Home Setup Advice - have lots of Sonos, also looking at Sonance!

@KDUK,

Starting initially with the Kitchen and Master Bedroom, am I right in thinking that you plan to have the Sonos Amp connected to the TV in each of those rooms, which in turn will play the front Left/Right and (pseudo) Center TV audio channels to two ceiling speakers? If so, might that perhaps sound a little odd🤔?

I’m imagining a TV news reader speaking on the TV screen out in front, but their voice coming from the direction of the ceiling - I’m just thinking that might sound quite strange having that type of audio coming from the direction of the ceiling and perhaps disorientating for the viewer, even if the speakers were in front of the viewers seated position.

I think wall speakers set at head height (when seated) would be much better for the front TV channels.

Personally speaking, I’m also not a huge fan of music audio from ceiling speakers either, unless it’s just for background music to create an atmosphere during meals etc. For serious stereo music listening (or even Atmos music audio - which is becoming popular these days), I think speakers set at head height are a perhaps a much better option, but it’s each to their own, I guess 

it will be interesting to see what others in the community here think about having the front TV channels audio coming from the direction of the ceiling, if that is the plan?

Agree totally with Ken's post. Ceiling speakers for TV sound may just about work for surrounds (although I wouldn't do it), but for fronts it's a non-starter IMO.

Thank you for the comments gents.

So perhaps in the kitchen we are better off looking at 2x wall speakers either side of the TV to create L/R and the ‘phantom middle’ I believe?  That would need to be driven from 1 Amp.

Then 4x ceiling speakers in the middle / island end of the room for music.

Would it sound strange to group the 6 speakers together for music if 4 were ceiling and 2 were wall?

In the master bedroom, would we be able to combine the ‘normal’ TV audio with ceiling speakers to avoid the sound only coming from above?

If we didn’t have ceiling speakers, and don’t have the space for wall speakers either side of the TV, what would be our best option here?

Your best options are:

Kitchen. Sonos soundbar for TV. Forget surround sound. Sonos Amp for ceiling speakers, music only. (Care over impedance although may be OK with Sionance speakers.)

Lounge:  for the front, either a Sonos Amp and two passive speakers or a Sonos soundbar.

For the surrounds, a pair of Plays, a pair of Eras or a Sonos Amp and two in-wall speakers.

Bedroom: Sonos soundbar. 

Note: if you want Dolby Atmos in the lounge you would need an Arc or Beam gen 2. For surrounds a pair of Era 300s would be best for Atmos

Please note - my last two posts made before seeing your latest.

Thanks John - although you’ve just killed my dream of speakers nicely hidden away 🤣

I guess we could get 6x ceiling speakers for the kitchen for full room coverage with music (for parties or whatever) and then have the TV with the soundbar for decent 3.1 TV sound?

Lounge I think it sounds like the soundbar approach is best, plus either 2x One’s or 2x wall speakers rear and the sub for proper 5.1.  If we got a new soundbar could we get Atmos this way?

EDIT - just seen your other post, so Arc & Era for the lounge and no ceiling/wall speakers for the best sound quality here.

Is that a better setup than using wall speakers and getting 4.1?  I assume adding a soundbar into a 2 front and 2 rear wall speakers doesn’t work?

TV I think just a soundbar for the TV will be best.  What about the decadent bath music?! 😂

Yes, that’s right, you can have either a Sonos Soundbar, or a Sonos Amp, for the TV front Left/Right/Centre channels, but it’s not possible in the Sonos software (or advisable) to have both.

With a Soundbar or Sonos Amp handling the front TV channel audio, you can add two ‘matching’ Sonos speakers for the two rear TV channels or, if you prefer, you can add another Amp linked to two (or more, but not ideal) passive ceiling speakers to handle the rear left/right channels - you might (just about) get away with say two ceiling speakers for the rear left/right channels, but personally I would aim to put such speakers at head height (when seated) and both behind & to each side of the main viewing/listening position.

