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mattyjman
Contributor I
December 29, 2018

Need Help, Clunky utilization of New Sonos AMP :(

  • December 29, 2018
  • 24 replies
  • 858 views
Hello all - I know the AMP is new, so I'm hoping someone can help here. I don't know if I have things set up optimally, so please bare with me as I describe my setup and issues.

Current Room Setups - multiple Sonos One's thoughout the house (dining, kitchen, bathroom, and Beam+Sub in bedroom.
Room in Question - Living Room
- 2 Play 5's functioning as L/R channel pair, plus 1 Sub
- 1 New AMP as Line In Selector for:
- 1 ARC from TV
- 1 Line input from Record player (not yet connected)
- Note* I'm not using the AMP for any traditional speakers, so nothing is hooked up to the banana plugs

Configuration:
- I created a "room" for the Play 5's and the Sub, and a separate room for the AMP. I did not find anyway to add to Play 5's as Stereo mains in the AMP setup, only configurable as surrounds or a sub. Due to this, I'm playing the AMP room, and the Play 5's room grouped together.

Here are my questions:
- TV Volume control: When I use the remote on the TV to toggle the volume coming from the system, nothing happens. I can see on the app that the volume control of the AMP is going up or down, but it's not syncing with the grouped room of Play 5's. Essentially, if I had wired speakers to the amp, the volume would work as intended. But because I have a separate room created for the Play 5's, I have to use the Sonos App to modulate the volume going through the system.
- Possible solution: Should I attempt to hook up the Play 5's as "surrounds" to the AMP, as well as the sub? Will I still get stereo sound, or will it be discreet channels intended for decoded surround audio only?

- Input switching: This one is rather annoying. When I turn on my TV, the AMP automatically switches to that input. However, if I switch the speakers to music for a while, and then want to go back to the TV (for example, pausing a TV show for dinner and wanting to turn on music then, and then after dinner return and resume watching TV show), I have to turn the TV off and then on again for the AMP to recognize the need to switch sources.
- Is there no manual way to select which input?
- Does this problem get compounded when I add the record player (just not set up yet) and need to switch to the analog line in? I can see this becoming a major pain, do I have this setup configured wrong?

Thanks in advance for your help/input/opinions!
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24 replies

John B
December 29, 2018
Without going into all the detail, what have you bought the new Amp for, if you have no passive speakers? Surely not just for the line in, when you already have a line in on each of the 5s?
Ken_Griffiths
Ken_Griffiths
December 29, 2018
You won’t be able to control the Play 5’s with the TV remote .. even if they’re grouped with the AMP ... the remote will only work with the AMP and it’s bonded surrounds. Group volume control is only available through the Sonos App at this time.

TV autoplay and line-in 'autoplay' can be turned on/off in the room settings of the AMP.
John B
December 29, 2018
If the aim is to use the P:5s as TV speakers (a questionable aim in the first place) then you could achieve this with the optical out from the TV via a DAC into one P:5. Turntable, with pre amp if not integrated, into other P:5. Cost a small fraction of an Amp.

What you are doing seems not so much clunky as a bit bonkers, unless I have totally misunderstood.
Chris
Chris
Lead Maestro
December 29, 2018
The Play:5s will have a slight lip sync delay when used through the analog input. That's primarily the negative.
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)
ratty
ratty
December 29, 2018
What you are doing seems not so much clunky as a bit bonkers, unless I have totally misunderstood.
I'm also sitting here scratching my head.
John B
December 29, 2018
The Play:5s will have a slight lip sync delay when used through the analog input. That's primarily the negative.Surely the biggest negative is spending $600 completely unnecessarily?
mattyjmanAuthor
Contributor I
December 29, 2018
@ken_griffiths - any thoughts about the "surround" use on the AMP. Will that just be stereo left/right sound for "rear" speakers, but same as what the fronts would play, or are they actual surround audio channels?

@John B - my ideal setup would have been Sonos Beam + Sub for movies/tv, and Play 5's + Sub for my records. I didn't want to have duplicate speakers for discreet listening purposes, and from my research you can't create different groupings in the same room. I also didn't want to use the Beam for vinyl, as I'm not all that impressed with the sound bar in general. Due to the challenges with that setup, I landed on the Play 5's pulling double duty (records and TV) as the sound quality was more important that having true L/c/R sound for movies.

As for why I went this way - a little bit of impulse, assumptions, and just not a lot of knowledge on the new amp, plus future extensability of my setup. I wanted to have digital input from TV (connect or connect AMP is just analog), plus I assume the DAC in the NEW AMP is better and more updated than the DAC's in the Play5's or old Connects. I do have analog speakers I could end up using at some point (in storage right now), so I felt like the AMP would provide me with future options should my needs change.

I'm totally open to suggestions if there is a better way to achieve my desired end state.
ratty
ratty
December 29, 2018
DAC technology, at least for sensible content (i.e. 24-bit and 48kHz max), hasn't advanced significantly in years. If you want to keep the Amp for future use, all well and good, but I'd go with John B's suggestion of twin Line-Ins on the P:5s for convenience. Pop a cheap DAC on the TV's optical out and tell the TV to downmix to stereo.

Configuring the P:5s as surrounds might work for music but would be useless with a TV input to the Amp as they'd just carry the back channels (actual for 5.1, synthesised for PCM).

If you really really want to group with the Amp, get an iPort xPRESS keypad for volume control. It can be configured to control the group master volume.
John B
December 29, 2018
The digital vs analog issue is a complete red herring as far as I am concerned, and much nonsense is talked about DAC quality. As things stand you have paid $600 for a line in, when you already had one available.

Using the P:5s for TV is sub-optimal anyway, because of the lag. I would either return the Amp for a refund or get out those passive speakers so that you can use the Amp as intended. The P:5s could be used as surrounds or sold.
Ken_Griffiths
Ken_Griffiths
December 29, 2018
@ken_griffiths - any thoughts about the "surround" use on the AMP. Will that just be stereo left/right sound for "rear" speakers, but same as what the fronts would play, or are they actual surround audio It’s not the same, as the Play 5’s (if set on their own just as surrounds) will play the rear left/right audio channels in the 5.0 setup... and would be hopeless for TV audio and also for music at the default Ambient setting. I get the impression you (perhaps mistakenly) thought you could use your Play 5's for the front left/right and phantom center via the AMP? .. it’s not the case.

Suggestion from me would be to either swap the Amp and get PlayBar/PlayBase/Beam ..or keep Amp and add a decent pair of passive speakers to it and connect it to the TV using HDMI ARC ... that will give you various choices of 3.0/5.0 Home Theatre setup for the Living Room.
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