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Help on what to get question…

  • 29 September 2022
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Z
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Hello everyone!

I am planning to buy a Sonos system but I have a lots of doubts about what to get, hope you can help me.

The system is for a house bar, we play everything trough the TV (Youtube, spotify, netflix, sport games in the TV, etc) we do not watch movies, just music videos in youtube or just music from spotify, the sustem will be for music; so I am planning to use an ARC with the sub for it, also I want to add two ones but no to use them as sorrounds, my question is: This set up would work good for music? It would be loud and clear? What if I change the ones with two fives, this would sound good with the arc? Is this set up Im planning to get a good idea or it would be better to use an amp with regular speakers? 
Hope you could help me, thanks in advance! 
 

PS: One of the reasons I am thinking to get sonos is that I also want to have the option to add more speakers in another space of the house where I could play the same music of the bar at the same time.

Remember, the main or only source of the music is the TV, thats why the ARC is in the setup.

One last question, if I want to play and watch in the TV a Game, am i would be able to use all the system playing music with my cellphone as the source for it?

Again, thank you!

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Best answer by buzz 30 September 2022, 00:42

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6 replies

melvimbe

Hello everyone!

I am planning to buy a Sonos system but I have a lots of doubts about what to get, hope you can help me.

The system is for a house bar, we play everything trough the TV (Youtube, spotify, netflix, sport games in the TV, etc) we do not watch movies, just music videos in youtube or just music from spotify, the sustem will be for music; so I am planning to use an ARC with the sub for it, also I want to add two ones but no to use them as sorrounds, my question is: This set up would work good for music? It would be loud and clear? What if I change the ones with two fives, this would sound good with the arc? Is this set up Im planning to get a good idea or it would be better to use an amp with regular speakers? 
Hope you could help me, thanks in advance! 

 

 

I think it would be better to use an amp with regular speakers for this case.  Here’s some background.  The basic structure of a Sonos system is that it is made up of separate rooms you define in the Sonos app. Rooms can play the same audio when grouped, or play music separately.  Each room is made of a speaker or several speakers bonded together, but there are restrictions on what speakers can be bonded together.  For example, if you have an Arc, you can bond a sub to it, and you can bond a pair of speakers for surround sound.  You can’t bond another pair for front stereo speakers.

Another thing about grouping rooms together.  If the source is streaming, all the rooms will play in perfect sync.  If the source is TV, then the room connected to the TV plays immediately to match the video, while other rooms play slightly behind it.   It’s not an issue of your rooms are actually separate physical rooms, but if you put 2 Sonos rooms in the same physical room, you’ll hear an echo.

 

 

 

PS: One of the reasons I am thinking to get sonos is that I also want to have the option to add more speakers in another space of the house where I could play the same music of the bar at the same time.

 

 

Yep, this won’t be a problem.

Remember, the main or only source of the music is the TV, thats why the ARC is in the setup.

One last question, if I want to play and watch in the TV a Game, am i would be able to use all the system playing music with my cellphone as the source for it?

 

 

Not sure I understand the question, but are you saying you would want to watch TV in the Bar room, but play different music in the other rooms in our house?  Yes, you can do that.  However, Sonos is primarily designed for WiFi, meaning streaming music comes directly from internet to the speakers, not through your phone.  The Sonos app is just a controller.  Roam and Move are portable with bluetooth capabilities to play off your phone though.  And all current Sonos speakers are Apple airplay compatible.

 

Again, thank you!

 

Danny
Z

Hi Danny, thanks for your quick response.

So, there is no way I can play sound from youtube trought the ARC connected to te TV and the bar paired to the sub and two ones? Also pair this sound to another room wich would have also two ones and a mini sub?

all the ones will not work as a sorround speakers, can I do that? 

melvimbe

Hi Danny, thanks for your quick response.

So, there is no way I can play sound from youtube trought the ARC connected to te TV and the bar paired to the sub and two ones?

 

 

Again, not sure I understand the question.  If you bond an Arc+Sub+2 Ones into a single room, the Ones will play surround sound for TV audio.  You said you didn't want that.  You can set it up as Arc+sub is Room A, 2 Ones as Room B, but if the rooms A & B are in the same physical room, you’ll get an echo for TV audio.  Room A will play first to sync with the video on the TV, Room B will be slightly delayed for buffering reasons.

