Contributor I

Advice on New Sonos Setup

8 replies
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Hi All
We’re in the process of updating our kitchen/living/diner area and we are installing 6x ceiling mounted speakers (the area is around 80m2). I’m just trying to work out what Sonos equipment I need to achieve the following:

• 2 ‘zones’ – 1 zone that will serve 4 ceiling speakers, the other zone will serve 2 ceiling speakers
• Zone 1 (TV Zone) – QLED TV with Sonos soundbar & 2x ceiling speakers
• Zone 2 (Music Zone) – 1x turntable, PC & Smart devices
• The ability to connect the 2 ‘zones’ so the same music can be output across both ‘zones’

I already have 6x Dali Phantom E60 ceiling speakers. The equipment I’m thinking of purchasing is listed below:

• 2x New Sonos AMP – Available February
• 1x Sonos Playbar
• 1x Samsung 65” QLED TV - QE65Q9FNATXXU

Can I connect the Sonos Playbar and 2x ceiling speakers directly to AMP1 and then connect the TV to AMP1 via HDMI-ARC? Is that the only I would need between the TV and AMP?

With AMP2 I plan to purchase 2-way speaker switch to allow connectivity to the 4x ceiling speakers. Other than that, AMP2 should be straightforward as I only to have a turntable, PC and smart devices connected to it.

Does the above setup sound OK? Any thoughts, advice appreciated.

Many Thanks

Chris

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melvimbe

Hi All
We’re in the process of updating our kitchen/living/diner area and we are installing 6x ceiling mounted speakers (the area is around 80m2). I’m just trying to work out what Sonos equipment I need to achieve the following:

• 2 ‘zones’ – 1 zone that will serve 4 ceiling speakers, the other zone will serve 2 ceiling speakers
• Zone 1 (TV Zone) – QLED TV with Sonos soundbar & 2x ceiling speakers
• Zone 2 (Music Zone) – 1x turntable, PC & Smart devices
• The ability to connect the 2 ‘zones’ so the same music can be output across both ‘zones’

Zone 2 is 4 speakers, correct? For the PC and Smart devices, this will be connected wirelessly, not through a line-in connection, correct?

I already have 6x Dali Phantom E60 ceiling speakers. The equipment I’m thinking of purchasing is listed below:

• 2x New Sonos AMP – Available February
• 1x Sonos Playbar
• 1x Samsung 65” QLED TV - QE65Q9FNATXXU

Can I connect the Sonos Playbar and 2x ceiling speakers directly to AMP1 and then connect the TV to AMP1 via HDMI-ARC? Is that the only I would need between the TV and AMP?

No. That setup won't work. The playbar needs to be directly connected to the TV, as the TV will be the 'master' of the home theatre setup. The Sonos amp can then connect to the Amp wired or wirelessly. (The connect:amp requires a wired setup). Also, you're intending to use the 2 ceiling speakers for surround sound, correct? You didn't mention that, so I want to be sure. If you want the ceiling to be additional front speakers, Sonos doesn't support that.

BTW, the Sonos amp is available now.

With AMP2 I plan to purchase 2-way speaker switch to allow connectivity to the 4x ceiling speakers. Other than that, AMP2 should be straightforward as I only to have a turntable, PC and smart devices connected to it.

You don't need the speaker switch, unless you want the ability to control the 2 pairs separately by volume.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/265?language=en_US

Does the above setup sound OK? Any thoughts, advice appreciated.

Many Thanks

Chris

The one thought I have is that having these 2 zones in the same physical space will be fine for music playback, but an issue with TV audio. Your zone 2 will be slightly behind zone 1, creating an echo effect. Not a big deal if you do not intend to use zone 2 for TV audio.

Danny

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HRBL11Author

Contributor I

Hi Danny
Thanks for coming back to me so quickly.

Yes, Zone 2 is 4 speakers and 'Yes' I'm fine to connect those devices (PC and Smart Devices) wirelessly.

I now understand that the Playbar should be connected to the TV via optical cable.
Yes, I would like to use 2x ceiling speakers to be part of 'Zone 1'. So 'Zone 1' would consist of TV, Playbar, Sonos AMP & 2x ceiling speakers. Is it not possible to connect the TV to the Sonos AMP and for audio to output via the ceiling speakers?

