Who pre-ordered the new Sonos AMP and what are your plans for it?



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Userlevel 5
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Interesting. Why do you still have the Beam?
I prefer my music closer to what was intended with 2 speakers up front and sub. Therefore, the Sonos Amp was purchased for the tower speakers and large sub you see in the picture. I have a similar setup in my main media room using All Sonos for HT and Play 5 x 2 (up front) with sub for music. That is where the Pro-Ject Debut TT will be used via line in to a Play 5.
Never could quite get with the program/idea of using surrounds set to Full for music with them being positioned behind the listening position. I'm just finicky about using a Sonos HT setup for my music. I might add that I'm blessed to be able to indulge that quirk :8
Cheers!

Definitely agree with that. If you can turn off the rears easily with the amp it wouldn’t be necessary though.
I’ve gone to using 3rd gen dots for living room and bedroom Sonos just so I don’t have to worry about what works with Alexa and what doesn’t and the voice response seems faster with the dots too.
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Just going to preorder
Ordered the Sonos Amp on 12/9, it's currently backordered but supposed to ship Friday 12/14. Keeping my fingers crossed. I plan to use the Amp to power four in-ceiling Polk Audio RC80i's in my outdoor pavilion. The four RC80i's will be setup as left/right pairs. The Amp will be connected via HDMI to a TV in the pavilion and serve as the primary TV audio. But will likely be used more often as a standalone zone for streaming music. I have two Connect Amps powering two different sets of Polk Audio Atrium 5's in our backyard and would have went with the Connect Amp for the pavilion if it supported HDMI in. The Connect Amp and Atrium 5's sound great at low volumes which is what I often use when sitting in the spa.
Userlevel 5
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Digital trends review.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/gadget-reviews/sonos-amp-review/
Userlevel 5
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I ordered the Amp today and it arrives tomorrow.
I will use it with a Sonos Sub and Sonos One rears and it will also replace my Beam.
For now I am going to use Elac B6 2.0's that were on sale on Black Friday for $150 but will replace them with tower speakers when I figure out what I want.
I see in the CNet review they set the sub crossover at 100hz so will have to play with that. Not quite sure how to tune things but I guess it will be by ear. I'm spoiled by auto tuning of everything I have bought for awhile now including AV receivers. Any tips on tuning?
They also claimed very high treble and I don't like treble at all so will back that down.
I like loudness off on everything now so will turn that off too. I'm not sure why Sonos enables it automatically. Seems to get in the way of detail a little bit.
I'm thinking I don't actually view 5.1 content that often except for movies so maybe it will be OK to keep the rear ones ungrouped unless I want to use them for a 5.1 movie. Especially since I won't have to Trueplay again after rebonding them
I'm after better music quality than I get right now. I will also try out Roon access via Airplay.
This is going to be fun 🙂
Userlevel 5
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Thanks for the advice. I currently have the rears set to full but don't care for the music coming from the rear plus some still coming from the Beam. I had not heard of doing it the way you describe.
Userlevel 5
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Got my Sonos Amp :-)
Sounds really great 🙂
Userlevel 7
@SOCalistic

Great that you received your Amp! 🆒 Now we need pictures :8

Enjoy!!!
Userlevel 7
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I have 3 Sonos Amps now.

1 - replaced a Connect:Amp previously in my bar area that I am going to use to power some additional speakers at my vacation home. I think the Sonos Amp has a little more warmth to the sound and I fits better with the high end speakers I have in the bar.

2 - replaced a Connect hooked to receiver at my main living room TV. Moving the connect/receiver setup to my vacation home.