 

Also pair this sound to another room wich would have also two ones and a mini sub?

 

 

“Pair” is the wrong word in Sonos terminology. “Pair” means you have 2 speakers bonded together always play the same audio source at same volume in stereo as a pair, a Sonos room.  “Group” is the word you mean in this context.  Your bar room and this other room can be temporarily grouped to play together.  Although again, the bar room will be slightly ahead of the other room for buffering reasons, which won’t be a problem if you can’t hear the bar room from the other room and vice versa.

 

all the ones will not work as a sorround speakers, can I do that? 

 

Danny
buzz

ARC will play audio that the TV sends over it’s eARC connection to ARC. If your TV or a “box” used as an input to the TV (such as a Blu-ray player of an AppleTV) or if the TV offers “Apps” (such as built-in YouTube), this audio will play on ARC or any Room Grouped with ARC. Note that there is a slight time offset with the other Grouped Rooms when playing TV audio. This offset is usually not significant unless a Grouped Room is also audible in the same space as ARC.

Music, such as Internet Radio will be time aligned with all members of a Group.

Z

ARC will play audio that the TV sends over it’s eARC connection to ARC. If your TV or a “box” used as an input to the TV (such as a Blu-ray player of an AppleTV) or if the TV offers “Apps” (such as built-in YouTube), this audio will play on ARC or any Room Grouped with ARC. Note that there is a slight time offset with the other Grouped Rooms when playing TV audio. This offset is usually not significant unless a Grouped Room is also audible in the same space as ARC.

Music, such as Internet Radio will be time aligned with all members of a Group.

ARC will play audio that the TV sends over it’s eARC connection to ARC. If your TV or a “box” used as an input to the TV (such as a Blu-ray player of an AppleTV) or if the TV offers “Apps” (such as built-in YouTube), this audio will play on ARC or any Room Grouped with ARC. Note that there is a slight time offset with the other Grouped Rooms when playing TV audio. This offset is usually not significant unless a Grouped Room is also audible in the same space as ARC.

Music, such as Internet Radio will be time aligned with all members of a Group.

And what do you think about using the ARC as a main speaker for music?

If I grouped an ARC, a sub and two ones, there is any way to not use the ones s sorround sound but a stereo ?

buzz

“Group” is when you are lashing multiple Rooms together, playing the same source. You can “Bond” two identical speakers into a pair, or or Bond front, rear, and surrounds. These Bonded collections then become a “Room” as you deal with them on a controller.

If you are playing stereo music, ARC and the rear speakers will play in stereo.

Typically, traditional L/R speakers will be spaced farther apart than with ARC’s  L/R. Ideally, the L/R speakers will be approximately as far from each other as you are from the speakers. ARC will throw sound out the ends, reflecting it from walls, This has plus and minus points. The plus is that ARC can project “object oriented” audio when working with appropriate music data formats. The goal here is to allow the producer to assign a 3D point of origin for an instrument and the ultimate listener will be aware of this. The minus is that the room walls, cabinets, furniture, windows, and textures are somewhat haphazard and the reflections may or may not work constructively.

If you want to play stereo only from ARC or only from the rears, you’d need to break the Room apart and reconfigure into two SONOS Rooms. If there is a SUB, it would then need to be assigned to ARC or the two smaller speakers. While this is not super difficult, this tearing down and reconfiguring the system will become an unwelcome chore after a while.

Only you know what sounds “best” (to you). Be prepared for others to disagree and feel free to disagree with others. The only advantage that a more experienced person might have is if you bring up a specific complaint, the experienced person might be able to suggest how to improve the sound, but you are still the ultimate authority on “best”.

“Loud” is interesting. We humans have been conditioned to equate distorted with “loud” We tend to increase the level to the point where we perceive distortion, then accept this as “loud”. In typical audio gear we increase the level until we bump into the power limit of the system, then the distortion begins and it’s “loud”. In this context SONOS will never sound “loud” because it is well protected and it will reduce the output or shut down if you push too far -- without ever entering this distorted (“loud”) region.

In my college apartment we could run the system at levels where verbal communication was nearly impossible, but the sound was clean. We’d get constant requests to “turn it up” yelled in our ear. The same crew of listeners in another apartment, listening to a terrible little compact unit that was struggling to stay alive, would feel that that system was “loud”. There were no “turn it up” requests, and conversation was relatively easy.

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