Question

Surround Sound using Arc, sub, and 2 ceiling speakers + Ambient Sound for the Entire House

  • 26 October 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 659 views

Hello,

I Have a medium size family room that I want to set up 5.1 surround sound.  Just wondering if I could use Arc as the Center, left and right speaker.  Then the sub.  And 2 of sonos wired ceiling speakers as rear surround for the surround system.  (I understand I need the sonos amp for the 2 ceiling speaker).  However, do I need to have a receiver to get surround sound if I want them all to work together?

How would the Arc, sub and 2 ceiling speakers work as a 5.1 system?

I understand for ambient whole house I need 1 amp for each of the 2 ceiling speaker.  That part is easy to grasp but I’m stuck at the surround sound concept.  Please help.  Thanks so much!


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1 reply

Userlevel 5
Badge +13

Hi @thisryanguy, welcome to the Sonos Community! We appreciate your interest and I’d be happy to help. 

First of all, Arc itself is a 5.0.2 soundbar. When adding surround speakers or Sub, it would create a 5.1.2 system with 5 main audio channels (front left, front right, rear left, rear right, and center), 1 subwoofer channel, and 2 vertical channels.

To use Sonos Amp as TV speakers, select As TV front speakers or As TV surround speakers when asked “How do you want to use Sonos Amp?” during the setup process. Note that Amp’s SUB output and line input are disabled when Amp is used as TV surround speakers.

More here about adding surround speakers to a Sonos home theater and you won’t need a receiver. You just need the Sonos Amp and ceiling speakers that you have then use the Sonos app to set it up as surrounds to Arc. 

Hope this helps. We and the community are always here to help.