If you want to replace the Kenwood receiver and SpeakerCraft and the built-in speakers are passive speakers, you need to use the Sonos Amp to power them. Where exactly are the speakers located?

hmm, how would I know if theyre passive? three in the living room, 1 in the kitchen and two in the backyard

The SPEAKERCRAFT box shown in your picture is a speaker selector box that allows connecting multiple passive speakers to your receiver — it’s not an amplifier.

A single SONOS AMP could replace the KENWOOD which is currently functioning as an amplifier for whatever is plugged into the Video input. This would be a simple box swap — AMP replaces KENWOOD.

Looking at the back of your KENWOOD, the speaker switch box is not wired correctly. Green and white are reversed. Be sure to correct this before installing AMP. White should be connected to the red terminal and green to the black terminal.

First off, thank you so much for your time and valuable input - i really appreciate it!

so to clarify, 1 sonos amp will do the trick? would you recommend that? The existing set-up works, but after a couple hours starts lagging. my guess is that it’s such an old system and that’s why? the kenwood gets super hot and that’s when it starts acting up - it also seems more complicated than it feels like it should be - which is why i am looking at the sonos. is there a system that would eliminate the need for the speakercraft so that it’s just one device operating the speakers?

With respect to heating. I’ll bet that the receiver is operating in a tightly closed cabinet without sufficient ventilation.

AMP’s technology is more efficient than your receiver, but this is no guarantee that it will cool properly in the same enclosure.

Your stereo rooms will sound better if you correct the wiring as described above. Also note that four of the switchbox outputs are wired as mono. This is not necessarily bad if your intent is to separately control the left and right speakers.

Gotchya, thank you SO SO much. Ill correct the points above and add a fan and see if that does the trick. Thanks again!

A good dusting of the receiver's heatsinks might help.

I have found that most inexpensive 12 volt computer fans will run on 6 volts and be far less noisy. You can also find ones with multiple speeds or a temp sensor based speed control.

Yes, you can replace your Kenwood Receiver with Sonos. A single Sonos AMP could replace the Kenwood which is currently functioning as an amplifier for whatever is plugged into the Video input. This would be a simple box swap — AMP replaces Kenwood.

If you have a stereo receiver or AV receiver and a pair of bookshelf speakers, and you want to be able to use it as Sonos speaker (being able to stream music right from your smartphone and integrate it into an existing Sonos multi-room speaker system), you need to connect it to a Sonos Port.