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Hi everyone!

I recently purchased a Sonos Arc and have had some difficulty getting my system setup to meet all of my needs, and I could use some help from the community. I’d like to mix part of my existing home theatre setup with the Arc as our home has some pre-wired areas (for rear ceiling speakers and deck speakers). Ideally I’d be able to do these 3 things:

Desired Behavior Current Behavior
Watch TV and movies in a 3.1.2 setup with the Arc acting as the 3 (if that is even possible??) The only way I can find to get sound to all speakers is to run media through the receiver as input, use the wired speakers (rear speakers + sub) from the receiver, and have the TV connected to the Arc via eARC. However, this leads to 2 disparate controls for volume level for the soundbar and the rest of the setup that is connected to the receiver.
Listen to music inside (zone 1) on the Arc + rear speakers + sub I can either listen to music on the Arc -OR- the rear speakers + sub.
Listen to music outside (zone 2) on the outdoor speakers Working as desired.

 

I think I need a SONOS Connect (or more likely, two) in my setup, but unsure if that will 1) allow my rear speakers + sub to work in a surround sound setup as SONOS speakers.

I’m also thinking that a cheaper alternative would be to just replace the Arc with a passive soundbar that could connected to the receiver.

Can you help me validate my thinking?

 

Equipment:

TV - LG 65” C1 OLED

Receiver - Onkyo TX-NR6050 Receiver

Soundbar - SONOS Arc

Rear Speakers - Polk Audio RC80i

Outdoor Speakers - Polk Audio Atrium 6 Outdoor Speakers

Sub - BIC America VK-12

Sonos sound bars aren’t designed to be used with third-party receivers or subwoofers. If you want to add a subwoofer to the Arc, you have to use the Sonos Sub. If you want to use the Polk speakers as surrounds with the Arc, you need to get a Sonos Amp to power those speakers.

If you’re using an Arc, you need to separate your ‘home theater’ from your ‘music’ system. 
 

The Arc is indeed the front 3 channels, but when you use an Arc, there are two considerations you’re missing.

First is that you can’t use a third party subwoofer, it must be a Sonos subwoofer (or two).

Second, the CONNECT (or it’s current version, the Port) can not be used to drive rear speakers at all. You’d need to use either Sonos speakers, or your own speakers connected to a Sonos Amp. 

You then can use the Arc and associated speakers for music streaming, or TV via ARC/eARC.

Your receiver could be used for any other music you desire, but it wouldn’t be part of the Home theater room. If you wanted to get the receiver integrated for music purposes, you would add a Port (a stereo only device) to an input on your receiver, often a tape loop, and then you could stream the Sonos music to all speakers in sync if you grouped the ‘rooms’, but the audio from the TV would be delayed between the Sonos home theater speakers and the speakers connected to your amplifier. 

Thank you all for the helpful responses. That is what I had feared. :(

While the Arc is cool, I’m not sure I’m ready to go all-in on the ecosystem and that as passive soundbar might best fit my needs currently.

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