Hardwired Passive Surround Speakers into Ecosystem

  • 4 December 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 284 views
S

I just purchased a new home and two of the rooms included hardwired ceiling mounted surround speakers.  Both speaker sets are of decent quality albeit slightly dated.  One room has a Definitive Technology Procinema 600 system which includes a powered sub, a passive center speaker, and four ceiling mounted passive surround speakers.  Impedance is 8 ohms.  The other room has a Bose Acoustimass 10 system.  That speaker set is a similar setup as the other room except every speaker including the subwoofer is passive.  I do not have power amps or receivers for either room.  I have been using the Sonos ecosystem in my prior home with multiple Sonos One speakers throughout and a Sonos Connect that was hooked up to a powered soundbar and used for phono line-in. 

I would like these rooms connected to my Sonos ecosystem and it seems to make sense to use these existing speakers rather than replacing them with new speakers considering wiring is already run through the walls and ceiling to the surround speakers.  What is the best way to do this? 

My original thought was that a Sonos Amp for each room may do the trick.  However as I researched further it appears that in order to run 5.1 surround this would require TWO Sonos Amps for each room. 

For the DT Procinema system one Amp would power the front speakers and the other would power the rear two.  I read somewhere about the Sonos disabling the Subwoofer output when you run something such as this.  Is this correct and….why?

 

For the Bose Acoustimass I believe I would also need two Amps for the front and rear speakers.  This speaker set has a passive sub so would this require yet another Amp (3 total)?

 

Considering both have a center speaker in addition to front right and front left, how would this be wired into the Amp and would this give me full 5.1 (or 5.0 if the Sub is disabled for whatever reason)?

 

Might it be more cost efficient for me to simply purchase receivers for each room and integrate them into my Sonos ecosystem using a Connect or Port unit?  Advantages/disadvantages of this vs. using the Amp products as my power amps?

 

Thank you

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

3 replies

Rowena B.
Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @SuperBeatle, 

Welcome to the Sonos community and thanks for reaching out to us. Let me share some information to help you out. 

Appreciate your interest in Sonos products too. You can add 4 speakers with the Sonos Amp.  Make sure the impedance rating of your speakers is 8 ohms. Any other impedance rating may cause the Amp to fault. We do not recommend wiring your speakers in series as it will result in poor sound quality. Refer to the image below to see an example of parallel wiring. You can check out this article about connecting four speakers to your Sonos Amp to guide you through. Don’t attach more than four speakers to your Amp unless you’re using Sonos Architectural speakers. Attaching six speakers of a different impedance could cause your Amp to fault.

If the Sonos Amp is running HT setup or line-in on surround speakers, the Sub output becomes passive but not disabled. The ports on the Sonos Amp can be used one at a time.

We can wait for suggestions and feedback from our Sonos community members, they might provide their opinion about this. You can also reach out to our sales team through phone or email where you can send the image and your floor plan for assessment to provide you the best option. Please feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.
 

Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
S

Thank you this is helpful. I do have some follow-up I'm hoping you can address.

 

1) My understanding is that Sonos AMP does will not support an existing "center" speaker in a 5.1 speaker setup. Sonos will take the front left and front right and create a "virtual" center speaker but does not have the capability to drive a passive center. Is this correct?

 

2) My understanding is that the link above for parallel wiring 4 speakers would produce Stereo (2 channel) sound. Is it possible to achieve Dolby Surround (4.1) with 2 Amps hooked up to passive speakers? One amp would drive the front two and the other drives the rear two passive speakers.

 

3) can a non-Sonos branded Sub be integrated with single amp setup you linked and/or the dual amp setup I describe in #2?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rowena B.
Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @SuperBeatle, 

Thank you for getting back to us. My apologies for the late response.

The Sonos Amp gives you a 2.0 setup. Adding surrounds will give you a 4.0 setup. The hearing experience would be the same as the 5.0 set up because it creates a phantom channel. Let me share this community thread about the phantom channel for your reference.

https://en.community.sonos.com/ask-a-question-228987/phantom-center-for-sonos-amp-6840288

https://en.community.sonos.com/components-228996/phantom-center-channel-6823772

Two Amps can be used for home theater setup. One Amp as a TV soundbar then another Amp as surrounds. You can physically connect the 3rd party sub to the Amp acting as the soundbar. It can’t be connected to the Amp as surrounds since the line in and sub port are disabled.

Hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns, we'll be glad to assist you.

Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
Terms & ConditionsCookie settings