Existing Audio System with Sonos

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Why is Sonos so protective of their stereo system? It's puzzling. Yes, I understand why. They believe they can. However, the market will inevitably demand a full surround sound experience from Sonos.

One can endlessly praise Sonos for their streaming capabilities. They dominate that market. Unfortunately, that doesn't equate to true surround sound. At best, it's Sonos' interpretation of surround sound. They are betting that millions of people won't notice the difference. So be it.

I'm frustrated because I have a beautiful Denon AV system alongside my Sonos setup. Integrating the two has been a disappointing experience. Yes, Sonos will point to their Port, but that's just a band-aid solution, producing stereo sound.

There's no point in going on and on, but I wish Sonos would listen. HDMI is here, but they don't seem to acknowledge it. I don't know of any Sonos product that uses HDMI. Why? Perhaps they feel they don't need to.

Maybe I'm just like Don Quixote, tilting at windmills.

Disappointed Sonos user.

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Stanley_4Answer

Grand Maestro

The Connect (unless broken) will go both ways with the Denon if it has available connections. I simply used my Denon's tape jacks to connect mine.

There of course be delayed sound issues to sort but that is another topic.

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jgatie

You do know that YouTube videos are stereo only unless you are paying for the premium subscription? Even videos marked as 5.1 are downmixed to PCM 2.0 to save space.

As to “going the other way”, both the Connect and the Port have RCA Line-Ins. For your purposes (playing stereo YouTube videos) RCA is sufficient to output from the Denon (if the Denon has RCA audio output) to the Sonos system in the same stereo format that is playing on the Denon. You can then simulate surround by using the Full/Ambient setting for Music Sources in the Sonos settings.

As to the Port getting HDMI input, I’m very doubtful that the fringe case of playing YouTube videos in another room where there is no screen is enough to push the needle. Indeed, it is the first time I’ve ever heard this request, and there are some really out there requests in here.