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My Sonos Playbar, which is connected directly to my TV, along with the Sonos Sub, Sonos One, and a Sonos One SL. This is what I consider my Sonos Playbar system. In order to listen to my turntable, I have a Sonos Port that connects as a “Line-in” to the Sonos Playbar.  THE CHALLENGE: When I moved into my new house, there were (5) pre-installed in-ceiling speakers. So I purchased a Denon AVR-X1600H.  I have one Port connected to the receiver assuming that would be another way to access all of those speakers. The Denon receiver acts as a separate Sonos output speaker, but only plays out of two of the in-ceiling speakers.

What am I doing wrong?  

The preferred setup would be to do the following:

  • Use the Sonos Playbar system during normal TV activities ✅
  • Use the Sonos Playbar system for casual music listening ✅
  • Use the Sonos Playbar system for listening to my vinyl turntable ✅
  • Use ALL speakers, including the Sonos Playbar system, during parties ⛔️

When I purchased the Denon receiver and the ports, these were purchased at BestBuy and I paid for the “GeekSquad” to configure them correctly.  Unfortunately, this is not the desired setup because only two of the in-ceiling speakers work.  One plays over the dining area and the other plays outdoors which is not ideal to use. 

Hi

  1. Your home theater should consist of your Playbar with the Sonos sub plus Sonos One and Sonos One SL as surrounds bonded to your Playbar which is connected to your TV via an optical cable. This provides audio for your TV and music streamed via the Sonos App when not watching TV. Incidentally, using the Sonos One as one of your surrounds also provided you with a choice of voice assistant either Alexa or Google.
  2. The turntable with either a built-in or outboard pre-amp is connected to your Port. The Playbar should be selected as the auto-play speaker/room to hear your vinyl.
  3. The five in-ceiling speakers are an odd mix. Typically they are in pairs. A Sonos Amp could have driven 4 of the in-ceiling speakers provided they met the proper specs (click here). Incidentally, a Sonos Amp can drive 3 Pairs (6 speakers total) of Sonos In-ceiling speakers by Sonance. Of course that would have required replacing the existing 5 speakers and adding one more. Probably cost-prohibitive.
  4. All of the above speakers could be grouped together for parties via the Sonos App.

The 5th in-ceiling speaker is still the odd one out. The Denon IMO was not required; unless you have a CD player. However, a CD player could have been integrated with the Port using a switch shared with the turntable.

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