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ocho1288
Contributor I
September 26, 2019
Question

Beam with AMP and wired surraround speakers

I am interested in setting up a BEAM with 4 wired ceiling surround speakers. I understand I would need the AMP for the ceiling speakers and the BEAM would connect with the AMP. Has anyone done this before and can give feedback on the sound quality for both music and tv? Are there any drawbacks or concerns to this configuration?

This is for a basement surround system, which I know the beam is only for small/med. rooms, but the ceiling height is only 7' so I am thinking anything more than this might be overkill?
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    8 replies

    AjTrek1
    AjTrek1
    September 26, 2019
    Hi ocho

    Be sure to follow the guidelines given here when attaching speakers to the Amp. There should not be any drawbacks that I can think of. Sound quality really depends upon the speakers being used. However, surround material is not as robust as music so you may not have to be too concerned with speaker specs; although better is always better. 🙂
    Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.
    melvimbe
    melvimbe
    September 26, 2019
    I don't think 4 speakers is a good idea for surround sound. The rear channels are supposed to be placed from the rear left and right. Ideally not in the ceiling, but it's ok to do so. If you used four speakers, they would need to be placed rather close together in order to provide the correct effect.

    And if the room is relatively small, there's no need to have 4 speakers + beam for music.
    Danny
      AlB
      Contributor II
      December 31, 2019

      What sonos fails to mention in their hype is that with a connect amp for surrounds and beam you need to wire the beam to the connect amp with an Ethernet cable. Not convenient at all and flies in the face of their wireless music claims

      jgatie
      jgatie
      December 31, 2019

      What sonos fails to mention in their hype is that with a connect amp for surrounds and beam you need to wire the beam to the connect amp with an Ethernet cable. Not convenient at all and flies in the face of their wireless music claims

       

      That is for the Connect:Amp only, which is discontinued.  Sonos makes this quite clear in its FAQ:

       

      https://support.sonos.com/s/article/2237?language=en_US

       

      General guidelines:

       

       . . .

      My TV connects to my Sonos home theater speaker and my surround speakers connect to my Sonos Connect:Amp

      Here are the different network configurations supported by this:

       
      Both the Sonos home theater speaker and the Connect:Amp are wired to the router with an Ethernet cable
      The Sonos home theater speaker is wired to the Connect:Amp with an Ethernet cable and another Sonos product is wired to the router

       

      Jeff S
      Jeff S
      Retired Sonos Staff
      December 31, 2019

      @AlB Hi there, just a clarification. While jgatie is correct about the Connect:Amp, the newer Sonos Amp can be used to run rear speakers without the ethernet requirement of the older Connect:Amp. It’s a bit confusing with the similar names. For more information, please see this page.

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      AlB
      Contributor II
      January 2, 2020

      Some of us made SIGNIFICANT investments in sonos equipment a long time ago and really can’t afford to rebuy all new equipment at 600 per.  

      jgatie
      jgatie
      January 2, 2020

      Some of us made SIGNIFICANT investments in sonos equipment a long time ago and really can’t afford to rebuy all new equipment at 600 per.  

       

      So tell me, how is Sonos supposed to allow the Connect:Amp to communicate over 5 GHz wirelessly (5 GHz being necessary for the low latency needed to sync the surrounds with video), when the Connect:Amp predates the 5 GHz standard?  

      Also, no comment on your claim that “Sonos fails to mention” a Connect:Amp needs to be wired, when I’ve quoted them mentioning it quite clearly?  

      melvimbe
      melvimbe
      January 2, 2020

      Some of us made SIGNIFICANT investments in sonos equipment a long time ago and really can’t afford to rebuy all new equipment at 600 per.  

       

      To add to what jgatie stated already, the ‘wireless’ does not mean that every Sonos device can be bonded with any other Sonos device in whatever way you want it to.  You can wirelessly group rooms together, but that is not the same as a device playing rear channels for a Beam.  The Connect:Amp was created before there was a Sonos HT and wasn’t built with this capability in mind.  After Sonos created a HT, customers wanted to use ceiling speakers for rears, and Sonos added what functionality they could given the hardware limitations.

       

      In other words, Sonos actually has done what they possibly could to allow you to use Connect:amp in ways beyond it’s original design, so you don’t have to replace them with new products.  This is something a lot of other companies won’t do, as they would rather just sell a new product and earn a profit for their work.

      Danny
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