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In my front room I have the following hardware that I would like to setup for TV listening.  I know that it won’t be a true surround 7.1 system, but I have a separate home theatre room for that.  I figure this setup should be far superior to the current little TV speakers, so…

The hardware that I have is:

Bookshelf speakers for fronts powered by a Sonos Amp (one of the current black ones).  This amp is labeled “TV Fronts” (clever huh?).

8” in-ceiling speakers powered by a second Sonos Amp. This one is labeled as “TV Rears”

The TV is a few years old Samsung UN75NU6900F that does have an ARC HDMI port (#2).

For a TV source, I use an Amazon Fire Cube for Hulu, Max, Netflix, Prime etc.

I have attached an HDMI ARC cable from the TV’s ARC port#2 to the Sonos Amp “TV Fronts” HDMI port.

The Amazon Fire Cube HDMI out is connected to the TV’s HDMI port#1.

I have already downgraded both Sonos Amps to work with the S1 App (I have a lot of other Sonos Amps and Connects that won’t work with the S2 app (“Thanks Sonos for treating a loyal customer like…”  Ok I’ll stop bitching)

I have setup both of the Sonos Amps as standard independent zones to test them and they play music just fine.

Now:

  1. How do I setup the system to work as a surround system (I tried the online help, I tried going through the S1 App, but I just got lost.)?
  2. Can the system be setup to use the Fire Cube’s remote to control the volume?

I’m not sure I understand your setup. The Sonos Amp won’t work under S1. See the FAQ on the sales page.

Is there some chance you have a Sonos CONNECT:AMP? I am really confused here, since the Sonos Amp is black, as you suggest, but the CONNECT:AMP is white. But the Sonos Amp doesn’t operate using S1. 

I’d think, using the S2 controller for the two Amps, you could easily bond the ‘rears’ to the ‘fronts’. But I can’t figure out how they could work, either separately, or together, using S1, since that software has no concept/definitions of the Amp in it. 

The current generation of Sonos Amps (the black ones) certainly do work with the S1 App.  They need to be “Downgraded” first using the current Sonos App.
 

I have several of the current generation black Sonos Amps along with several of the older White Connect:Amps and the old white Connects that only work with the S1 App.  This is why I need to use the S1 App.

Now, if someone could help me with my original question…

My two Sonos Amps work fine, I just need the dummies’ step by step on how to setup for a  4.0 system with the front Amp creating a phantom center channel

 

 

To clarify, I have my two Zones “TV Front” and “TV Rear” grouped together and playing music fine.

How do I set them up as a 4.0 surround system using the S1 App?

Well, last night I buttoned up my connections, pushed the cabinet back that holds the front speakers and the two Sonos Amps figuring that most of my work will now be App based.

This moring I turned on that TV to watch the morning news and voila! the TV is playing through the fronts.

I then did a reset on the “TV Rear” Amp and rejoined it as “Surrounds” to the “TV Fronts” and they connected just fine.

Doing a quick test though with the movie Dunkirk, I cant tell if the surrounds are really working.  

I will need to dig into this more as I am not sure what the TV’s audio output should be, currently the TV’s output is set to Dolby Digital, vs the other options of Dolby Digital+ and PCM.

The system definately sounds better even if it is currenlty just runnign through the front speakers, but I would like to have the rear surrounds working for movies and sports.

That’s indeed what you do, ad the surround Amp as rear speakers.

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