and you can then connect each Amp to its soundbar with a normal 5Ghz connection.
Thanks Airgetlam for your answer. The main reason that I am not using the soundboard or beam inbthe other rooms is that I already have two ceiling speakers (FL and FR) installed in those room. My ceiling speakers would render useless if I use a beam or sound bar, would it?
Not if you, as I suggested, use a Sonos Amp, located in the same room, to power them as surround speakers.
Hi Airgetlam, I read that this cannot be done. Please see this thread here:
The person in that thread was trying to connect four in-ceiling speakers to the Amp with the Beam. You cannot connect four with a Beam but you can connect two as rear surrounds.
"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
Unfortunately, my ceiling speakers are installed as FL and FR. I would only get a stereo sound and not surround sound as the thread suggested.
Can you move each Amp into the room (or closer to the room) and connect the TV to the Amp with an HDMI cable?
While I am certainly not a fan of ceiling speakers for front speakers in any sense, you could just move the Amp driving them from that closet that is far away to directly near/under the TV. And use a second Amp or a matched pair of Sonos speakers as surrounds, and just drop this whole ‘central location’ for the devices connected to the TVs.
All my ceiling speakers' wires are routed in the central area. If it is that easy for me to relocate these amps to their individual room, I would have done so already to save me with all the headaches. I asked my so-called expert installers to place the two ceiling speakers in the rear. They decided on their own to place them in the front and told me that is the best location for ceilingspeakers. Go figure. This is another reason why I hesitate to hire another home theater expert .
While I am certainly not a fan of ceiling speakers for front speakers in any sense, you could just move the Amp driving them from that closet that is far away to directly near/under the TV. And use a second Amp or a matched pair of Sonos speakers as surrounds, and just drop this whole ‘central location’ for the devices connected to the TVs.
If this could be done, I do not think I would need another amp since one Sonos amp can hold 4 speakers, is it not?
Only if you plan on having all four speakers play the same thing. You can not have a single Sonos Amp act as a driver for ‘front’ A/V speakers at the same time as surround speakers. And you’d need to be careful about impedance matching the speakers to the Sonos Amp.
Here is a solution and it works like a charm. I purchased an HDMI ARC extension for each of TV/zone.
On the TV end: A short TV HDMI cable connects TV HDMI ARC to the HDMI receiver unit.
One long (50-75 ft.) ethernet (Cat5/6/7) cable connects the HDMI receiver unit's port to the HDMI transmitter unit's port.
Other Sonos Amp's end: A short HDMI cable connects to HDMI transmitter unit.
Amp is also connected to my patio in-ceiling speakers.
TV remote controls sound volume.
I am using AV Access HDMI 2.0 ARC Extender (HDBaesT), 4K@60Hz 4:4:4 HDR10 3D 18Gbps Over CAT5e/6/7 Cable, HDCP2.2, S/PDIF Audio, CEC, PoC & Dual IR, RS232, Audio Return Channel, Atmos & DTS:X, Work at Home.https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07HH1212W/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_2JFMS8V8GXE7ANW3328G?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
For the ethernet cable, I am using Cat 8 Ethernet Cable 50 ft Shielded, 26AWG Lastest 40Gbps 2000Mhz SFTP Patch Cord, Heavy Duty High Speed Cat8 LAN Network RJ45 Cable- in Wall, Outdoor, Weatherproof Rated for Router, Modem, Gaming
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