Can I hook TV to Connect Amp?

Forum|Forum|10 years ago
October 11, 2015
15 replies
37909 views

Hello,

I'm putting a pair of speakers in the ceiling in our new house in the living room to jam Sonos. The Connect Amp will be in my AV closet a couple rooms away. We will have a TV on the wall in the living room. Can I just connect the left and right RCA jacks on the back of my TV with an extender cable to the left and right RCA jacks on the Connect Amp pictured below? If so how would I tell Sonos to use the TV as a source to send sound to the in ceiling speakers and control the volume with the TV remote?

We will have an iPad mounted on the wall to control the Sonos music.

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buzz

Grand Maestro

Jay Suckey,

While you could extend the TV's analog output to the CONNECT:AMP's Line-In, you will not be able to control the Volume with the TV's remote unless the TV's analog audio output tracks the TV's volume control.

While extending the Line-In connection will probably work, there could also be some issues created by the power wiring in your house.

Note that some TV's do not pass digital audio input (HDMI) through to their analog audio outputs.

Finally, there will be a slight delay between input to Line-In and output from the speakers connected to the CONNECT:AMP. This is usually not a significant issue.

J

Jay SuckeyAuthor

Contributor I

Thanks for the info buzz! I was going to run Cat5e and run the RCA over Cat5e and then back out to RCA to connect into Sonos. Is there a remote or anything I could do to control the sound without getting up and going to the ipad?

Chris

Lead Maestro

Volume control on Sonos unit itself, using your phone or other controller, or a Logitech Harmony Ultra remote only options I know to adjust volume.

Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)

buzz

Grand Maestro

I was going to run Cat5e and run the RCA over Cat5e and then back out to RCA to connect into Sonos. Is there a remote or anything I could do to control the sound without getting up and going to the ipad?

Make sure that you use an official fixture for this (often called a "BALUN") at each end of the run. Simply stuffing a raw audio signal over a CAT-5e with some crude adapters usually does not work out.

You could use a phone for volume control. Also, some of the latest HARMONY remotes can control SONOS volume. (I have not used this feature and I don't care for the HARMONY's, but they are a favorite of the D.I.Y. community)

J

joshkropf

Lyricist III

Hello - I have a similar situation but would like to set it up slightly different. Would the following work?? During construction we have hard wired speakers and TVs to a central closet for the full house. I have a main area that is wired for 4 ceiling speakers, the room also has a TV hard wired to the central closet VIA HDMI. I would like to buy a CONNECT AMP, place it in the central closet and power the 4 ceiling speakers (sounds like a no brainier on this one) for music. I would also like to push TV audio out to the same speakers. The TV itself is hard wired into the central closet via HDMI (from Google Fiber TV Box GFHD200 to Samsung HD TV).... QUESTION - could I keep the TV connected this way (HDMI) but ALSO use the Analog AV OUT on the Google GFHD200 and connect to the Red / White Analog Audio IN to push the sound out to the ceiling speakers? THANK YOU!!!

Andy B

Sonos Staff

Hey Jay Suckey,

While the CONNECT:AMP can be used with TV there may be certain challenges as buzz and Chris have already mentioned. As the CONNECT:AMP was designed to be used with music there can and may be a slight delay between the video and voice; however, many other Sonos users have implemented a CONNECT:AMP with a TV and haven't had any problems. Using Cat5e with adaptors or even the Balun could add to the processing of data and therefore may cause some delays as well. buzz and Chris have both offered great solutions for volume control.

joshkropf - The first thing you will want to make sure of is if the four speakers are all rated at 8 Ohms as mismatching between 4, 6, and 8 Ohms may damage the CONNECT:AMP and speakers. We have a guide that outlines all of this here. Using the Analog AV Out on the Google GFHD200 to the analog in of the CONNECT:AMP should be fine, but, as mentioned above, there could be a slight delay between the audio and video.

J

joshkropf

Lyricist III

Hello! Thank you so much for the info... Question - how does one tell how a speaker is rated in Ohms? I have not bought the speakers yet. I am considering these from Polk Audio (Link below). I can not find the rating listed for Ohms nor on the manufacturing site. Thanks for any added help!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006BMQT/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1ONM09A76JUCC&coliid=I1BVY0BLP9A7DN&psc=1