Connecting Connect:amp

Are you leaving the Arc connected via ARC? What purpose would the CONNECT:AMP be serving? For instance, if you intended those extra speakers to work as surround speakers, you wouldn’t need an optical cable, you would just follow the instructions in the setting up Amp or CONNECT:AMP as surround speakers FAQ. 

Thanks for the responses. Airgetlam, I am a newbie to all this, I just assumed it needed a connection. So are you saying just a connection to the internet is all I need

Read the link that @ratty provided. It’s not internet, specifically, but network connection. Ultimately, the network needs to connect to the internet, though. 

So the connect has 2 Ethernet ports can I connect my arc sound bar into one port and the then from the other port into the router

Yes.

I have one more question…..will the connect:amp 1st gen work or do I need 2nd gen?  Also, how about the older version, just plain connect

Has to be a 2nd Gen Connect:Amp.  1st Gen or Connect will not work.

By the way, the Connect is not an older version of the Connect:amp. The Connect is a Connect:amp without the amp - so you cannot connect third party speakers.

Sonos naming conventions made more sense then…..

Unpowered third party speakers. You can connect self powered speakers to a CONNECT. 

Not sure that they’ve ever made sense, the Sonos naming conventions :) Just look at the title of this thread. How do you connect a CONNECT? Seems rife with potential misunderstanding, to me. 

A Sonos Amp does not need an Ethernet connection to anything in order to drive your Ceiling speakers.  It can be totally wireless, as far as network connections are concerned.  Of course, speaker cables will need to be run to the ceiling speakers from the Amp, as with the Connect:Amp. 

Is there an easy way to tell the difference between the Gen 1 and the Gen 2 Connect Amp

Do you own it or are you thinking of buying one?.

@John B thinking of buying

Before the serial number on the C:A is a four digit date code in format YYMM (I think it's year first but it should be obvious). For example 1605 is May 2016.

The cut off seems to be that 1502 and later is gen 2, but the border is probably a bit fuzzy around that date.

Note that the really old Gen 1 CONNECT:AMP’s might not have the date code prefix. Don’t go by the purchase date because an older unit could have been sitting in a stockroom somewhere. The date code rules.

Can anyone help me with this question……..is there an easy way to tell the difference between the Gen 1 and the Gen 2 Connect Amp

Check the date code as described above.

@John B gave you the answer above. 

Can only one pair of non Sonos speakers be connected to this connect amp

No, you can connect 2 pairs of 8 Ohm speakers.  The min impedance is 4 Ohm.  (2 pairs of 8 Ohm speakers is the equivalent of  one pair of 4 Ohm speakers)

It depends on their impedance. The combined impedance must be at least 4 ohms.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/4722

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/4730