You need a Sonos home theater product like an Arc, Beam (Gen 2), or another Amp connected to your TV in order to use the Amp/in-ceiling speakers as surrounds.
Since you have a pretty good size room, an LG C1, and are using an Apple TV 4K, I suggest getting the Sonos Arc. But keep in mind that music will play out of the Arc AND in-ceiling speakers with this setup. You cannot just play audio out of the in-ceiling speakers unless you unbond the Amp from the Arc first and the Amp is acting as its own room/zone.
And note - On every TV I’ve seen, using ARC/eARC turns off the TV’s speakers, so it’s not possible to run surrounds from ARC/eARC and use the TV speakers for the fronts.
But keep in mind that music will play out of the Arc AND in-ceiling speakers with this setup. You cannot just play audio out of the in-ceiling speakers unless you unbond the Amp from the Arc first and the Amp is acting as its own room/zone.
Thanks! On this point: when playing music through the Sonos app this way, would the ceiling surrounds function as stereo speakers? Or would all speakers (amp ceilings and soundbar) effectively all be playing identical mono channels?
And note - On every TV I’ve seen, using ARC/eARC turns off the TV’s speakers, so it’s not possible to run surrounds from ARC/eARC and use the TV speakers for the fronts.
Thanks, didn’t know that. Bummer though, as naively it seems obvious to me there might be plenty of people who only want to add surround speakers and nothing else. Doesn’t sound like there is a way to do that?
But keep in mind that music will play out of the Arc AND in-ceiling speakers with this setup. You cannot just play audio out of the in-ceiling speakers unless you unbond the Amp from the Arc first and the Amp is acting as its own room/zone.
Thanks! On this point: when playing music through the Sonos app this way, would the ceiling surrounds function as stereo speakers? Or would all speakers (amp ceilings and soundbar) effectively all be playing identical mono channels?
When playing music in stereo from the Sonos app, you will get stereo audio from the Arc and stereo audio from the two in-ceiling speakers. But be sure you have Music Playback under the Surround Audio settings set to Full instead of Ambient.
When playing Dolby Atmos music from the Sonos app, the two in-ceiling speakers will still act as rear surrounds because Dolby Atmos music is very similar to playing 5.1 audio.
Thanks! On this point: when playing music through the Sonos app this way, would the ceiling surrounds function as stereo speakers? Or would all speakers (amp ceilings and soundbar) effectively all be playing identical mono channels?
Music has two settings, Ambient, where the surrounds play in stereo but it’s a very soft effect, and Full, where the surrounds play in stereo at an equal volume as the Arc/Beam. There is no way to just play music on the surrounds and have the soundbar silent.
There’s also a third possibility. Amazon Music Unlimited has Dolby Atmos Music tracks that play in Atmos if your system is capable.
Whoops I guess I clicked the check mark on jgatie’s comment and that made it the “answer” to my question. Jgatie’s comment was good and helpful! But I didn’t mean to mark it as the “answer” to my whole question. Not sure how to undo that though.
Thanks to all for your helpful responses!
I expect a moderator will come along and uncheck that for you, no worries :)
Followup: Given that I’d have to have a Beam (Gen 2) or an Arc to use the Amp-connected ceiling speakers as surrounds anyway, AND given that, in that config while playing music, the Amp would be grouped with the Airplay-enabled Beam (Gen 2) or Arc as well, I have to ask: Is there any reason why I shouldn’t save some money and get an older Connect:Amp ($350-$400 on ebay) for this purpose rather than the $700 Sonos Amp? What would I lose by using the older Connect:Amp vs. the modern Amp in this configuration? Could I get the same functionality for $300-$350 less here?
In particular: Would a Connect:Amp driving the ceiling speakers as surrounds still work with Dolby Atmos, as long as the Beam (Gen2) or Arc were plugged into eARC on the LG C1 TV?
Functionally the Connect:Amp will be the equal of the Amp in a surround setup, but it’s a bit less convenient in that it requires an Ethernet connection. Either the Connect:Amp and soundbar both need to be connected to your router via Ethernet, or the Connect:Amp needs to be wired to the soundbar with another Sonos product connected to the router. See https://support.sonos.com/s/article/2237?language=en_US for details.
It may not matter for the setup you have in mind, but to avoid surprises be aware that an Amp or Connect:Amp being used for rear surrounds will have both its Line-In input and subwoofer output disabled.
Most Connect:amps are Gen1, and so will only run on S1 software, with which the Beam (Gen2) nor the Arc is compatible. If you go this route you need a Gen2 Connect:amp.
Just bought a Gen 2 connect:amp off eBay for $327. ($370 including tax and shipping.). Thanks for the guidance!
Now just need to find a low cost Beam Gen 2. Looks like Best Buy has some open box for under $400.
Reading up on Dolby Atmos, it looks like using ceiling speakers as surrounds is “not recommended” since surrounds are meant to be at ear level. Won’t stop me from trying it out of course.
But since I do have a couple other Play 1’s lying around, I might try making those the surrounds and using the ceiling speakers (connected to the Gen 2 connect:amp) as true left and right ceiling speakers in a “5.0.2” Atmos setup. (With a Beam Gen 2 as the front “3”.)
Atmos decoding must be done by a master unit, in this case BEAM or ARC. Unfortunately, BEAM and ARC do not provide an output that could drive external height channel passive speakers. You could use an AMP to drive passive surround speakers, but not height speakers.
I don’t recommend attempting to Group a set of AMP driven speakers while watching TV because there will be a nagging latency in these speakers. Group will work OK while playing music.
