Contributor I

How to use Sonos Beam + Amp with TV

17 replies
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Hi All! So I’ve seen related questions asked a few times but haven’t seen a clear answer for our needs, so thanks for any guidance!

We are trying to set up:

Sonos Amp (w/ 2x Klipsch bookshelf speakers and an SVS sub)
Sonos Beam

To play back our TV audio (which we have connected to an HTPC and a PS4).

Geometrically, I’d like to set up the beam underneath the TV (obviously), and the two bookshelves to the left and right sides of the room, between the three getting good coverage and depth for the whole room (it’s a large open-concept studio).

I’d like to avoid using the bookshelves as ‘rear’ channels, because we use the speakers for music as much as TV and we want the bookshelves to actually lead the audio, with the beam there to help out and fill out the sound.

How do you recommend setting that up from a Sonos perspective? From what I’ve read on these forums, it sounds like the best approach is to make the Amp the ‘master,’ and the Beam a ‘slave’ somehow? Thanks for any advice!

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J

John B

https://support.sonos.com/en-gb/article/set-up-your-sonos-amp

From your profile it looks liker you have the speakers needed to try this out, unless you only have one Sonos One.

As you describe the room as 'huge' you might even need Flives for the surrounds. That is unlikely but you can see how it goes.

E

EMIA

Contributor I

This topic made me start thinking about my own setup. I have the Amp for TV-audio, connected du sub & two One as surrounds. I would like to have a Beam as a center channel for TV. I know this is not possible, but would it work to use a HDMI-splitter and connect both the Amp and the Beam to the TV? That way they should play i sync, but maybe the audio would sound weird?

J

John B

@EMIA . You could not use an HDMI splitter because the signal is HDMI-ARC. I don't know if an HDMI-ARC splitter exists and I don't propose to look, as I do think this is likely to sound weird!

D

dbellisarioAuthor

Contributor I

The issue for you is that the Beam must be used for the front channels. That forces you to use the Amp for rear surrounds. That is fine in itself but you said that wasn't what you wanted.

Also, in this configuration you cannot use your non-Sonos subwoofer.

And the Beam is better for TV than music so that doesn’t fit well with your priorities.

You can set up the Amp and two Ones as a single surround sound room. When the Amp is used for the front channels like this you can use your subwoofer. Your bookshelf speakers are in front of you, which is better for music. (You can choose to have the Ones virtually silent or in full volume stereo for music.)

In summary, there is nothing wrong with a Beam + Amp setup in itself. It just doesn't give you what you are looking for IMO.

I hope that is helpful .

Thanks John! This is starting to make sense!

Now I see where my misunderstanding was: I had imagined that Sonos was effectively ‘getting away’ from the tradition 5.1 (or 4.1 in Sonos’s case) model, and instead letting you position any speakers anywhere with their auto-balancing algorithm. It sounds like they are sort of doing that, giving you more flexibility in positioning, but you still can’t have 3-4 front speakers (which is essentially what we were going for with a Beam+Amp combo).

J

John B

Now I see where my misunderstanding was: I had imagined that Sonos was effectively ‘getting away’ from the tradition 5.1 (or 4.1 in Sonos’s case) model, and instead letting you position any speakers anywhere with their auto-balancing algorithm. It sounds like they are sort of doing that, giving you more flexibility in positioning, but you still can’t have 3-4 front speakers (which is essentially what we were going for with a Beam+Amp combo).

To be frank, that doesn't bear much resemblance to reality. I don't see any evidence of Sonos "moving away from traditional 5.1". How and why would they do that when the content still comes in 5.1 formats?

I don't really understand your comment "or 4.1 in the case of Sonos". Could you explain that one please?

D

dbellisarioAuthor

Contributor I

Now I see where my misunderstanding was: I had imagined that Sonos was effectively ‘getting away’ from the tradition 5.1 (or 4.1 in Sonos’s case) model, and instead letting you position any speakers anywhere with their auto-balancing algorithm. It sounds like they are sort of doing that, giving you more flexibility in positioning, but you still can’t have 3-4 front speakers (which is essentially what we were going for with a Beam+Amp combo).

To be frank, that doesn't bear much resemblance to reality. I don't see any evidence of Sonos "moving away from traditional 5.1". How and why would they do that when the content still comes in 5.1 formats?

I don't really understand your comment "or 4.1 in the case of Sonos". Could you explain that one please?

Yeah it was just my imagination based on our usage of their TruePlay app; I was imagining there was more going on there than there ways.

And indeed there’s no benefit to move away from 5.1 for surround sound, as that is the format the audio comes in; rather I was curious about the potential for innovation in how Stereo is delivered, the potential for delivering a stereo stream through more than 2 speakers. You *can* in theory do that today through ‘traditional’ receivers just by outputting the stereo signal to multiple speakers, but without any intelligent sort of balancing it won’t sound good (unless you make extremely painstaking efforts in your speaker matching, speaker placement, and room audio design). My imagination was that Sonos had solved that problem using their app-based auto-balancing, allowing you to play multiple speakers in stereo without as much conflict. Obviously that’s not the case, was just a concept that interested me.

By 4.1 I’m referring to their ‘virtual center’ approach. For surround sound you can set it up with Left, Right, Rear, and Sub.

J

John B

Now I see where my misunderstanding was: I had imagined that Sonos was effectively ‘getting away’ from the tradition 5.1 (or 4.1 in Sonos’s case) model, and instead letting you position any speakers anywhere with their auto-balancing algorithm. It sounds like they are sort of doing that, giving you more flexibility in positioning, but you still can’t have 3-4 front speakers (which is essentially what we were going for with a Beam+Amp combo).

To be frank, that doesn't bear much resemblance to reality. I don't see any evidence of Sonos "moving away from traditional 5.1". How and why would they do that when the content still comes in 5.1 formats?

I don't really understand your comment "or 4.1 in the case of Sonos". Could you explain that one please?

Yeah it was just my imagination based on our usage of their TruePlay app; I was imagining there was more going on there than there ways.

And indeed there’s no benefit to move away from 5.1 for surround sound, as that is the format the audio comes in; rather I was curious about the potential for innovation in how Stereo is delivered, the potential for delivering a stereo stream through more than 2 speakers. You *can* in theory do that today through ‘traditional’ receivers just by outputting the stereo signal to multiple speakers, but without any intelligent sort of balancing it won’t sound good (unless you make extremely painstaking efforts in your speaker matching, speaker placement, and room audio design). My imagination was that Sonos had solved that problem using their app-based auto-balancing, allowing you to play multiple speakers in stereo without as much conflict. Obviously that’s not the case, was just a concept that interested me.

By 4.1 I’m referring to their ‘virtual center’ approach. For surround sound you can set it up with Left, Right, Rear, and Sub.

OK I'd agree with most of that, given that you have realised that things are not as you once thought they were.

I am not an expert on Trueplay but I suspect that "auto balancing" is not what it is about at all. It is done only on a room by room basis (Sonos room, that is). It is more to do with room acoustics than "auto balancing".

The "virtual centre" does not apply to soundbar based Sonos HT systems. It only applies where an Amp is used for front speakers and effectively gives 5.1.

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