I am looking to add Sonos to my existing setup so that I can extend the sound of my tv/stereo setup around my apartment without wires. And maybe play music in different rooms, but that's secondary.
Existing setup: various inputs (cable box, Wii, Apple TV) feed into a Marantz receiver. HDMI goes from the receiver to the TV. Sound is driven by the receiver (currently stereo, connected to the receiver with speaker wire and a subwoofer). I would like to put Sonos speakers out and have them play the same thing that my receiver is playing through the stereo speakers. The receiver has a pre-amp L/R out as well as L/R audio in.
Could I connect a Sonos Connect to both the in and out audio ports and then add Sonos speakers? When my TV is on, the Sonos would take the signal and spread it to the speakers. If I want to use Sonos to play music, the Connect would be the input into my receiver. Would that work?
Thanks in advance.
Page 1 / 1
Yes.
You need to recognize that the Connect is a stereo input/output device, and wouldn't be able to handle any surround sound information.
Additionally, the input (line-in) on any device other than the optical input on the Playbar/Playbase twins is delayed by ~70ms, so if you were playing sound from the TV on both the marantz speakers and the Sonos ones at the same time, the Sonos speaker sound would be slightly delayed. You'd have an echo effect. This is generally frowned on by people who try it. However, if you were to turn off the Marantz' speakers while using the Sonos speakers to watch TV (or anything else plugged in to the Marantz), you'd be fine.
That doesn't apply to music being streamed out of the Connect. So if you're playing something through the Sonos ecosystem from the Connect, then the Sonos speakers would be in sync with the speakers on the Marantz, since any delay would have already happened before it is sent out of the analog outputs on the Connect.
If I'm being too obtuse, please feel free to call me on it. Ask questions. 🙂
You need to recognize that the Connect is a stereo input/output device, and wouldn't be able to handle any surround sound information.
Additionally, the input (line-in) on any device other than the optical input on the Playbar/Playbase twins is delayed by ~70ms, so if you were playing sound from the TV on both the marantz speakers and the Sonos ones at the same time, the Sonos speaker sound would be slightly delayed. You'd have an echo effect. This is generally frowned on by people who try it. However, if you were to turn off the Marantz' speakers while using the Sonos speakers to watch TV (or anything else plugged in to the Marantz), you'd be fine.
That doesn't apply to music being streamed out of the Connect. So if you're playing something through the Sonos ecosystem from the Connect, then the Sonos speakers would be in sync with the speakers on the Marantz, since any delay would have already happened before it is sent out of the analog outputs on the Connect.
If I'm being too obtuse, please feel free to call me on it. Ask questions. 🙂
Thanks! If there is a delay, wouldn't that affect lip sync if I'm watching TV?
But let me caveat my sincere agreement with John B here.....there appear to be some people who aren't bothered by that lip-sync delay. I'm not one of them, it would drive me crazy. Well, crazier.
Thanks. Doesn't look like the solution for me then. I'm basically looking for a way to add a wireless speaker to make what's playing in the living room a little more audible and clear in the kitchen/dining room area next to it. I thought it would be good to do that while adding Sonos' nifty music streaming capabilities.
Any ideas for other solutions that might work? I don't really want to replace the speakers or receiver because I like them.
Any ideas for other solutions that might work? I don't really want to replace the speakers or receiver because I like them.
It really depends on how "hearable" the TV room is from the kitchen. I fairly often group the kitchen with my TV when I'm cooking. There's enough separation/walls there that I really can't hear both except while walking between the two. If I could hear both rooms at the same time for more than 5 or 10 seconds, I'd be unhappy. But as for not missing data while cooking, it works incredibly well.
Hold on a moment, let me clarify my previous comment here, as I think it's true but may have misled you. You would still be feeding the TV audio direct to the receiver and existing speakers as now, correct? In which case there would be no audio lag introduced by the Connect when you are sitting watching the TV.
As @Airgetlam points out, to listen to TV sound in other rooms you would have to go through the line-in on the Connect. Assuming that you can play the direct TV sound at the same time there will be a bit of a lag, but that may not matter if you are in another room, or turn the direct speakers down. If anything there will be an echo, but there won't be a lip synch issue if you aren't looking at the lips!
There would be a lip synch issue if you were feeding the TV into the Connect and onto the receiver and speakers for your main TV watching, but I don't think that is what you are saying??
As @Airgetlam points out, to listen to TV sound in other rooms you would have to go through the line-in on the Connect. Assuming that you can play the direct TV sound at the same time there will be a bit of a lag, but that may not matter if you are in another room, or turn the direct speakers down. If anything there will be an echo, but there won't be a lip synch issue if you aren't looking at the lips!
There would be a lip synch issue if you were feeding the TV into the Connect and onto the receiver and speakers for your main TV watching, but I don't think that is what you are saying??
Also, if you were streaming music from Spotify, say, then your existing speakers, driven by the Connect input, will PROBABLY synch perfectly with other Sonos speakers. I say 'probably' because whilst the Connect and Sonos speakers will synch perfectly, the receiver itself may do some audio processing and introduce a lag. If so, this processing can often be turned off. With Sonos' refund policy you don't risk much by giving it a go.
I picked up a Connect and a Play 3 on the way home tonight. The delay makes it unworkable (you can definitely hear both sources from everywhere). I'll return the Connect, but might keep the Play just for playing music while cooking etc.
Enter your E-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.