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Answered

2 zones on 1 amp?

  • April 16, 2022
  • 8 replies
  • 3707 views
J

Hi y’all! I’m thinking of putting Sonos Architectural speakers in my kitchen and living room. There would be one pair in each room. I understand that a single Sonos Amp can handle 2 pairs of Sonos Architectural speakers. For each pair of speakers, I’d like the ability to play music in either set or both sets simultaneously - this is a must. When playing audio in both pairs simultaneously, the ability to control volume in each pair independently would be nice to have, but not necessary. 

Can I achieve this by using a single Sonos amp? If so, do I need any additional components to make this work? Appreciate your advice. 

Best answer by Airgetlam

The Sonos Amp has a single set of output posts. If you wanted to play on one or the other, but not both, you’d need a physical switch in between, and you would not be able to play two different things on the two ‘zones’. 
 

That ‘switch’ would be the only way to adjust an independent volume for each room. The Sonos software will see the Sonos Amp as a single source, not two. 

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8 replies

Airgetlam
  • Airgetlam
  • Answer
  • April 17, 2022

The Sonos Amp has a single set of output posts. If you wanted to play on one or the other, but not both, you’d need a physical switch in between, and you would not be able to play two different things on the two ‘zones’. 
 

That ‘switch’ would be the only way to adjust an independent volume for each room. The Sonos software will see the Sonos Amp as a single source, not two. 

Bruce
J
J
  • jotijoti
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • April 17, 2022

Bruce, appreciate the advice. 

 

If I use a physical switch between the two sets would that also throw off the Trueplay tuning? I’m thinking I’d use Trueplay to tune each set of speakers independently from the other as each pair will reside in different rooms on opposite ends of the house.

J
  • John B
  • April 17, 2022

I suspect you could tune to one set of speakers or the other, but not both.  But Trueplay does not always make a big difference (or any perceptible difference) and if you have the speakers well positioned I would not let this put you off the proposed setup.

If you Google "impedance managed speaker switch with volume control" you should find some suitable devices.

Airgetlam
J
J
  • jotijoti
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • April 19, 2022

John, thanks for that. I needed to hear that before I went throwing money away at another amp :)

J
  • jotijoti
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • April 19, 2022

Hey guys, I just realized that I have an old record player I’d like to plug into these speakers as well. So there would be two different inputs for these speakers - 1) record player and 2) tv. So in addition to the amp do I need to pick up a “multi input impedance managed switch with volume control”? If so, any recommendations?

Airgetlam
  • Airgetlam
  • April 19, 2022

The Amp actually has two inputs, one is digital, for HDMI ARC from your TV set, the other is analog, a pair of RCA jacks that work off of a line level (not phono level) input.

You can choose in the software which input you use. 

The real questions are 1) does your TV have an ARC output and 2) does your turntable have a built in pre-amp? If 2) doesn’t, you’ll need an external preamp, a commodity type of item you can get from almost anywhere. Otherwise, if you’re running RCA jacks to the one input, you’d need a simple switch for that before the data enters the Amp. If 1) isn’t the case, you’ve got larger issues that can be dealt with, just additional complexity. 

Bruce
106rallye
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  • 106rallye
  • April 19, 2022

@Airgetlam Why would the “simple switch” be needed for RCA?

Airgetlam
  • Airgetlam
  • April 19, 2022

For use of two inputs to the same set of RCA jacks. If using both the digital and analog inputs, it wouldn’t be needed, but if both devices are attempting to feed a single set of RCA jacks, some sort of switch would be required to choose which device is feeding the input. 

Bruce
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