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I am looking for recommendations for a new sonos setup for my man cave. I have a nice TV/Audio arena.  I watch 4K TV streaming services and listen to XM Sirius and my CD collection.  My AV receiver got toasted and thought it might be time for a change.  I would like to start off with a minimal entry level system and expand/upgrade over time.  Thanks...

How did your current system function and sound?


Sonos stuff sounds good, imho. But its key strength is in multi-room, multi-speaker capability. If you only want a 5.1 or 7.1 system in your man-cave, you could consider more “conventional” systems. 
But tell us more about whether you want stereo music, killer home theatre setup, Dolby Atmos etc and we can offer some suggestions.

Remember this is a user forum, mostly inhabited by Sonos fans!


For just Stereo listening it is hard to beat a pair of Sonos Fives. Maybe add a Sub.

For two speaker Atmos the 300s are the way to go. More likely to need a Sub.

Surround sound, well the Arc is going to do Atmos the best and you’ll have better stereo separation. You’ll want a Sub.

Rear channels, the Era 100s are nice but the 300s do much more for Atmos but are picky on location.

 

Going another direction, if you love your old speakers and powered-sub, just add a Sonos Amp, it will connect to the TV as well as the streaming services.

 

For playing CDs you have two options, rip them to a NAS and play them from there (this is a great choice) or get a Sonos that offers a Line-In connection to hook your CD player to.

Do note that a Sonos speaker can’t do line-In and be a Surround at the same time.

The Amp does offer a Line-In as well as a sub output.


I had a traditional Yamaha AV 5.1 receiver with the typical 5 speakers and a subwoofer.  It was fine for watching movies in surround sound and music in CDs or SiriusXM.  I am less interested in distributing the audio to different rooms. 

I could easily replace the AV receiver with a new one and that would be fine. I thought this would be an opportune time to look at a basis sonos system and expand later.

Maybe I should focus on the home theater aspect for now (movies and live sports) and the expand into audio later. What would be a basic set up for surround home theater? I like the idea of keeping my current speakers, subwoofer and CD/DVD player.

Very helpful folks…

Mike

 


A ‘basic’ home theater system is a soundbar (the Ray, the Beam, the Arc), with a pair of surround speakers (the Era 100 or 300s), and a Sub (or two Subs, if you go with the full size ones).

All of this data is available at www.sonos.com. 


Thanks everyone!


To keep your existing speaker setup a pair of Sonos Amps would be the way to go. One connected to the TV’s Arc output for the front channels and the other networked as the surround channel amp.


I had a traditional Yamaha AV 5.1 receiver with the typical 5 speakers and a subwoofer. 

Mike

 

Current A/V Yamaha receivers offer MusicCast. This is their version of whole house audio.