Delay compensation when used with AV receivers

Interesting comment from rune re his "pure direct" mode... guess I will just need to wire up my new ZP90 ASAP, and have a listen to hear what happens! Certainly +1 from me on some kind of delay tweaking in future upgrades to the Sonos system.

Majik, can't disagree about speaker efficiency re the Sweetspots. Certainly have to crank up the volume a bit more in the Bathroom zone. And they go loud enough for me! I spent a few moments listening to my favorite station KBPK, and the audio quality has a crispness to it which cuts through the unavoidable background noise of the extraction fan situated in the ceiling void above. Bass performance is surprisingly good for such tiny units.

I did not set out to get quality listening in the "smallest room", and certainly did not want to spend a lot on it. I am delighted... it has worked out just fine!

Just a quick note to say that my Cullen modified 96kHz Re-clocker ZP90 from Wyred 4 Sound (via UK dealer) is now lashed up to my HK AVR4500 for testing. Initially things were not good -- I thought I had zapped one of my speakers, or my amp had a duff channel. A Burst of VERY LOUD audio from one channel only followed by silence. Using its own FM Tuner as source, and patiently checking all the settings, this was found to be a configuration error with speaker setup.

So the ZP90 worked first time out of the box, with a quality that already marks it out as special! It is using a coaxial cable link (IXOS 105) to the HK amp's own internal DAC to decode the 96kHz PCM data stream. Did not even need a software update.

Most importantly for this thread, when grouped with an adjacent zone, there is no audible delay between the zones that I can detect. In fact, if I group it with the zone already established in the same room where testing is taking place, both zones together sound as one. RESULT!

NB: This post is based on a very quick and totally un-scientific appraisal. If I come across anything untoward as my initial excitement abates, I will report back.

I also need this.

It's exactly this type of added value which makes the cost of a Sonos-system worthwhile. I won't be purchasing mine until it's implemented.

Have been waiting for this feature and hoped I might find it with the new release, but so far nothing.

I still enthusiastically recommend Sonos, but I don't recommend the ZP90. It's a shame, really, that people can't effectively use Sonos in what is likely their "best" AV room.

I especially liked the suggestion above to allow each zone to have its own configurable "I delay by xx ms" setting. This is far better than having to manually adjust each other zone to add a delay.

It also takes care of a system with TWO zones with surround sound receivers. For example, if the Theatre adds 200 ms and the living room adds 100 ms, then when both zones are included in the party Sonos can delay the living room by 100 ms and all other zones in the house by 200 ms, but if the Theatre is not in the party then everything EXCEPT the living room gets a 100 ms delay.

VERY clever solution . . . so now what? 🙂

I agree with jbs, dissapointed this wasn't in the new update. When friends are round for a party the main room is the sitting room (with zp90 and AV receiver) and most people comment about the poor syncing between the zones (echoing type sound that can be heard as soon as you leave the sitting room.
This feature is needed to complete what is otherwise a very good system.

RobinGB

I've got an Onkyo TX SR875 connected to my wireless ZP80 in the living room via coax; in the bedroom a pair of analogue monaural tube amps connected to a “wired” ZP80. The Okyo lags behind ~500 – 750 ms (!) in “Stereo” listening mode, but even switching to “Direct” only reduces the lag to ~100 – 200 ms.

And, as someone else noted, “Direct” mode bollixes bass management — the receiver won't output to my subwoofer in this mode.

So I'd like to add my vote to the masses clamouring for a delay management feature!

Cheers,

— CZ

OK, I need to revise the delay times — they’re off by an order of magnitude (e.g., s/b ~50 – 75 ms).

Also, it turns out my A/V sync was not set to 0 ms; changing that eliminates the delay in “Direct” and “Pure Audio” modes and brings it down to a tolerable level in “Stereo” mode (< 5 ms).

Still would like to see a delay management feature in Sonos, ’though.

Its all been said before. Sonos, you'll sell three more house-fulls of your product to me if you can add a delay feature. Plus get a bunch of word-of-mouth praise from me to anyone who will listen. But as it stands, no more cash or talk will be dispensed.
Joel

Nothing to add here, everything has been explained in great detail in this thread already. Please add the "delay this zone by n milliseconds" feature!

For completeness: I'm running a ZP120 in the living room and a ZP90 connected to a Yamaha YRS-1000 in the master bedroom.

The Yamaha adds a slight delay to the input signal (trough both analog and S/PDIF inputs, even with all sound tweaking & gimmicks disabled). This makes group mode Useless (with a capital U) for me.

Nuff said. Life goes on.

Had the same problem with a Harman Kardon amp. Ditched the amp, kept the Sonos... 😉