Sonos connect ‘in’ cable help / No Analog audio out from TV
I have just bought a new tv. It has no analogue out sockets (it has a digital optical out and hdmi2) and the Connect only seems to have Analogue in sockets (because the digital optical also says it’s out). Does anyone know what sort of cable I should get as I’m desperate to get my Play1 speakers to work with new TV. Thank you
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You could use one of these to convert the optical out of TV to RCA to input into Connect.
https://www.amazon.com/PROZOR-Digital-Converter-Toslink-Adapter/dp/B00KNNSKV0/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1542571124&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=optical+to+rca&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/PROZOR-Digital-Converter-Toslink-Adapter/dp/B00KNNSKV0/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1542571124&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=optical+to+rca&psc=1
Thank you - that certainly looks workable. Neither Sonos customer support (via Twitter) or Richer Sounds have been able to help thus far 😞 I will certainly give this a go.
Probably because what you're trying to do will be not very desirable. The analog input on the CONNECT will inherit a minimum of a 70ms delay, and potentially more, depending on what settings you use. Sonos makes the PLAYBAR, PLAYBASE and Beam, which are all specifically designed to connect to TVs with a much lower latency digital input. What you're doing will work, but might be unsatisfactory to you, depending on your tolerance for lipsync issues.
Thanks Bruce thats helpful, and I agree that I dont like LipSinc. When I bought the TV I specifically asked if it would work with my Play1 speakers which do require a Connect, and are used for TV and music - they are only 2 years old. I'm reasonably literate when it comes to technology - but I have to say I find the Sonos system and help guides unnecessarily complicated and am perpetually left wondering where the old expression of 'user friendly' has gone bearing in mind the price of each component. I shall be off to Richer Sounds tomorrow to pin them down to a sensible solution that isnt going to cost a further fortune!!
Understood. If the salesperson told you that this was a desirable setup, I'd be pretty cautious of taking any further advice from them. Sonos is an outstanding system, and is indeed actually fairly user friendly, when used in the manner it was designed for. It's only when you start trying to force a solution in a way that it wasn't designed for that it starts to fail...much like any technology.
If I were you, I'd look for them to take back the PLAY:1s they sold you, and get a Beam instead, which is actually designed for TV use (albeit relatively small room...the PLAYBAR or PLAYBASE is for larger rooms....and don't ask me to define a small or large room....)
The Beam would be an ideal soundbar for your TV set, and then at some later point in time, when finances allow, you could get a pair of PLAY:1s or Sonos Ones that would serve as surround speakers for the Beam.
If I were you, I'd look for them to take back the PLAY:1s they sold you, and get a Beam instead, which is actually designed for TV use (albeit relatively small room...the PLAYBAR or PLAYBASE is for larger rooms....and don't ask me to define a small or large room....)
The Beam would be an ideal soundbar for your TV set, and then at some later point in time, when finances allow, you could get a pair of PLAY:1s or Sonos Ones that would serve as surround speakers for the Beam.
Apologies - I perhaps wasnt specific enough. I have bought 2 Play1s for our living room 2 years ago with the Connect in order to be able to hear our old TV better (because I have a hearing problem and one speaker is located next to my chair at ear height!). The previous TV was 10 years old and the combined set up worked well. When I changed the TV for a larger screen size (& better picture) I asked if I needed to get a bar of any description and was told no and that my existing system would work. When I rang Richer Sounds yesterday I was told to buy an optical cable and that would solve all problems, which of course it absolutely hasnt.
I have a further Play 1 in a Dining room which is configured in a group with the 2 in the lounge when I want music across all rooms.
If I bought the beam for example (which looks more economical than the bars) do I still need the 'Connect' to play music from my Iphone to all 3 play ones?
Your are clearly experienced and an advocate for Sonos (and I agree re quality) - but it the system or my question wasnt complicated then I dont understand why the technical support team couldnt offer anything more than a uselessly flaky response yesterday........
I have a further Play 1 in a Dining room which is configured in a group with the 2 in the lounge when I want music across all rooms.
If I bought the beam for example (which looks more economical than the bars) do I still need the 'Connect' to play music from my Iphone to all 3 play ones?
Your are clearly experienced and an advocate for Sonos (and I agree re quality) - but it the system or my question wasnt complicated then I dont understand why the technical support team couldnt offer anything more than a uselessly flaky response yesterday........
No. The CONNECT was only needed to get the sound from your TV's analog output (which it apparently didn't have) into the Sonos ecosystem. The Beam would handle that, either via a HDMI-ARC (which I doubt your TV has) or the optical connection which you said your TV has. Requires the adaptor included with the Beam, but should work for your purposes perfectly.
The added bonus of this setup is that the Beam can be an AirPlay 2 target as well, so you might conceivably be able to send additional inputs from your iPhone to it, if you can't access the content via your Sonos controller.
I'm not anxious to denigrate tech support teams.....but in my experience, they're often reading from a script, low paid, and not true users of the system that they're supporting. I should say the great majority, not all of them. Much the same with salespeople. There are some who really "understand" what it is that they're selling, but many of them just don't know the product like those of us who live and breathe it in our homes.
One thing to note, though, since you mentioned being hard of hearing and having one at ear height next to your chair. There will still be that 70ms delay between the speaker at your ear, and the Beam, when you're listening to the TV. There will be no delay when you're listening to music. This is due to the way the Sonos system is designed. There's a lot of technical talk around that, if you're interested, go ahead and ask, but I don't want to bore you, other than being sure you're aware of it as a limitation that just can't be gotten around.
The added bonus of this setup is that the Beam can be an AirPlay 2 target as well, so you might conceivably be able to send additional inputs from your iPhone to it, if you can't access the content via your Sonos controller.
I'm not anxious to denigrate tech support teams.....but in my experience, they're often reading from a script, low paid, and not true users of the system that they're supporting. I should say the great majority, not all of them. Much the same with salespeople. There are some who really "understand" what it is that they're selling, but many of them just don't know the product like those of us who live and breathe it in our homes.
One thing to note, though, since you mentioned being hard of hearing and having one at ear height next to your chair. There will still be that 70ms delay between the speaker at your ear, and the Beam, when you're listening to the TV. There will be no delay when you're listening to music. This is due to the way the Sonos system is designed. There's a lot of technical talk around that, if you're interested, go ahead and ask, but I don't want to bore you, other than being sure you're aware of it as a limitation that just can't be gotten around.
I'm happy to paint a little more detail here.
While I cannot speak for every agent on the phone, almost all are heavy users of Sonos. That being said, we can only offer solutions that are 100% tested and guaranteed to work. Once we bring in any product or accessory that doesn't come from Sonos, we cannot guarantee the quality of the accessory and ultimately the given fix. This is because we simply cannot test every possible accessory out there a customer could use to circumvent a given problem. If you were to go and buy a digital to analog converter (just as Bruce linked above) we, as Sonos, cannot give the "seal of approval" to any particular brand or model.
Because of this, technicians might give a few options from their personal experience or when I was a phone technician, I'd point them here to the Community to talk to other power users and get their opinion. 🙂
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