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AMP+Ceiling Speaker+A Sonos Sound Bar = TV stereo sound?

  • 22 November 2022
  • 10 replies
  • 1353 views
H

Hi 

Here is my current setup. Four Sonos Ceiling Speakers hard wired to an Sonos AMP. A Bluetooth receive Line-In to the Amp. Have my TV connecting to the Bluetooth Receive.  From this, I am able to listen to the TV using the Ceiling Speaker. It’s somewhat surrounded. I frankly like it.  

The problem being the bluetooth connection is not stable. Plus, every-time, I have to manually connect TV to the Bluetooth receiver. The TV is far away from the AMP, connect through cable is just not happening. 

I’m looking for a better solution to wireless connect TV to the AMP. Would a Sonos sound bar, such as Arc or Beam help? I’ve read something like connect Beam with TV through HTMI and as long as Beam and Amp in the same WIfi, they can play together. Is that true?  If so, is this gonna actually add more channels or just making it “sound louder”?  What would be the ideal setup to create the best TV surround sound using the In-Ceiling speakers? Or are they just not meant for TV but for Music instead? 

Thanks in advance

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Best answer by GuitarSuperstar 23 November 2022, 23:51

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10 replies

G
Userlevel 7

Where exactly are the ceiling speakers located in relation to where you are seated?

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

Hi GuitarSuperstar

Where exactly are the ceiling speakers located in relation to where you are seated?

Thanks for the reply!

So the TV and sofa are positioned  on the central axis of my living room. The two ceiling speakers are Left above my sofa, and other two are Right above my sofa. They are connected to the AMP properly. Left and Right channels are identical.

Here is how it looks like

 

G
Userlevel 7

This is what I would do:

Get an Arc or Beam and connect it to your TV via HDMI ARC. Get a second Amp and wire speakers 1 and 3 to it. Use the first Amp (speakers 2 and 4) as surround speakers with the Arc or Beam. The second Amp will not be used when playing TV audio, but can be used when streaming music.

If you want to save money, you can get a used Connect:Amp (Gen 2) to power speakers 1 and 3 instead of the Amp.

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

Wow thanks for the suggestion! 

Then will the Arc or Beam create authentic channels? Would this be an easy setup just natively using the Sonos App?  

Airgetlam

Yes, both the Arc and the Beam create ‘authentic’ channels. 

Not sure how to answer your second question, it’s a fairly standard setup, very similar to any pother speaker, but requires you to connect it to your TV. 

Bruce
G
Userlevel 7

An Arc or Beam with the Amp (speakers 2 and 4) as surrounds would give you a proper 5.0 home theater setup. And if you add a Sub or Sub Mini, it will complete the 5.1 setup. (NOTE: With the Arc, it’s technically a 5.1.2 setup because of the two height channels created by the Arc.)

Setting up the Arc or Beam and adding the Amp as surrounds is a very simple process in the Sonos app.

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

Question!

 

Is it possible to have a Sonos Arc with sub with 6 Sonos in ceiling speakers powered by a Sonos Amp playing the same audio in 1 room? Can't find any info on this online anywhere…also, if this is possible, can you change the effect of the ceiling speakers from, say surround to center? Thanks!!

Airgetlam

Yes, kind of, if the 6 speakers are Sonance Architectural Speakers, otherwise you’d be maxed out at 4 or 2, depending on the Ohms they are. They’d need to be powered by a Sonos Amp, and set up as surround (stereo, not more channels) speakers. 

No, there is no way to change the center speaker from being in the Arc. The Arc will always be the left, center, and right, you can’t break those channels into separate speakers. 

Bruce
buzz

If the ceiling speakers are all 8-Ohms, you could operate them from a single AMP, that is Bonded with ARC as a surround system, however, this would result in less than optimum surround sound for most listeners. As always, “best” sound is a personal opinion. Only one AMP can be added to ARC to drive the surround speakers. You could use a single AMP and a 3rd party switching/Volume control system to mute or adjust the Volume for speakers 1 & 3.

106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

The sound stage for surround would be kind of weird in this set up though - from above instead of ear hight and from six speakers that are probably not all behind the listeners.

Since you question also seems to focus on the center channel, so probably speech, are you trying to achieve a solution for hearing troubles?

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