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dbwhite77
Contributor I
October 29, 2016
Question

Multi-device setup with a receiver, replacing 5.1 speakers with Sonos

  • October 29, 2016
  • 15 replies
  • 1318 views
Hey all. I'd like to replace my current speaker setup, which is a 5.1 Energy setup, with a playbar, sub, and two play 1s. I currently have a Pioneer VSX-1019AH that is acting as the brains for TV, Roku, Mac Mini, etc. The TV is mounted above and only connected to the receiver via HDMI into the one and only HDMI out port. Since the Playbar only has optical audio, I don't know how to do this and still have my receiver run everything.

How do others set up a system with multiple sources with a Playbar and receiver? Seems like it was designed to only plug into the TV. I'd rather not have to go buy a new receiver to do this and I can't plug everything directly into the TV.

Thanks for the help!
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    dbwhite77Author
    Contributor I
    November 2, 2016
    The LHC - I was going off the note at the top of this link: https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2022/~/programming-the-logitech-harmony-remote-to-control-the-playbar?_ga=1.156969531.1849545700.1460425582

    It says it only works with some Harmony remotes. I guess I can always play with it when it arrives but I didn't know the Playbar had an IR receiver

    This also says it won't work: https://support.myharmony.com/en-us/harmony-experience-with-sonos
    Airgetlam
    Airgetlam
    November 2, 2016
    I can assure you that it works fine with a Harmony One remote 🙂
    Bruce
      dbwhite77Author
      Contributor I
      November 2, 2016
      I can assure you that it works fine with a Harmony One remote :)

      Thank you! Didn't really want to trop another $300!
      jgatie
      jgatie
      November 2, 2016
      IR Harmony remotes won't work to control all Sonos speakers, only the Hub based remotes will do that because they are Ethernet based. But an IR based Harmony can be used to control the Playbar. Just shut the volume off on the TV and program the Playbar to use the TV IR codes (or assign the volume to another device and use those codes). Programming the Playbar is easy, just choose the remote setup routine from the Sonos app, point the remote at the Playbar and hit the volume up. The Playbar reads the code and you are all done.
      dbwhite77Author
      Contributor I
      November 6, 2016
      Most people seem to use a switcher with the playbar, to overcome their TV not passing through optical DD5.1
      Maybe something with more connections would give future connection possibilities, like this:-
      https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017MUWYLS?psc=1
      Just the first one I looked at.
      You could then sell the receiver?

      So I have this all set up but I'm running into an interesting problem. The Playbar or the switch, not sure which one, keeps losing signal when I power the system off or start using the Sonos to play music from the app. When this happens, if I unplug the HDMI switch and back in, it seems to reconnect to the Sonos. Does anyone know how the Sonos prioritizes the inputs? Any other suggestions here? Thanks!
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