Sonos AMP/ Beam/ Wired Rear Speakers/3rd Party Subwoofer

No, the third party sub would be an issue. When you use the Amp with a Beam to power the rear speakers, the signal sent to the Amp is only the surround signal, and does not include the LFE signal. Other than that, your plan is solid.

Thanks Airgetlam I read that the older Sonos Connect:AMP cannot be used to power rear speakers to achieve tv surround sound because the timing will be out of sync with the Beam (can only be used to power wired fronts). Has this issue been resolved with the new AMP ~ no sync issues with Beam when using it to power rear speakers? Could I add my existing Sonos connect to the configuration to provide a dedicated signal to the third party sub-woofer?

Thanks Airgetlam I read that the older Sonos Connect:AMP cannot be used to power rear speakers to achieve tv surround sound because the timing will be out of sync with the Beam (can only be used to power wired fronts). Has this issue been resolved with the new AMP ~ no sync issues with Beam when using it to power rear speakers? Could I add my existing Sonos connect to the configuration to provide a dedicated signal to the third party sub-woofer?
Not sure about the subwoofer part, but Connect Amp as the rear/surround speakers with a Beam is fine - I have this set up to use ceiling speakers as rears and it sounds great. You will need to connect the Beam to the Connect Amp with an ethernet cable though.

I read that the older Sonos Connect:AMP cannot be used to power rear speakers to achieve tv surround sound because the timing will be out of sync with the Beam (can only be used to power wired fronts).

This would be incorrect. When both the Beam and the CONNECT:AMP are connected to your router with ethernet cables, they'd all be in sync. The Sonos Amp, on the other hand, has a 5Ghz wifi card that can connect to carry the surround signal, so it doesn't have to be wired to carry the surround portion of the signal.

The timing issue has only to do with the analog line-in on all Sonos devices. It's there to do two things. First, to cover the amount of time it takes to convert an analog signal to digital (probably very small) and secondly, to buffer enough of a signal for Sonos to be able to safely play that input in sync across all of the speakers that Sonos has. It's built in as part of the Sonos software, and there's no way to change that at this point.

Could I add my existing Sonos connect to the configuration to provide a dedicated signal to the third party sub-woofer?

No, if you're using a Beam and either a Sonos Amp or a CONNECT:AMP to power your surrounds, you can't add another device to that zone/room to carry the sub's LFE signal.

For better or worse, Sonos wants you to use a Sonos sub if you're using a Sonos soundbar. The only setup in which you can use a third party sub with a TV setup is if you're using the Sonos Amp (with the HDMI-ARC input) as the front part of your system, and it is only front right, and front left, with no provision for a center channel, which Sonos makes as a "phantom" speaker.

Hope that all makes sense.

Hi achalkley

Yours may come down to cost if you are willing to forego the in-celling speakers for surrounds and use Sonos Play 1's provided you have a set of passive speakers that were paired with the sub you own.

1. Your cost as you had intended for the Sonos Amp and Beam would have been $998 (USD) even though as Airgetlam stated was not a viable setup.

OR

2. Providing you have two speakers that were paired with your sub your cost of a Sonos Amp and two Play 1's as surrounds would be $897. The speakers connected to the Sonos Amp would produce a "phantom" center channel for movies. You'd have full stereo for music and even be able to connect a turntable (with preamp 😉 or CD player to the Sonos AMP via RCA input. Your sub would be connected via line-level and would be used for both movies and music. The Sonos Amp would set the crossover point .

Just an idea :8

* If the turntable is not pre-amped you'd have to purchase one to go between it and the Sonos Amp.

Hi I'm in a very similar situation, I have a Sonos Beam connected to my tv and would like to add some surround speakers and a sub. I already have a very good quality powered sub and do not really want to purchase a Sonos Sub just for this purpose. I have 2 rear speakers already fitted but I could replace these with Sonos 1's if I had to.
Can anybody suggest the best method (please dont say buy all Sonos) for getting 5.1 using the Beam even if I have to buy some inexspenive 5.1 decoders just to sepearte the rear and sub
thanks
John

Hi I'm in a very similar situation, I have a Sonos Beam connected to my tv and would like to add some surround speakers and a sub. I already have a very good quality powered sub and do not really want to purchase a Sonos Sub just for this purpose. I have 2 rear speakers already fitted but I could replace these with Sonos 1's if I had to.
Can anybody suggest the best method (please dont say buy all Sonos) for getting 5.1 using the Beam even if I have to buy some inexspenive 5.1 decoders just to sepearte the rear and sub
thanks
John
Splitting the (optical) signal in some fashion, separately decoding the rear/sub channels, and feeding it to third party kit is unlikely to work satisfactorily at all. Clearly the Beam will continue to downmix the 5.1 into its own speakers, but the main problems are going to be (a) differential delays, between the Beam and the external speakers, and (b) controlling the volume of each individually. There would be no master volume control.

If you really want to use a third party sub you should consider replacing the Beam with an Amp and getting a pair of front speakers.

Thanks ratty,
Yes wish i hadn't bought the Beam now, do you know, if I bought a connect amp and just used it to drive my sub using the sub output and I beleive i can "group" it to my beam would that work (accepting the 70ms delay that people have mentioned) would that work, I would then just have to buy a pair of play 1's for my rears.
thanks for your help, it would be nice if the amp could drive rear speakers and sub - problem would be solved

regards
John

You could use a Connect:Amp (which by the way is now discontinued) grouped with the Beam but it's an expensive solution, its speaker level outputs would remain unused, and to be honest I think you'd notice the 70ms delay, on bass transients.

Note that using a Connect:Amp to drive your existing rear speakers, bonded to the Beam, would overcome the delay problem but would preclude the use of the subwoofer, since the sub output is disabled in this configuration.

Depending on how and when you bought the Beam you may have the option of returning it for refund.

Cheers ratty,
i may invest in a 2nd hand connect amp for my surrounds and have a play to see what the sub output is like in grouped mode first and then use it for my rears, My beams is about 6 months old so would have to Ebay it or trade it in -