Beam gen 5.1 vs amp 4.1

  • 29 December 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 104 views

After some opinions. 
 

I currently have lounge set up with Beam gen 1 - sub gen 2 - 2x One SL’s for rears. 
 

I have been gifted 2 x sonance ceiling speakers. 
 

I will buy the amp to drive these but not sure where to go with it.   
 

Shall a bond the amp to the beam and use the ceiling speakers as rears or lose the beam and use the amp and ceilings as fronts then bond the  sub and one SLs as rears creating a 4.1 system with phantom front.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 


3 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +16

Hi @JonOsborne, welcome to the Sonos Community.

This really depends on your room layout and how you’d be listening to the devices, but I’d recommend sticking with the Beam and adding the in-ceilings as rears, or using one SLs.

While you can get great audio from the in-ceiling speakers, a phantom front channel wont be as good as a true front channel.

You could also forgo using them with the Beam and set up the in-ceiling speakers in a room that isn’t reliant on where you yourself are sitting, such as a dinning room or kitchen.

I hope this information helps!

Hi @Jamie A 

 

Thanks for the reply. I would say use the audio system for 50% movies and 50% listening to music. 
 

layout is basically 


I was contemplating ditching the sound bar and having in ceilings for fronts via amp for 4.1

With the soundbar, audio and picture are co-located. With ceiling speakers for the front, the audio comes from a different location than the picture. Instead of voices located solidly with the picture, voices would vaguely originate from the ceiling.

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