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Hi there,

I am a reasonable newby to Sonos and am looking for some advice.  Currently own a One, One SL & two Fives.  I am reconfiguring my complex entertainment system to simplify so to take advantage of Sonos. 

I am considering buying an Arc & Sub to replace a Sony sound bar & sub system.  I use a smart TV, Apple TV and stream through TV/Sony SB (4 HDMI’s !!) and also use a Mac Mini as a media server for Apple music, Foxtel, Amazon & Plex and web as the TV web GUI is not good.

Anyhow, my questions are:

  1. Can I use  just the 2 fives & One/One SL in conjunction with the Arc and get decent sound or
  2. buy a Sub and add to all of above.

Any advice appreciated

With thanks

Scotty...Down under

 

You can use any Sonos HT device, like an Arc for example, with two ‘matched’ speakers. The main HT player plays the front TV channels and the two ‘bonded’ surrounds play the rear channels. You can also add a Sub into the mix. All speakers can also be used for music audio and they all play together as one Sonos ‘Room’.

So you could add the Arc and a Sub and use your two Fives as surrounds and perhaps use your ‘One SL’ speaker elsewhere in the home for multi-room music audio playback in sync.


Note: If you do decide to go with the Sonos Arc, it connects to the TV using either the TV Optical Port or HDMI-eARC or HDMI-ARC and not HDMI - so perhaps check your TV ports for one of the required connections and you will not get Atmos audio via the Optical port connection. You should still get Dolby Digital 5.1 surround audio providing your TV supports that codec. DTS Audio, in any form, is not supported without device transcoding.


Thanks Ken,  so then it its not an overkill with the fives? The room has 5m ceilings so I figured to ones wouldn't cut it with movies etc.

Next challenge to wok out bonding etc and taking the sound ford for the mini...prob use 3.5 jack

Cheers

Scotty


sound “feed” from mini...damn auto correct !!

 


Just saw second comment - yes TV has both optical and ARC...need most of that with current config!!

Again, many  thanks

Scotty


I don’t think the ‘Fives’ will be overkill, particularly if you believe your room-size needs the Arc, rather than a Beam, but you could always purchase another ‘One SL instead and use those for surrounds, if you wish. 

Doesn’t the MAC mini use an HDMI connection to your TV?

 


Hi Ken, yeah, I might need to do a little more research around beam v arc capabilities.  

Yes, MAC can go through TV direct but have a few limitations so at this moment in time I am routing it via Sony sound bar via HDMI - that will all change. (Sound bar can take x4 HDMI feeds plus wifi) - a unique unit but need to reconfigure as it is too complicated for the bride...the things we do...you know the saying...happy wife, happy life!!  Cheers


Oops...Bluetooth, not WIFI