3- replaced the Zone 2 I was running off that same receiver to my outside speakers … now making them their own zone

All done added one additional zone to my primary house and 2 additional zones to my vacation home.
Userlevel 5
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@SOCalistic

Great that you received your Amp! 🆒 Now we need pictures :8

Enjoy!!!
Userlevel 5
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It's all thrown together right now but I will be moving things around.
Sony 55" X930E
Sanus TV stand.
Elac speakers I bought for $150 Black Friday deal. I'm looking at Kef LS 50 in matte black, Bucharest S300's, or maybe tower speakers to replace them. The Elacs sounds great but I just grabbed them for temporary since they were half off.
Sonos Sub.
All content is through Apple TV 4K which I am very happy with. Haven't had cable TV in years and don't want or need it.
I have no use for the Beam any more. I bought it for $319 no tax and free shipping from AAFES.
Rear black Sonos Ones on Flexson stands which I have not connected to the AMP yet.
Userlevel 5
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I have 3 Sonos Amps now.


You win 🙂
Userlevel 6
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Anyone replacing a Connect:Amp with an Amp? Is the difference significant? I have a ZP100 driving Yamaha outdoor speakers in my deck/pool area, not sure if it's worth replacing it or not. Frankly, as the ZP100 has line level outs, I could probably find a generic 100W/channel amp and put it in line for much less.
Userlevel 5
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Is your turntable connected to the AMP?
I'm thinking of doing that.
Userlevel 7
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Yes I replaced one of my Connect:Amps with a Sonos Amp.

With good speakers the Sonos Amp is a noticable improvement. Much warmer sound. In the past I had never been able to get the room with my Connect:Amp to sound exactly the way I wanted. I have changed out speakers, tweaked with the sub settings etc. and just never had that nice good sound I wanted.

With the new Sonos Amp replacing - it is sounding now like I want it.

So it definately is an improvement. I think just from the watts per channel it is pushing the speakers much better. I am using B&W DM601's now (which are on the smaller side of their bookshelf line). The Connect:Amp didn't do them justice at all. If you have really small bookshelf speakers though you may not notice the difference so much. I had some smaller polks in that room in the past and I don't know with them if I would have seen as big a difference between the Connect:Amp vs. Sonos Amp. I think its all about the sweet spot on the speakers when it comes to watts per channel and the higher watts per channel does much better in my specific combination.
Userlevel 7
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That's a good question on run a separate power amp off the line outs vs. replacing with a Sonos Amp.

Personally - I would be a little timid in investing more money into an older One heck of a great device but what happens when it dies (be buying a connect then I assume to replace).

The ZP100 also is starting to show its age in not having Airplay compatibility and who know what limits down the road.

If your happy with what it sounds like now I would ride it out … but if you want more power driven to speakers …. I would probably get a Sonos Amp and move the ZP100 to another room/application.

I am certainly not retiring my Connect:Amp just moving it to another less critical listening of an application.
Userlevel 7
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Here photos Sonos Amp beside connect:amp it replaced. The Sonos Amp feels a lot less bulky. Its flatter (not nearly as tall) but deeper.



Userlevel 6
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It's running my outdoor speakers, on a patio area, so critical listening is definitely not in the cards.
Userlevel 7
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Other than probably some additional volume to the speakers - I don't think outside your going to notice anything from a sound quality perspective.
Userlevel 7
Is your turntable connected to the AMP?
I'm thinking of doing that.


It will be when my 2nd Sonos Amp arrives (supposedly Monday). The TT is in my media room down stairs. Can’t wait...but I guess I’ll to. :8
Userlevel 6
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Other than probably some additional volume to the speakers - I don't think outside your going to notice anything from a sound quality perspective.

Yeah. The speakers are 40W RMS, 130W max, I can think of a lot better places in my audio budget for $600
Userlevel 7
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Further playing in my smaller bar room it is night and day difference connect:amp to Sonos Amp.
Userlevel 5
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Other than probably some additional volume to the speakers - I don't think outside your going to notice anything from a sound quality perspective.

There must be a better dac in there and also more power equals a fuller richer sound in my experience not just more volume.
That's why this product existed.
https://wyred4sound.com/products/upgrades-and-mods/sonos-connect-modified
I'm sure the new AMP just killed the market for this item though.
Userlevel 7
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A richer sound for sure. The dacs have always been decent. But your taking 2011 tech to 2018.
Userlevel 5
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One of the reviews says it’s the most flexible product Sonos has made. Pretty fun 🙂