Question

Can I setup a SONOS this way? (AV receiver related)

  • 22 October 2016
  • 7 replies
  • 2109 views

I like what I've read about SONOS, but can't seem to figure out how to solve my situation. My use of the system would be more as a home theater as I will rarely be using for music alone. The real attraction is the wireless capability, and I really don't care much about streaming music.

My current setup is an Onkyo AV receiver, ext. speakers + subwoofer. I tend to watch a lot of TV using a headphone, using the headphone jack on the AV receiver connected to a bluetooth transmitter. This is to avoid disturbing family, or while watching programs with lot of swear words / or when the kids are studying. This feature is a must, and as I understand, SONOS does not have a headphone out so I can't really do it on the standard setup.

What are my options? Is there a way to connect SONOS to a AV receiver - for e.g. have all my sources connect to the AV receiver via HDMI (as I do now) and somehow get audio out to the playbar? I'm not very familiar with home theater setups but I just can't seem to figure out how to get my ideal setup working.

Bottomline - I want the wireless surround capability, willing to invest in SONOS, but I absolutely must have my TV "listen via headphones" capability

Any help/whether we can do this at all is appreciated

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7 replies

No, there's no way to do what you want, Sonos isn't the answer you're looking for.
Userlevel 3
Badge +2
There are too many unknowns as far as interoperability with your existing system. At best, it'll be inconvenient, at worst, you'll regret going to the trouble. That said, the Playbar with SUB and Surrounds is a beautiful sound.
Thanks both. Such a bummer.

@SBSurfer - I am ready to refresh my entire home theater. Planning to buy a new TV and everything else - my current system is ready for retirement. It sounds like SONOS is a no-go. Everything would be fine except there seems to be no way for me to listen to my TV through my Bluetooth headphones when I need to, that, unfortunately is a deal breaker for me given the patterns of viewing in my house.

Ugh, all for the want of a headphones out jack on the soundbar!
Userlevel 2
Badge +1
As far as I know, most TV sets do have an audio out jack that will let you plug the wireless headphones transmitter and broadcast the sound onto the headphones, right?

The question is: Is the sound that you want to listen to available on the TV set, or is it on another device?

If the sound is on the TV set, you've got your problem solved.
Buy a TV with a headphone output?
Userlevel 7
Badge +17
Even if sonos wireless surround is what you want, you would still need power sockets hidden in correct locations for each speaker, which could involve a lot of wall channelling. Just about get away with speaker wire running up door frames, under carpet etc but not power leads.
You could look at some sort of switch box with hdmi inputs and optical outputs for sonos playbar ,tv, wireless Bluetooth headphones.
Sonos is not really set up for visual connections, just audio.
You could look at a wireless chromecast and a/v receiver type solution.
It seems I may have a couple of solutions

a) I could use a HDMI switch w optical and use a optical-BT transmitter when I want

b) explore how a TV with a headphone out would work in this situation. For e.g. I would want the TV/speakers to go mute when I connect to the headphone jack (kind of like how AV receivers with headphone jacks behave)

Thank you all for your responses, seems like I'm getting somewhere!