Home Theatre finalization

G
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Hey guys,

 

I am currently making progress in our remodel and I wanted to double check my sonos planning before buying all the components.

In pink you will see all Sonos equipment I am planning for. For context I have a wemax nova 4k short throw and a 100” ALR screen, maybe upgrading to 120”

 

  • 2 subwofers on each side of the screen facing the couch
  • 1 sonos arc sound bar
  • 2 front ceiling speakers
  • 2 back ceiling speakers
  • 2 ceiling speakers on top of the dining/pool table

 

I want to confirm I will need, 3 amps? 1 for each pair of ceiling speakers?

 

Best,

 

12 replies

K
Userlevel 7
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Have you had a good search on here about the ARC and recent updates, maybe worth spending an hour?.

G
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hmm I did not hear anything about the ARC recently but will do some research, I was assuming that since it is a new product I wouldn’t have to worry about it

Airgetlam

Note that there is a difference between the Arc, a Sonos product, and ARC, which is short for Audio Return Channel. Poor naming, in my opinion, by Sonos, but there it is.

It would be useful to know, perhaps, what the intended use for the various ceiling speakers are. Do you intend, for instance, to set up one pair as surround speakers for the Arc? If so, you may be able to get away with just two Sonos Amps, one that drives four speakers (depending on impedance etc) and one driving the rear surround speakers, that would be bonded to the Arc. 

Two subwoofers can be bonded to the Arc, or you could bond one to the Arc, and one to the ceiling speakers that are not bonded in the home theater room. It’s not something easy to do on a frequent basis to bounce a subwoofer between Sonos “rooms”. Can be done, certainly, by no means impossible to do, but not something I’d recommend.

Basically, more information is needed here. You’ve given us detail about position and what, but not the intended use for each.  

Bruce
G
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The 4 ceiling speakers in the living room are intended to be used for our movie setup. Front and rear channels with the two subs and the arc bar.
 

The two ceiling speakers in the dining room are just for music 

 

Worth noting the couch won't be a L shape but just a single linear 3 seaters

 

 

Airgetlam

You can’t have four ceiling speakers and an Arc at the same time. Technically, that is. 

The Arc already has three channels built in to it. Front, Center and Right. There is no concept in the Sonos software of a separate “center channel” speaker, i.e. the Arc has all three channels in it, and you can’t separate them out. Essentially, if you’re going with an Arc, you can not have separate “front” speakers. 

If you were to choose to go without the Arc, you could use an Amp to drive a pair of “front” speakers, such as your ceiling speakers, but then you’d lose the ability of having a true “center” speaker, and you’d get the interpolated center channel from the output of the two front speakers. I’m told this is pretty good, but I’ve never tested it myself, I have a couple of Arcs in my home. 

You can “bond” with the Arc up to two subwoofers, and a pair of surround speakers (can either be a pair of Sonos speakers of the same type, or a Sonos Amp pushing a pair of passive speakers). You could conceivably push all four ceiling speakers, depending on impedance, etc, but then you’d lose a ton of the “surround” aspect on them and have everything muddied, from a listening perspective. I’d recommend against taking that avenue.

You’re better off using just a pair of ceiling speakers, behind the seating position, to act as your surrounds, and use the other pair, on a separate Amp, for music only purposes. 

As a comment, most folks recommend not using ceiling speakers for home theater use. The signal is designed to come in at “ear level” and not from above, and there are many who say that the sound coming from above is distracting. Which isn’t the case for music as much, especially in ambient situations where it’s not “critical” listening, but merely background music. 

Bruce
G
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Right now I have 2 sonos One as my surround in my apartment with a beam and one sub but in the house I don't really have the wall behind the couch to attach the two Ones as surround and don't want them on tripods. :( 

 

I know the ceiling are not gonna be as good as ear level but it's a compromise to cleanup the space.

 

So I think all I need to do is remove the 2 front ceiling speakers and the amp that was needed for it and instead have for the movie theater:

  • 1 sonos arc
  • 2 sonos sub on each side of the arc 
  • 2 sonos in ceiling above/behind the couch
  • 1 amp to drive the ceiling surround

And then for overall music in the dining area 

  • 2 sonos in ceiling speakers
  • 1 amp to drive them 

 

Which will create two areas from which I can play movie on one and music on the other or even just music on all area at once when needed

 

Now I've read thanks to the first comment that sonos will soon release Optima speakers so since my remodel will need another 2-3 months I might hold off and see what happens.

Airgetlam

That would work. I’d be tempted, based on the available funds, to get another Amp for those spare ceiling speakers, and use them for music, grouping those two Amp’s “rooms” together all the time. But that can certainly be a later project. 

 

I wouldn’t hold my breath on the “Optima” news. And The Verge has been only partially correct in the past. There’s no real guage of the accuracy of that “leak”. And Sonos won’t be talking /confirming anything until they’re essentially ready to start selling this new speaker, if it exists. 

And frankly, even if everything in their article is correct, it has essentially no impact whatsoever on the items you intend in your space. 

Bruce
buzz

goeff4sound,

Don’t attempt to use the dining area speakers while watching TV. There will be poor time alignment between the surround system and the table area speakers. Music will be time aligned in all areas.

G
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what do you mean by getting another amp? 

 

I would already have two amps, one for each zone. One for the two ceiling in the dining room and another one for the two rear in the living room / theater. I am no longer planning on getting the two front ceiling speakers in the living room and will just use the arc for front speakers. 

 

So a total of 4 ceiling speakers, 1 arc, 2 subs and 2 amps  for the entire floor.

Airgetlam

One Amp, in my situation, would be “bonded” with the Arc as surround speakers. The other two Amps would feed music to the “front ceiling” speakers, and the “pool table” speakers. That’s three total “rooms” in the Sonos software, the home theater room, the living room and the pool table room.

For music purposes, you can have one room, two rooms, or all three rooms grouped together and get synchronized music out of them.

As @buzz suggests, when playing the TV input on the home theater room, the other two rooms, if grouped, will be delayed by at least ~75ms.

Bruce
G
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Oh right but I'm completely removing the front ceiling speakers and only keeping the rear ceiling.

Airgetlam

Then that extra Amp isn’t needed. 

Bruce

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