Also, just to say, it’s possible to add a Sonos Sub/Sub-Mini to the above Sonos Home Theatre setup, with, (or without), the rear-channel surround speakers included and if the Sub is a Gen3, you can also add a second Sub (not Sub-Mini) to the room aswell for even more bass.

Thanks for all the comments here - very helpful.

For the Lounge, I think a soundbar, sub and then either 2 rear One’s or 2 rear wall speakers will be the best way forwards for a 5.1 setup.

In the kitchen, I’ve had another thought.  What if we went for a soundbar under the TV, and then 6 ceiling speakers spread 2/2/2 by the island, middle of the room, and by the TV seating area.  Could we get a Sonos Amp for the 4 island/middle speakers, and another Sonos Amp (or cheaper second hand Connect) to break up those 6, and then use them in a 5.0 setup for the TV (soundbar & 2 ceiling) and then group the 6 ceiling speakers into a music zone to have music across the whole room…?

Would that be a workable setup that balanced our desire for kitchen-wide music at times, and a good TV sound at others?  Would you be able to set it up so when the TV came on it would run the 5.0 setup as default, and then in the Sonos app for a party you could group the 2 & 4 ceiling speakers to create a kitchen music zone?

Foor the avoidance of doubt, if you go for wall speakers you need a Sonos Amp dedicated to running those.

Essentially yes to most of this, but if the Amp + 2 ceiling speakers are set up as surrounds to the Playbar, they wuold have to be removed from the Playbar if you just wanted the ceiling speakers to play for music.  But I would just leave them as surrounds and have music playing through the Playbar, its surrounds and the four other ceiling speakers.

Note: for the avoidance of doubt, this would require a Playbar and TWO Amps (looks like you do know this).  I think you need to ask yourself how often you are gong to watch a film in the kitchen in a position that allows you to appreciate the surround sound.  I suspect never or rarely, but I don’t know you or your family, so I could be totally wrong!)  I would still suggest you use the Playbar for TV (and music too, if you wish) and the ceiling speakers for music only

Running three pairs of speakers off of one Amp may give rise to impedance issues.  You would need to check, but you may be OK with Sonance ceiling speakers.

Btw, for the bathroom I wuold be wary of electricity and water mixing!  One option is ceiling speakers, connected to an Amp outside the bathroom.  But a much cheaper and easier option is a Roam

Hope that helps

Thanks John, really helpful.

Lounge - yes, if we go wall speakers that will need a Sonos Amp.  If we stick with the One’s (or upgrade to Era 300’s) we don’t need that.  Wondering where the best investment is there, perhaps rather than an Amp, two new Era 300’s might be a wiser use of scarce funds!

Kitchen - your probably right, that is not the room for a proper surround sound experience, but we’d like good sound.  It’s main use case will probably be watching sport with a larger group, or end of day TV with the kids or having it on while eating dinner in the middle of the room etc.  So perhaps the 6 ceiling speakers for music, and a soundbar for TV sound only is the best approach here.  That means 1 Sonos Amp with Sonance speakers (you can run 6 Sonance, 4 non-Sonance I believe).

Upstairs it feels like a soundbar, or even standard TV sound is the way to go, with a Roam/Move in the bathroom for the decadent bathtime music experience!

Really appreciate the guidance here.

You mention using a second hand ‘Connect’ here instead of a Sonos Amp - note if you do that, then the ‘Connect’ and Soundbar need to be wired together back to the same switch/router, or wired to each other… that’s not required for the newer Sonos Amp, all can operate using wireless with the newer Amp - just thought I should highlight that difference to you …and always keep the Amp (for rear TV channels) in the same physical room as the Soundbar so they can communicate over a 5Ghz ad-hoc wireless connection.

Hope that helps too.

The predecessor of the Sonos Amp is the Connect:Amp, not the Connect. The Connect has no role in Sonos HT systems. And the Amp is so superior to the Connect:Amp that I don't think the C:A would be a good choice.