I was wondering if someone can help me with an answer I can’t find. I am installing 12 Sonos ports in my home because I have a pre-existing setup with amp and what not. All my amps are sonance amps, so my question is will the Sonos amp control the volume of my amp? I know there is an option for passthrough on the port, but there is not list that I can find that tell me what amps work for volume control on the port.
any help would be greatly appreciated.
Best answer by Airgetlam
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Not really certain I understand the question, but yes, there are two settings on a Sonos port for the output. It can either be line level, with the volume fixed, where you would use another device to control the volume, or it can be variable, in which you would use the Sonos controller to alter the volume, and leave the other device’s volume at a fixed level.
In general, I’m not a fan of having two devices connected that I’m juggling volume on both. Too many opportunities for challenges, so if you end up with this sort of setup, be sure to set the volume on one of the devices first, during setup, then never touch it again.
Airgetlam,
Thanks for the reply. I apologize if I didn’t explain it correctly, I wanted to make sure that the Sonos port controlled the audio coming out of the amp. So if I lower the volume on the Sonos port it will lower the volume on the speakers in the ceiling or mute the sound completely.
To talk about your other comment. Do you think I should just get a Sonos amp? I currently have sonance DSP 2-150 MKII and sonance DSP 8-130 MKII which I paid a decent amount of money for. My question is though I’m assuming the output is much stronger then the Sonos amp.
thanks for answering any assistance would be greatly appreciated
+22
If you use the Port to feed your current amps you would want to set the amp’s volume to somewhere mid-range and let the Sonos Controller / Port control the volume level. Usually only takes a few minute to figure out the amp’s best volume setting. Once done you have full volume control from the Sonos controller and Port. I added a bit of sticky tape to prevent curious fingers from fiddling the amplifier volume knob.
If you used Ports you would only need one for each stream you wanted to play. You could split the Port output to several Sonance amp inputs.
In the past I ran three rooms on individual amps off a single ZP with no issues. The ZP was a earlier version of the Port. Had a second ZP for another area where I wanted a different stream much of the time. When I wanted the same I’d just Group the two.
Looking at both the Sonos Amp, 125 and your Sonance, 130 are almost equal in measured power, likely no audible difference. You’d need 10 Sonos Amps though.
I in your place would go with the Port, as many Ports as you want to have individual audio streams. Maybe even start with just one and see how much you want multiple streams?
If you set the output of the Port to variable, and set the volume to say 50% on the Sonance Amps, then yes, you should be able to control the volume just using the Sonos controller. I’m not familiar with these Sonance devices though, if they shut themselves down when not receiving a signal, that could be trouble.
Too many folks don’t understand the challenges of feeding a variable output to a device expecting a line level. Think headphone jack output to an amplifiers tape input. It is just too easy to have the volume too low or too high, so that there’s a certain amount of interference/buzz involved.
If you’re after just using the Sonos controller for volume purposes, then yes, I’d suggest the Sonos Amp, but then again it’s not my money, so it’s easy to say that. It isn’t impossible to set up a variable output to a line level input that feeds another volume control by any stretch, it’s just most people don’t do it properly. As long as you set up the Sonance devices to be at something like 30 to 50% volume as a guess, you could then set the Port to be variable output, and you’d likely be fine. Where you’d run in to issues is folks trying to adjust the volume using the Sonance controls, which might then give you some potential issues when using the Sonos controls. As I say, it’s not an impossible situation, but one that brings headaches, especially to people who don’t understand that one volume should never be touched, and only the other used.
Which App do you want to use for controlling the system?
My vote would be to setup the system, then use the SONOS controller for routine operation. The operator would not then need to be aware that the SONANCE controller existed. A small dot of tape could hide the SONANCE mechanical Volume control, however, if the user called up the SONONCE App, there could be Volume control wars.
Thank for the feedback guys I really appreciate it.
I think I’m going to go with the port option and set the sonance amp to a certain level and not touch it. I just wanted the Sonos to control volume and not have use a different amp for volume control. This actually helps me for some installs I got in the pipe line so thanks again.
I know I have more questions coming!
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