Sonos Amps in different location than TV's

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
January 24, 2021
21 replies
1908 views

I have 4 Sonos amps in a central location for 4 different rooms (zones). I have ceiling speakers (2 each) for each zone/room. How can I connect my TVs to these amps? Do I need to run a long HDMI-ARC cable for each TV to the amp or is there another option? Please help. I am clueless and reading available information online is confusing. Someone suggests getting an HDMI extension and a receiver and run a cat 5 cable. I have cat 8 ethernet cable. I did not know you can run audio through this cable line.

Sonos Amp

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Best answer by Airgetlam

Your setup is not ideal, I would recommend doing similar to what you did with the Beam, and put a Sonos sound bar with each TV, and then put the Sonos Amp in each room, powering the ceiling speakers. Much better than messing with long run HDMI and baluns, and you can then connect each Amp to its soundbar with a normal 5Ghz connection.

G

GuitarSuperstar

Lead Maestro

Do you have a TV in each of the four rooms?

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi

D

DFNewbieAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

Yes, each room has a TV.

G

GuitarSuperstar

Lead Maestro

If each TV is equipped with HDMI ARC or eARC, connecting each TV with an HDMI cable to the Amp in the corresponding room (zone) is probably your best option.

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi

D

DFNewbieAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

My understanding from what I read online is that HDMI-ARC can not travel more than 50 feet. From my understanding of what you are saying, I can connect HDMI-ARC to an amp that is 100 feet away? Is that right? Thanks for responding.

Airgetlam

Have you engaged a professional for this installation? This doesn’t sound much like a home install, with four TVs in different rooms and a central closet holding all the amps.

HDMI extensions via baluns that transfer HDMI ARC to CAT5/6 are fairly rare and expensive, the more common ones do not deal with HDMI ARC at all, something a professional should be aware of, in addition to the transmission distance across HDMI cable lengths.

Bruce

D

DFNewbieAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

I was able to use a Sonos beam in one room and linked it to the ceiling speakers in that same room That is one solution.

I have all the ceiling speakers and amps set up. At this point, I would like to set up the rest on my own rather than hiring a professional. I did hire two so-called professionals and they only know how to mount ceiling speakers and that was it. They are not very familiar with Sonos so they left everything for me to complete.

AirgetlamAnswer

Your setup is not ideal, I would recommend doing similar to what you did with the Beam, and put a Sonos sound bar with each TV, and then put the Sonos Amp in each room, powering the ceiling speakers. Much better than messing with long run HDMI and baluns, and you can then connect each Amp to its soundbar with a normal 5Ghz connection.

Bruce

D

DFNewbieAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

Thanks Airgetlam for your answer. The main reason that I am not using the soundboard or beam inbthe other rooms is that I already have two ceiling speakers (FL and FR) installed in those room. My ceiling speakers would render useless if I use a beam or sound bar, would it?

Airgetlam

Not if you, as I suggested, use a Sonos Amp, located in the same room, to power them as surround speakers.

Bruce

D

DFNewbieAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

Hi Airgetlam, I read that this cannot be done. Please see this thread here: