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Sonos in Wall Surround Sound

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Hi All, 

After some conflicting information I’m looking for some guidance.

 

Essentially I had planned 2 purchase:

2 x In Wall Sonos Speakers & AMP to power

2 x Sonos One

1 x Sub

 

I’d planned to set these up as a Surround Sound System, with the In Wall Speakers creating the Phantom Centre Channel, and the 2 x Sonos Ones being the rear left and right.

 

Apparently this can’t be done?

 

I don’t want to purchase a Beam or Playbar as the TV currently sits on a chimney breast and the wall is flush without plug sockets. I haven’t opted for the ceiling speakers either as I want a speaker as part of the surround sound setup to have Alexa built in I can group.

 

Any assistance before I go spending a few 1000 is great.

 

Thanks,

 

Adam

 

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Best answer by Airgetlam 5 May 2020, 16:14

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13 replies

Airgetlam

That should be doable. What makes you think it can’t be done?

The challenging part will be running the HDMI cable from the TV to the Amp, but that’s not impossible, and could be easy. 

Bruce
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That should be doable. What makes you think it can’t be done?

The challenging part will be running the HDMI cable from the TV to the Amp, but that’s not impossible, and could be easy. 

Thanks for the prompt reply.

 

When you say ‘should’, how confident are you? Apologies, not keen on getting it wrong.

 

What makes me think it can’t be done…..the dude in the shop that said I could only create a 4.0 stereo using 2 amps, 2 ceiling and 2 wall.

 

We have a Samsung The Frame, with a One Connect Box hidden in a cupboard, so can plug the AMP straight into the One Connect Box.

Airgetlam

Well, barring any issues with the Samsung and lipsync, 100%. I’m not overly fond of in wall speakers as fronts, but there’s no technical reason why your proposal wouldn’t work. Again, what makes you think it can’t be done? 

Bruce
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Well, barring any issues with the Samsung and lipsync, 100%. I’m not overly fond of in wall speakers as fronts, but there’s no technical reason why your proposal wouldn’t work. Again, what makes you think it can’t be done? 

Again, thanks for your prompt response.

 

Well to be honest, as an absolute novice, I called my local AV provider who said, this can’t be done. You need to connect it to a Beam or Playbar, and use them as rears.

 

According to him, the best I could get using In Wall and 2 x Ones would be stereo for the TV. 

 

Thanks.

melvimbe

The AV provider is wrong.  When you use a Amp for your front speakers, there is no requirement to use an Amp for the rear speakers as well.   You can use  pretty much any pair of Sonos speakers you want except Sonos Move, or a second Amp.

Danny
Airgetlam

Odd. Your installer is incorrect, and just doesn’t understand the new Amp. Perhaps they were thinking of the CONNECT:AMP, in which case they would indeed be correct. 

Bruce
melvimbe

Odd. Your installer is incorrect, and just doesn’t understand the new Amp. Perhaps they were thinking of the CONNECT:AMP, in which case they would indeed be correct. 

 

The Connect:amp can only be used for rear speakers though.  I don’t know how he could conclude that would result in stereo.

Danny
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The AV provider is wrong.  When you use a Amp for your front speakers, there is no requirement to use an Amp for the rear speakers as well.   You can use  pretty much any pair of Sonos speakers you want except Sonos Move, or a second Amp.

Danny/Bruce, thanks so much for this.

I had a small meltdown when told it couldn’t be done, as we’re currently having an electrician pull wires through the walls. 

Another one, I hear that when the Sonos Ones are setup as surrounds Airplay is then disabled. I presume Airplay would still be enabled on the AMP for stereo to all 4 speakers?

Thanks again.

Adam

melvimbe

The AV provider is wrong.  When you use a Amp for your front speakers, there is no requirement to use an Amp for the rear speakers as well.   You can use  pretty much any pair of Sonos speakers you want except Sonos Move, or a second Amp.

Danny/Bruce, thanks so much for this.