I now understand that I don't need a speaker switch. Thanks for the KB article and I will remove the switch from the shopping list 🙂

I don't intend to use the two zones for TV audio. I'll only ever want to use the two zones for music audio.

Thanks again, your help is much appreciated.

Cheers

Chris

melvimbe

I now understand that the Playbar should be connected to the TV via optical cable.
Yes, I would like to use 2x ceiling speakers to be part of 'Zone 1'. So 'Zone 1' would consist of TV, Playbar, Sonos AMP & 2x ceiling speakers. Is it not possible to connect the TV to the Sonos AMP and for audio to output via the ceiling speakers?

Sorry, I explained this very poorly. Yes, you can connect the Sonos Amp to the TV, and it can then output front left and right ceiling speakers. With this setup though, you can't send TV audio to a playbar. The playbar has to be connected to the TV itself. Additionally, if the Sonos amp is connected is directly connected to the TV, it can only power the front speakers. You can use a second amp for surround sound (but this isn't what you're looking for?)

Are you wanting to have the Amp and playbar both play front speakers for TV? If so, why? It's redundant. I suppose you could get some sort of optical audio splitter to play both with the TV, but it's still redundant.

Danny

H

HRBL11Author

Contributor I

OK, got it. I was thinking that I could somehow boost the audio output of the TV by connecting a playbar & ceiling speakers via the Sonos AMP.........I now understand that's not possible.

So, in 'Zone 1', if I go for the TV, AMP & 2x ceiling speaker setup, is there any another Sonos device I could easily add to the AMP to boost the TV audio?

Thanks again.

Chris

K

Kevin C

Contributor III

I am looking to do a similar setup and am a little confused by this thread. How should the surround sound part of the system be connected if it is going to consist of a TV, a playbar, right and left rear ceiling speakers, and the sonos Amp? If configured correctly, can the playbar and the 2 ceiling speakers in zone 1 also be used to play music simultaneously with the 4 other speakers Chris plans to install in zone 2? Finally, can a subwoofer be added to the mix in the surround sound setup and if so, how should it be connected?

Airgetlam

Effectively, you need to think of surround speakers as part of a 5.1 system, and not easily separated out. So if you're going to use them for music, you'll also be using the rest of them in that 5.1 system, the soundbar and sub as well. That's one "zone", which in Sonos parlance is known as a "room". Any number of "rooms" can be grouped together to play in sync, when playing music.

Well, technically when playing anything. But when using the line in on the soundbar and grouping other rooms with the TV input, there's a slight delay between the two rooms. But that delay doesn't exist when playing music in any / all rooms, it's only the TV sound that has that issue.

So yes, zone 1 and zone 2 (rooms 1 and 2, and any other rooms that Chris sets up) can be played in sync when playing music.

I'm not sure I understand your question about the SUB. It's set up with the soundbar in the same way as normal.

Bruce

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Kevin C

Contributor III

My confusion is really about the wired and wireless connections. Let's say I want to set up a 5.1 system with the playbar, a sub, and two play ones for the rears. The playbar needs a hardwire connection to the TV. Then can everything else be connected wirelessly to form the 5.1 surround system and be recognized as a single room when it comes to playing music?

Airgetlam

So, basically, yes.

In a 5.1 system, the "root" speaker is the soundbar. Could be a PLAYBAR, PLAYBASE, or Beam. Those soundbars would be wired to the TV, either with optical connections in the case of the first two options, or optical/HDMI-ARC in the case of the Beam.

Then when a SUB and surrounds are "bonded" to the soundbar, they would then communicate on a low latency 5Ghz connection. The soundbar would still connect to your wifi either by a direct ethernet cable, or by a 2.4Ghz connection. It's only the connection between the soundbar and any "bonded" (which has a very specific meaning in the Sonos world) speakers that would be on 5Ghz. Mostly as it's not particularly good at going through multiple walls, and I suspect there's a certain amount of "and it connects to all the speakers we've ever made" portion in there.

So music is across 2.4 Ghz wifi or ethernet cable to the soundbar, then it gets spread out to bonded speakers on 5Ghz. For "grouped" speakers (again, a very specific term) of any and all other Sonos devices, the communication would be on 2.4Ghz.

Bruce

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