Question

From Bose to Sonos

J

In my prevous house, I had a Bose Lifestyle V25 surround sound system setup (5.1), and loved it.  Just bought a new house that has wall and ceilng speakers (two front, two rear).  Was thinking of taking my Bose center channel and subwoofer and connecting to the receiver/amp where those existing speakings are connected, and figure out how to wire it to the four existing speakers.

Only issue is that I don’t think the Bose supports 4K video (all inputs go throug it to the TV) and just bought a new Samsung Q80T.

Someone suggested hooking up the TV to a Sonos wireless system instead.

So my question to everyone -- Is this a good approach?  That is, buy a Sonos controller (?), center channel (Beam? Arc?) and subwoofer, and use existing wall/ceiling speakers for front and rear channels.  Can all this be wireless via WiFi?  (Snaking wires may be a problem in this new house.)

Thanks in advance!

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11 replies

AjTrek1
Userlevel 7

Hi @JoeAcunzo 

Sonos sound systems for home theater are for the most part closed systems (save one) with no integration of 3rd party gear.

The combinations are:

  1. Arc (Dolby Atmos sounbar) that in addition to left/center/right channels has upward and side firing speakers.  Is also voice asssitant capable
  2. Beam (Dolby Digital 3.0 soundbar) with left/center/right channels  Is also voice assistant capable.
  3. Playbar or Playbase (Dolby Digital 3.0 soundbar) with left/center/right channels *
  4. Sonos Amp will power 3rd party speakers for left/right channels not to exceed 8 Ohms. The left/right speakers combine to create a phantom center channel. Will not power a dedicated 3rd party center channel speaker. A 3rd party sub can be wired via cable to the Sonos amp**

All the above can be optionally mated with a Sonos sub and Sonos surround speakers x2

  1. Sonos One SL ***
  2. Sonos One (Voice assistant capable)
  3. Sonos Five 
  4. Sonos Play 5 *

All Sonos components communicate wirelessly. 

 * Recently discontinued but residual stock may be available at retailers

 ** Will also power in-wall speakers for front left/right channel or rear in-ceiling/in-wall speakers x 2 for surround

 *** Recommended speaker for Arc and Beam as voice assistant would be negated for the Sonos One.

 

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.
J

Hi @AjTrek1 

Let me get this right.  I could use your option #4 (Sonos Amp) to power my two front wall speakers and two rear ceiling speakers, and wire my Bose subwoofer to the Sonos amp, and get true surround sound from the TV.  Is that correct?

If so, that would be a good solution, with minimal purchase required.  How good a job does Sonos do creating a “phantom” center channel using the two front speakers?

AjTrek1
Userlevel 7

If using all in-wall and in-ceiling speakers...It would require two Sonos Amps. One for front speakers and one for rear surrounds. The phantom channel is only as good or bad as what your 3rd party speakers can produce.

Your Bose sub could be wired to the front Sonos amp. Bose gear can be tricky as sometimes they require all Bose components.

If all works as suggested you will get Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. The wild card is the Bose sub.

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.
J

Since I already have a receiver and amp (multi-channel) that drives these four wall/ceiling speakers (came with the house), could I just use a “Sonos Port” connected to the multi-channel amp?  (Just discovered this Sonos Port product in my research.)  Then I guess I’d have to determine if the Bose can be driven off this existing amp.

I guess my lack of understanding is where does the surround sound come in?  I know with the Bose, there’s an AVR component that distributes the correct signal to each speaker.  But with just a Sonos amp, where is the speaker channel distribution handled?  (I only know enough about this stuff to be dangerous, haha.)

T
Userlevel 4
Badge +6

Don’t.  Just... don’t.  The EQ for the satellites in the Bose system is either fully or partly built into the sub, because that’s where the amp is!  Due to careful engineering of the frequency response of the various pieces, they are *really* not made to work with other / auxiliary speakers.  (The head unit used to be just a controller & preamp.  Not sure about the newer “division of labor” of EQ in-head vs. in-sub for the Lifestyle 25 specifically.)  Once you divorce the sub and your center speaker, the other speakers are now trash, eBay for parts & repair of existing systems only. 

So leave the Bose system in your old house as a gift for the new owner, especially if the 4 L/R are “mounted to the structure” -- you’ll avoid fights or contract paragraphs about which appliances come with the house.  Or if you really like it, take it *all* with you and connect a Sonos Port to the Bose Aux input.  Of course that means you are ignoring the ceiling speakers you were given with your new house, but unless they are new-ish aimable-tweeter models, you’ll probably get better sound from the Bose.  (Yes, I know this is anathema to Bose-haters, but aiming the cubes at the main listening position really does make a big difference.)

The strict answer to your question is that Sonos speaker channel distribution is handled by the main Sonos playbar, whether it’s Arc, PlayBase, Beam, etc.  It distributes signals to Sonos-brand subwoofer & surround speakers via a non-Wi-Fi 5GHz wireless signal.  The newer the product, the better the decoding of soundtracks, so the Sonos (probably) > new-house receiver (probably) > Lifestyle 25.  But heck, I have a Lifestyle 12 that does Bose proprietary decoding, not even Dolby, and I use it rarely for a movie and mostly with an AirPort Express for AirPlay multi-zone music “surrounding” the living room on a casual basis.  It’s just fine.  Nothing special, but perfectly OK.

