Contributor I

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No Sound From Front Speakers

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We have 4 in-ceiling speakers and 2 Sonos Amps. After connecting the surround speakers we are no longer receiving sound from the left and right front speakers. I’m not sure where I went wrong. Any help is appreciated!

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AirgetlamAnswer

What is a “front back Amp”?

The Amp that is connected to the TV via HDMI ARC should be the “front Amp”, as it powers the “Front” speakers. The second Amp should be “bonded” to it as the surrounds, in the Sonos software as it will be sending the surround information to the surround speakers.

if they’re showing as two separate rooms, then they weren’t set up properly. You need to go in to the room settings for the “front” Amp, and “add surrounds”, and then tell it you’re adding the second Amp as surrounds.

Bruce

Airgetlam

Not enough information to really know what’s going on.

Can you give us a bit more data?

What’s feeding the front Amp, do you have any other Sonos speakers, how is your system connected, what TV are you using, how does the TV connect to the front Amp, how are you getting sound from the surrounds and not the front speakers, etc?

Might be valuable if you were to submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it.

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

When you speak directly to the phone folks, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and network.

Bruce

M

MamaSanfordAuthor

Contributor I

Thank you. None of the in-ceiling speakers are Sonos speakers. They are 4 B&W speakers.

The front Amp is connected to the left and right front speakers and the back amp is connected to the surround speakers.

I ended up grouping them to play together, but it doesn’t seem as if I can use the back in-celings as surrounds.

Airgetlam

Still not enough information, unfortunately, but let me add some comments, and maybe they’ll help.

How is the front Amp connected to your TV set?

If I were to guess, based on the scant information, someone has set up the two Amps as two “rooms” in the Sonos system, and grouping is the only way to get sound from all four speakers.

If the “front” Amp is set up properly with your TV set, then you can “bond” the second Amp to the first in order to have those second speakers as “surround speakers”.

If you’re not using a TV, then you don’t have “surround speakers” at all, just two rooms that need to be grouped together. If that’s the case, you can start the music playback on either “room” and then just group the second room with it, and all four speakers should play together. In that situation, none of the speakers are considered “surround speakers”, which has to do with a home theater setup, not a music set up.

Bruce

M

MamaSanfordAuthor

Contributor I

Yes. That is correct. The Amps were set as two rooms instead of one. The front back Amp is connected to my Samsung TV via HDMI.

Is there away to set both Amps up in one room and use one amp for surrounds?

AirgetlamAnswer

What is a “front back Amp”?

The Amp that is connected to the TV via HDMI ARC should be the “front Amp”, as it powers the “Front” speakers. The second Amp should be “bonded” to it as the surrounds, in the Sonos software as it will be sending the surround information to the surround speakers.

if they’re showing as two separate rooms, then they weren’t set up properly. You need to go in to the room settings for the “front” Amp, and “add surrounds”, and then tell it you’re adding the second Amp as surrounds.

Bruce

Airgetlam

Oh, when you do that “bonding” of the second Amp as surrounds to the “front Amp”, then they’ll appear as one room in your Sonos controller. You may want to then go in to the surround options for the room and set the surrounds to act as “full” rather than “ambient” speakers when playing music. But that’s secondary, you first need to get the second Amp set up as “surrounds”.

Bruce

M

MamaSanfordAuthor

Contributor I

Thank you! Can the bonding be done with third party speakers as well?

Airgetlam

No, unless those third party speakers are driven by the Sonos Amp, in which case it’s actually the Sonos Amp that’s being “bonded”. It’s either the Sonos Amp driving the surrounds, or normal Sonos speakers (a pair) as surrounds.

Make sure you re-read the FAQs:

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/4717?

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/2927?

Bruce

M

MamaSanfordAuthor

Contributor I

I was able to do it after resetting it. Thanks for all of your help!