Existing Wired Home For Multi Room Audio

  • 20 November 2023
  • 10 replies
  • 275 views
L
  • LeoD
  • Contributor I
  • 4 replies

I recently moved into a new home. The previous owner had the home wired for multi room speakers. There are zones that would need to be controlled.

1st is the living room with TV. There’s wired labeled there for left, center, and right channels. And one other wire that I assume is for the Sub. See picture below:

The question for the first zone is would I be able to connect a Sonos Arc along with a Sonos Amp for the pair of ceiling speakers that would function as the rear speakers. And an existing wired sub to create a surround sound setup?

 

2nd zone would be for outside speakers. Which I think should be able to be handled by one Sonos Amp. I think this is the wiring for that set:

 

3rd and 4th zones also seem pretty straight forward also for the Kitchen and Master bath. Here’s the wiring for those areas below:

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

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10 replies

buzz

Only a SONOS SUB can used with ARC. When used for surround, AMP’s input and subwoofer connections are disabled.

If necessary, you can use a flashlight cell to check the speaker connections. A speaker will thump at the instant a connection is made. By convention, when the plus terminal of the battery is connected to the plus terminal of the speaker, the speaker cone will jump out of the basket.

L

Is there any soundbar that would work for this setup?

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

You could use two Amps in the TV room which would give you a line-level output that you could amplify to power your sub, the Amp option would not use your center speaker.

Add additional Amps as needed for the other rooms. Each Amp should power two pairs of speakers but they would both then play the same music. You’d need an Amp for each different music stream you wanted to play.

You might be better served with a good multi-room/zone AVR and then feed your music to it from a Sonos Port. You’d likely still need amplification for the sub unless it has one built in.

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Is there any soundbar that would work for this setup?

The Arc would give you L/R/C and Atmos height channels in the TV room but not using your existing speakers. You could use an Amp to power the ceiling speakers as surrounds buy you’d be better off audio-wise to use a pair of Era-300s for that. The Sonos Sub or Sub-mini could be added.

Add Sonos Amps, as above, for the other rooms as needed.

L

Thanks for the reply. Would there be a way to have the Amp run the sub and two rear speakers. And have the Arc be L/C/R?

buzz

No

L

Last question is would I be able to create a surround soun setup in the living room with a passive sound bar connected to multiple Sonos Amps. Or is it better to just go with a different receiver like you mentioned?

You could use two Amps in the TV room which would give you a line-level output that you could amplify to power your sub, the Amp option would not use your center speaker.

Add additional Amps as needed for the other rooms. Each Amp should power two pairs of speakers but they would both then play the same music. You’d need an Amp for each different music stream you wanted to play.

You might be better served with a good multi-room/zone AVR and then feed your music to it from a Sonos Port. You’d likely still need amplification for the sub unless it has one built in.

 

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

A passive soundbar connected to a Sonos Amp isn’t going to use the center channel speaker so you'll be wasting a good bit of your purchase price there.

With the conglomeration you’ve inherited the multi-zone amp really looks like a reasonable option. Shop very carefully as some are junk, some are very good but won’t offer the features you need.

Another approach to consider, I do not regret abandoning all my previous audio gear and switching to Sonos speakers instead. Far less aggravation and clutter.

buzz

LeoD,

Is there any need to integrate with a SONOS system? If not, consider using a traditional A/V system. A traditional approach with multi-room support is YAMAHA’s MusicCast. A long time SONOS user will probably not appreciate the YAMAHA controller and YAMAHA does not support dozens and dozens of music services as does SONOS, but the most popular services are supported and the system is very capable (but very different from SONOS).

L

LeoD,

Is there any need to integrate with a SONOS system? If not, consider using a traditional A/V system. A traditional approach with multi-room support is YAMAHA’s MusicCast. A long time SONOS user will probably not appreciate the YAMAHA controller and YAMAHA does not support dozens and dozens of music services as does SONOS, but the most popular services are supported and the system is very capable (but very different from SONOS).

Definitely not a NEED. I just want good multi-room functionality that can work on one of the smart home platforms. I got in touch with the previous owner and the system was built to work with the Control4 platform. 

I’ll check out the Yahama recommendation and go back to the drawing board. Thanks for all the advice!

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