If you really want a good cinema experience, replace that “free” new-house receiver with a brand new one and add truly high-quality freestanding front left/right speakers, and call those existing in-walls surrounds only.  Only a little Sonos Port to play music.  That’s what I would do.  Or as other posters have suggested, switch to all-Sonos or all-Bose.  Either way, have fun!

J

Okay, tell me if this is a viable option to reuse existing wall/ceiling speakers to achieve not only true surround sound (5.1) but also play music through the system as well.

1) Leave the existing receiver/amp connected to existing wall/ceiling speakers (serves as front/rear pairs for surround sound)
2) Sonos Port connected to existing multi-channel amp
3) Sonos Arc or Beam or Playbar or Playbase
4) Sonos subwoofer

Does that all play well together, and allow me to have not only true surround sound for my TV, but also play music as well?

T
Userlevel 4
Badge +6

Alas not quite.  (2) isn’t supported.  See https://support.sonos.com/s/article/4807

You could modify (1) to put a Sonos Amp instead of the existing receiver for one surround pair.  Both Amp and playbar *must* be hardwired, because this is a case where the playbar does not use the proprietary wireless signal to the surrounds.  See https://support.sonos.com/s/article/2237

(I believe in that case the Amp will also not act as an AirPlay receiver for music separately, also Sonos music must be sent to the *entire* TV zone with all its speakers.  (Hopefully more knowledgeable people will chime in to agree or deny here.)  But you could add (5) Second Sonos Amp to drive the other pair of existing in-wall speakers, as its own music-listening zone separate from the TV agglomeration.)

So as to boil down the choice simply: Either ditch the multi-channel theater receiver and put in Sonos speakers L/C/R/Sub/Surround(Amp), or keep the receiver and *only* get a Sonos Port to send it some music (with, hopefully, the rest of the house).

J

@tracker - When you say both amp and playbar must be hardwired, what exactly do you mean?  Both connected to the TV or both wired to the home network (instead of wifi)?  Or is the playbar connected to the amp somehow?

I chatted with Sonos support, and they are telling me if I want, I can use just two amps, one connected to TV via HDMI ARC port, the other wireless.  He said, “The main Amp connected directly to the TV will be the front speakers. On the Sonos App you'll have the option to setup the second Amp as surrounds which will be automatically the rear surrounds.”  And I guess there is the phantom channel created from front L/R.

Does all that sound correct to you folks?  Even if that works, not sure how I’ll like a phantom center channel since that’s mostly used for voice in Dobly Digital 5.1, isn’t it?

AjTrek1
Userlevel 7

Hi @JoeAcunzo 

Here are your SONOS options:

Option 1

1. Sonos Amp 1 connected to the TV via HDMI ARC to drive the front left and right in-wall speakers. You would also connect either a Sonos Sub wirelessly or a 3rd party sub via a coaxial sub-woofer cable. 

2a with 1 Sonos Amp 2 connected wirelessly to Sonos Amp 1 to drive the in-ceiling speakers used as surrounds. 

or 

2b with 1 Sonos One SL’s x 2  or Sonos One’s x 2 or Sonos Five x 2 connected wireless as surrounds (in-ceiling speakers would not be used)

The phantom channel acoustics will depend upon whether you like the sound or not. It’s a personal preference.

Option 2

1. Sonos Arc connected to TV via HDMI ARC or HDMI eARC. Sonos Sub connected to Arc wirelessly.  Connecting the Arc via HDMI-eARC to a compatible TV will yield Dolby Atmos sound. (In-wall speakers would not be used) *

2a with 1 Sonos Amp connected wirelessly to Arc to drive the in-ceiling speakers as surrounds 

or

2b with 1 Sonos One SL’s x 2  or Sonos One’s x 2 or Sonos Five x 2 connected wireless as surrounds (in-ceiling speakers would not be used)

 * 3rd party subs cannot be used 

There are NO other options to use Sonos gear in a home theater setup.  Either option will support music. The Sonos App will walk you through all connections using your iOS or Android device.

 

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.
T
Userlevel 4
Badge +6

Follow-up: You ask, “When you say both amp and playbar must be hardwired, what exactly do you mean?  Both connected to the TV or both wired to the home network (instead of wifi)?  Or is the playbar connected to the amp somehow?”

I meant both wired to the home network, instead of Wi-Fi.  But yes, that can be accomplished for one of the two units because the other one will have a hardwired network pass-thru.  Check out article 2237 as listed, it’s pretty clear.

That’s a direct contradiction to both options (2a) listed above: According to Sonos, those have to be wired, not wireless.  But maybe I’m misunderstanding and AJ is correct that wireless either works or is required.  In your case, it doesn’t matter because the two Sonos Amps will be right next to each other anyway (where the speaker wires for the old receiver pop out of the wall), so either wired or wireless, whichever works, is trivial for you.

AjTrek1
Userlevel 7

@tracker

The article you are referring to regards the discontinued Connect:Amp which required an Ethernet connection to a  Sonos soundbar or router if used to power surround speakers.

The Sonos Amp can communicate wirelessly with a Sonos soundbar or another Sonos Amp. 

The Sonos Amp has a 5Ghz wireless card to communicate with other Sonos soundbars or another Sonos Amp which the Connect:Amp does not. Therefore the Connect:Amp required a Ethernet connection between it and another soundbar or router.

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.
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