Hi everyone,

I have 5 pairs of Sonos in-ceiling/in-wall speakers, each connected to its own Sonos Amp. I’m exploring the best way to create a high-quality surround sound experience in a single room.

I’m happy to add one or two Sonos Gen 3 Subs to enhance the setup, and I’m also open to adding one or two Sonos Fives if that helps achieve a better 3D or spatial audio feel. Ideally, I’d like to avoid using a soundbar if possible.

A few specific questions:

• Can I use more than two pairs of in-ceiling/in-wall speakers in one room as part of a true surround setup?

• I’ve read about 4.1 or 4.2 configurations using one pair as front L/R and another as surround L/R — but could I push this further? For example, could I use three pairs as front L/R and two pairs as surrounds?

• Is Sonos planning to support richer surround configurations in the future? Is this a limitation due to technical reasons, or more of a product/marketing strategy to encourage soundbar and Era speaker sales?

• Lastly, would it be possible to create a 3D spatial audio player using the Sonos SDK (perhaps combined with something like OpenAL) to deliver a true immersive audio experience? What would be the main challenges with that approach?

Thanks so much for your help and insights!

Kadir