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steveroderick
Contributor I
August 18, 2021
Answered

Connections for amp + arc + ceiling + sub

Hello everyone!

I have a customer that has a Sonos Amp, sub, Arc, and two Sonos in-ceiling speakers. I need to connect them all for his home theater. I’m also installing all of the cabling. What is the correct connection configuration? My confusion lies with the Arc. If I use the HDMI-ARC to feed the Amp, how do I get signal to the Arc speaker? Through the ethernet port? Or does the Arc get the HDMI-ARC feed, then ethernet to the Amp? I can install any cabling I need. The TV and the Amp will be side-by-side.

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    John BAnswer
    August 18, 2021

    Arc connects to TV by HDMI-ARC (or eARC)

    Amp is wired to passive in-ceiling speakers (I assume that is what you have)

    In the Settings for the Arc, add the Sub and add the Amp as surround. The Amp and Sub connect wirelessly to the Arc. The Arc is running the show.

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    steveroderickAuthor
    Contributor I
    August 26, 2021

    Thanks everyone! I feel much more confident!

    Steve1100
    Contributor I
    November 8, 2021

    I’ve read thru this and other posts...just want to be clear what I’m trying to do and confirm it will work.

    I will have a Samsung TV with an ARC port attached to a Sonos Arc (connected by wired LAN), an Amp (connected by wired LAN and then extending to two wired speakers in the ceiling) and finally a Sub (prefer Wifi - wireless connection if possible)

    Questions:

    1. Can you configure this all to be a Surround Sound config(would that be something like Dolby 5.1?)  I’m not interested in broadcasting to any specific unit, Arc, Amp or Sub in any way - only will broadcast to the joined units in a Surround Sound config
    1. I’d read where there may be problems with mixing Sonos LAN connected and Wifi connected devices in a Surround Sound config.  Is that correct?
    1. Assuming the configuration I described in #1 above is workable:
      1. Will it play both streaming music from sources like my music library, Amazon Music, Pandora, etc as well as also allow me to play the Surround Sound audio output from the TV when I select it? 
      2. How does this configuration handle the output of streaming music vs the Surround Sound of the TV? Does it convert to stereo automatically when Surround Sound isn’t available?
      3. Does it allow stereo only for the streaming music or another format?   
      4. Do I have the risk of echo that I’ve read about in other posts when playing streaming music in this config?
    John B
    November 8, 2021

    I’ve read thru this and other posts...just want to be clear what I’m trying to do and confirm it will work.

    I will have a Samsung TV with an ARC port attached to a Sonos Arc (connected by wired LAN), an Amp (connected by wired LAN and then extending to two wired speakers in the ceiling) and finally a Sub (prefer Wifi - wireless connection if possible)

    Questions:

    1. Can you configure this all to be a Surround Sound config(would that be something like Dolby 5.1?)  I’m not interested in broadcasting to any specific unit, Arc, Amp or Sub in any way - only will broadcast to the joined units in a Surround Sound config

    Yes.  You just add the Amp to be surround speakers in the Settings for the Arc.  But you should not wire the Amp as the system is designed so that the Arc communicates directly with the surround speakers (here, the Amp) using their 5GHz radios.

    1. I’d read where there may be problems with mixing Sonos LAN connected and Wifi connected devices in a Surround Sound config.  Is that correct?

    See answer to 1.  It is fine to wire the Arc

    1. Assuming the configuration I described in #1 above is workable:
      1. Will it play both streaming music from sources like my music library, Amazon Music, Pandora, etc as well as also allow me to play the Surround Sound audio output from the TV when I select it? 

    Yes

      1. How does this configuration handle the output of streaming music vs the Surround Sound of the TV? Does it convert to stereo automatically when Surround Sound isn’t available?

    No conversion is necessary because music is already in stereo.  You would get stereo at front and stereo through the ceiling speakers.  There are separate settings for TV and music sources.

      1. Does it allow stereo only for the streaming music or another format.

    I assume mono and PCM 2.0 OK.  Did you have anything in particular in mind?

      1. Do I have the risk of echo that I’ve read about in other posts when playing streaming music in this config?

    You haven’t read anything of the sort for this configuration, and there are no such issues.  You may be thinking of when other speakers are grouped with the HT setup  And that applies only to TV sound.  Music will sync perfectly between rooms.  There is no echo within the HT setup.

    Hope that helps.

     

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