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Can anyone confirm that the only way to wire connect:amp speakers for surround with an Arc is to have the arc hardwired with ethernet to the router or a connect amp?  it seems to defeat a main benefit of sonos wireless capabilities.  this is from an article on the subject. I am deciding on an Arc home theater and it will require extra wiring if the article is accurate. Thanks

 

Wire your Connect:Amp and home theater speaker

Your home theater speaker and Connect:Amp must be wired in one of the following configurations:

  • Both the Sonos home theater speaker and Connect:Amp are wired to the router with an Ethernet cable.
     
  • The Sonos home theater speaker is wired to the Connect:Amp with an Ethernet cable and another Sonos product is wired to the router.

Like it says in the article you quoted, there needs to be a wired path between the master home theatre player (the Arc in this case) and the Connect:Amp. The reason is that the C:A doesn’t have a 5GHz radio, hence it can’t make a direct wireless connection to the Arc’s private 5GHz signal.

It’s only the Connect:Amp which has this requirement. The Amp will operate completely wirelessly to drive surrounds.

Why are you asking about the C:A anyway? The Amp replaced the C:A 3 years ago. If you were making a first investment in Sonos home theatre you’d surely want a new Amp.

Good question…why are you considering a Connect:Amp?

If someone is trying to sell you one for your intended purpose I say reject the sell. You need to purchase the Sonos Amp as recommended by @ratty.

On the other hand if you can use the Connect:Amp to drive a set of 3rd party speakers it may be worth the investment. However I wouldn’t pay more than $100-USD. 

One more point. Depending upon whether the Connect:Amp is a Gen1 or Gen2  the former is only compatible with the S1 Sonos software which complicates things further in that the Arc is only compatible with Sonos S2 software.

Thanks for the responses. The house I purchased included 2 connect:amps that run on S2 software so I was hoping to reuse them.  So now I can evaluate running an Ethernet cable vs buying a new Amp unit. 

Thanks for the responses. The house I purchased included 2 connect:amps that run on S2 software so I was hoping to reuse them.  So now I can evaluate running an Ethernet cable vs buying a new Amp unit. 

So I also assume you already have the speakers you intend to wire to the Connect:Amp for use as surrounds. Still lots of wires to run.

I’d seriously consider purchasing two Sonos One SL’s for surrounds for obvious reasons. The CA’s could still be repurposed with 3rd party speakers to bring Sonos to other parts of your home to drive bookshelf or in-ceiling speakers. JMHO.

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