Greetings Sono community. I have had the Playbar for several months now, recently added the Move and just got my AMP last night. So I am trying to get the most out of the set up, I am seeking guidance in making that happen. I have the TV (big Samsung) hooked up to the Playbar via optical. HDMI ARC from TV to AMP. I’ve got the Move in another room. And will be hooking up my outdoor speakers via banana plugs to the amp soon. (when I have tiiiime). I also added the LP-120 turntable via Line In. Here is my current issue. I do not know how to use the Playbar independently via the Amp without the TV on. Example: fire up some music and stream via Amp to PB, and Move in the other room with the TV Off. Playbar - set up as ‘living room’AMP - set up as “Main Room”Move - set up as ‘Kitchen’Full disclosure, I have not yet connected either the PB or Amp to ethernet. They are on my main house Wifi until I do. Can anyone advise if what I am trying to do above outlined in bold is possible, and if so how best to accomplish this? MANY thanks to any response. RockaCon396

Best setup for optimal use of Playbar (with TV) and AMP?

Airgetlam
40031 replies
3 years ago
10 March 2021
Answer

You’d just ‘group’ the rooms in the Sonos controller.

All Sonos products remain ‘on’, although in a low power state, waiting for the next command to play something. In the case of the PLAYBAR, that can come either across the optical cable, or across the network via WiFi or Ethernet cable.

RockaCon396
Author
Contributor I
2 replies
3 years ago
10 March 2021

Thank you, yes that is working just fine. For some reason this morning my ‘living room’ was not showing up as ‘on’.

I’m new to all things Sonos so will be working through this for awhile.

Cheers

Why did you connect the amp to the TV? There isn’t any need to do this, since your playbar is connected to the TV and the speakers connected to the amp are outside. if you want to play the TV audio outside, all you would need to do is group the playbar and amp together while selecting the TV audio as the source.

As for playing audio on the playbar without the amp, select the playbar in the rooms table, then go to the tab before it to select your audio source. If a streaming service, select that. You may need to scrool down to see the aux input connect to the amp, but you should be able to play that without first grouping the playbar and amp together (I think...don’t do this very often personally)

RockaCon396
Author
Contributor I
2 replies
3 years ago
10 March 2021

Ok the question about connecting the TV to the Amp, I thought that was the way to do it basically. User Guide gives that advice as well. I have the ARC HDMI output, so got excited about that and hooked it up.

I was thinking well maybe I just pull the optical cable from the TV to Playbar, and then the PB and AMP are connected wirelessly? That’s where I’m confused as which way is best here. Thanks your your input.

Why did you connect the amp to the TV? There isn’t any need to do this, since your playbar is connected to the TV and the speakers connected to the amp are outside. if you want to play the TV audio outside, all you would need to do is group the playbar and amp together while selecting the TV audio as the source.

As for playing audio on the playbar without the amp, select the playbar in the rooms table, then go to the tab before it to select your audio source. If a streaming service, select that. You may need to scrool down to see the aux input connect to the amp, but you should be able to play that without first grouping the playbar and amp together (I think...don’t do this very often personally)

Ok the question about connecting the TV to the Amp, I thought that was the way to do it basically. User Guide gives that advice as well. I have the ARC HDMI output, so got excited about that and hooked it up.

Yes, that is true, if the amp was the only Sonos room you’re connecting to the TV. You don’t want to do that if your playbar is already connected to the TV.

I was thinking well maybe I just pull the optical cable from the TV to Playbar, and then the PB and AMP are connected wirelessly? That’s where I’m confused as which way is best here. Thanks your your input.

Your Sonos rooms can be grouped toghether to pay audio wirelessly, yes.

Why did you connect the amp to the TV? There isn’t any need to do this, since your playbar is connected to the TV and the speakers connected to the amp are outside. if you want to play the TV audio outside, all you would need to do is group the playbar and amp together while selecting the TV audio as the source.

As for playing audio on the playbar without the amp, select the playbar in the rooms table, then go to the tab before it to select your audio source. If a streaming service, select that. You may need to scrool down to see the aux input connect to the amp, but you should be able to play that without first grouping the playbar and amp together (I think...don’t do this very often personally)