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Hi, we just moved into a new house that has pre-wire for up to 5 in-ceiling speakers. This is a typical setup of 3 in the front and 2 in the back just behind listening position.

I am trying to design a system that uses 2 dedicated in-ceiling speakers for atmos and 2 more for rear surround and use a sound bar for center, i will be adding a sub for this well.

The issue i’m having is trying to designate Atmos channels for a sonos setup, as my ceilings are high in the front (around 14-16 feet). Here are a few setups i have considered:

 

Setup-1:

  1. Use the Arc (or even the beam) for center and use a amp for all 4 or 5 in-ceiling speakers (given the ohms are right) and add the sub

This is probably the easiest to setup but im basically designating all my in-ceiling speakers as surround and having a couple in front and couple behind the seating position might not sound ideal for surround. And Arc might be by only atmos here which is not great cause i have very high ceilings. Or am i over thinking this and Trueplay somehow will redirect perfect audio through all 4 surrounds in the ceiling? 

 

Setup-2:

  1. Use the Arc as center and add the Amp with 2 rare in-ceiling speakers and the sub

This is the setup i see most recommended here, the only issue in my case would be atmos where im again relying on the arc and not my ceiling speakers, and i’m only using 2 of my 5 pre-wires which seems like a wasted opportunity

 

Setup-3:

  1. use the Arc as center, one amp with 2 ceiling speakers as front and a second amp with rare ceiling speakers as surrounds and ofcourse the sub

I have no idea how this will sound as “front” is now being played through sound bar and the amp(?) and again my atmos issues still persist.

 

PS: im ok having my surrounds at ceiling height rather than listening height, it sucks but thats what im stuck with. Im trying to make the best use of all 5 prewire locations.

This seems to be easily doable with other 3rd party amps where i can just run the atmos wires to port labeled “atmos” and surrounds labeled “surrounds” and some kinda of center through a passive soundbar (like klipsche), i just dont know how to replicate or get close to similar setup using sonos.

Unfortunately, Sonos does not have any setup where anything can be used as a ‘center’ speaker. All of their sound bars contain Front Right, Center, and Front Left, they do not provide any way to separate those into distinct feeds. 

Sorry when i say “center” i meant, left right and center in my original post. Which i want the soundar to handle. But need the Atmos and surround from in-ceiling speakers that way i make the best use of all the pre-wires.

Sorry when i say “center” i meant, left right and center in my original post. Which i want the soundar to handle. But need the Atmos and surround from in-ceiling speakers that way i make the best use of all the pre-wires.

There's no way to get third party Atmos surrounds using a Sonos Amp.  The only Atmos surrounds at this time are the Era 300s.

Stay away from Sonos products , they have major connectivity issues. Their tech support team will tell you that you’re having issues with the internet provider, router etc… BS

They are not compatible to a regular household router in the US so therefore you’ll have a constant headache.

STAY AWAY!!!

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