I had a small meltdown when told it couldn’t be done, as we’re currently having an electrician pull wires through the walls. 

Another one, I hear that when the Sonos Ones are setup as surrounds Airplay is then disabled. I presume Airplay would still be enabled on the AMP for stereo to all 4 speakers?

Thanks again.

Adam

 

That is correct.  For home theatre room, airplay is going to communicate to the ‘master’ speaker, which is the one that plays the front speaker channels.  So that speaker must be airplay enabled, and the Sonos Amp is. 

 

FYI, the reason this issue comes up is that the current playbar is not Airplay compatible, so using Sonos Ones as rears with a playbar isn’t an airplay compatible room.

Danny
Airgetlam

Yes, AirPlay 2 would be enabled on the Amp, and be playable to all speakers. 

Bruce
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The AV provider is wrong.  When you use a Amp for your front speakers, there is no requirement to use an Amp for the rear speakers as well.   You can use  pretty much any pair of Sonos speakers you want except Sonos Move, or a second Amp.

Danny/Bruce, thanks so much for this.

I had a small meltdown when told it couldn’t be done, as we’re currently having an electrician pull wires through the walls. 

Another one, I hear that when the Sonos Ones are setup as surrounds Airplay is then disabled. I presume Airplay would still be enabled on the AMP for stereo to all 4 speakers?

Thanks again.

Adam

 

That is correct.  For home theatre room, airplay is going to communicate to the ‘master’ speaker, which is the one that plays the front speaker channels.  So that speaker must be airplay enabled, and the Sonos Amp is. 

 

FYI, the reason this issue comes up is that the current playbar is not Airplay compatible, so using Sonos Ones as rears with a playbar isn’t an airplay compatible room.

Danny,

 

Just reading back through the comments, what was your opinion of 2 x Front Wall Speakers acting as a surround front left and front right? Would the SONOS App allow me to do this?

 

Thanks.

 

Adam

melvimbe

Danny,

 

Just reading back through the comments, what was you opinion of 2 x Front Wall Speakers acting as a surround front left and right? Would the SONOS App allow me to do this?

 

Thanks.

 

Adam

 

I wouldn’t call front speakers ‘surround’ but I get your point.  First, yes, Sonos allows this with the Sonos amp.  As far as it a good idea, I think it is the right solution for you.    Seriously, I think I would do the same describing your situation, and actually have done something similar in a previous home.  I honest don’t have a good feel for how good the phantom center is, but I think this will sound good for TV, and even better for music playback.    I’m using a playbar for TV and music right now, but there are times when I think better front separate would be better, and may switch.  There certainly others on here with the same/similar setup as you don’t regret it.

Danny
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I am currently building a new house and will be using the new AMP for TVs. 
 

Your suggested setup will work. Meaning that you can use two inwall speakers as the two front speakers and the new AMP will create a phantom center-channel. 
 

Please note that the in-wall speakers must be physically connected to the AMP with speaker wire. They are simply passive speakers. That also means that you are free to look at 3rd party inwalls. The only thing you would be loosing is Trueplay.  
 

As mentioned, you should also have at least one HDMI-cable installed from the TV to the AMP (more if you would like to keep Apple TV’s, Blu-ray players etc. the same place as the AMP). Otherwise you would need to rely on Airplay 2 and an Apple TV. Consider getting empty tubes installed so you can install and switch cables yourself. From experience, I have seen a lot of HDMI-cables break over time. 
 

With that all set up, you can wireless expand on the setup by adding 2 Play Ones (or 2 Play Fives, the IKEA-speakers etc) as surrounds and the Sonos Sub as subwoofer. That would bring you to 5.1 (phantom center). 
 

Again, with the AMP you can also choose a 3rd party sub instead. It needs to be wired to the AMP or have its own transmitter. 
 

Using a second AMP (or the previous Connect Amp) you can even use 3rd party speakers as rear speakers if that is your thing.

 

 

 

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