Instaling Sonos in my new home, Help!!!

Hi Diogo R

Welcome to Sonos. Here are my recommendations and you may get others.

On the ground floor:
I want a system that provides 5,1 sound from my tv as well as general music.
I want to be able to do Alexa voice control.
Due to the size of the tv (55") and the size of the living room I have decided for the playbar and sub and 2 Ones.


The Playbar, Sub and Sonos Ones will fulfill all above. You'll have to read your TV's manual to know if it will pass DD5.1 over optical.

You can set the Sonos One's to Full for music and ambieint for surround. Once set they will switch automatically depending upon the material they receive.

The music will play from the Playbar and surrounds with the sub. You'll be able to adjust the volume of the Playbar and surrounds independently during music playback.


Do I need a boost or use the home wifi?
What are the advantages os conecting the playbar to a ethrnet port near the TV? Does it make the conection better for other speakers?

Usinig Ethernet sets your Sonos as Wired (Boost) mode to use the SonosMesh which can be better than home Wi-Fi in some instances to negate interference from other devices. Wired can improve connection with other speakers when Grouping them to Sonos in other parts of your home. You can start with Wi-Fi to see how that works and later switch to Wired if needed.


Upstairs:
bedroom is quite small, so what to buy?
How do I ensure that the signal will still be good upstairs?
DO I get any advantage on connecting a speaker to a ethernet port?

If wanting a dual purpose speaker in the bedroom a Sonos Beam would be perfect. Enhanced TV sound and music. Getting a good signal may be OK with your Wi-Fi or you may need to go Wired (Boost) Mode. You won't know until you setup the speaker.

If all you want is Music in the bedroom than I'd go with two Sonos One's set in stereo pair.

The Sonos One's and the Beam provide Alexa voice assistance and Airplay 2 support.
Let's us know what you decide.

Note: You can use an iOS device to use TruePlay via the Sonos App to tune your speakers in each room.

Cheers!

Tks. Good answer. One more doubt. Imagine I am watching a movie in my sofa (mode: movie room) and enjoying 5.1 with surround ones, and suddenly want to chang for mucic and listen to all the speakers (bat, sub and ones) all at the same time with the same volume. Can I do this instantly on the app by changing all the speakers to a different setting (imagine: living room) or will I have to increase the volume of the Ones manually once they were in surround mode?

No need to change settings, as soon as the audio source changes from the TV input to anything else, Sonos will switch to the music mode automatically. If you have chosen the "full" setting as described above, this means getting stereo from the bar and stereo from the surround speaker pair. The volume ratio between the surround pair and the bar can be adjusted separately for TV mode and music mode.

One remark: TV mode is used for any and all sound coming from the TV, so if your TV pushes music to Sonos, it will remain in TV mode. The auto-switch above is true for all other music sources within the Sonos app.

Tks. Good answer. One more doubt. Imagine I am watching a movie in my sofa (mode: movie room) and enjoying 5.1 with surround ones, and suddenly want to chang for mucic and listen to all the speakers (bat, sub and ones) all at the same time with the same volume. Can I do this instantly on the app by changing all the speakers to a different setting (imagine: living room) or will I have to increase the volume of the Ones manually once they were in surround mode?

Hi Diogo R

As I said in my first answer....once you have set the surrounds to Full for music the switch from surround mode to Music mode is automatic. Here's a link on Home Theater setup. The 3rd sub-link explains all about setting up your surround speakers:

https://www.sonos.com/en-us/support/home-theater

Note: The Playbar typically requires a higher setting for TV audio...that's normal. Use caution when moving from TV audio to music as the level of the Playbar may be a bit too high. My suggestion is to take the fews seconds it requires to lower the volume of your Playbar via the Sonos App or your remote before engaging music play back.

Cheers!

No need to change settings, as soon as the audio source changes from the TV input to anything else, Sonos will switch to the music mode automatically. If you have chosen the "full" setting as described above, this means getting stereo from the bar and stereo from the surround speaker pair. The volume ratio between the surround pair and the bar can be adjusted separately for TV mode and music mode.

One remark: TV mode is used for any and all sound coming from the TV, so if your TV pushes music to Sonos, it will remain in TV mode. The auto-switch above is true for all other music sources within the Sonos app.

Please keep in mind that, from my experience, if you add the Sub your soundbar will not be able to create a balanced listening experience. In home theatre mode the Sub will create great low rumbles, but the soundbar will not be able to match the L/R front channels in a balanced way. For music it's even worse since most music is mixed to provide a stereo sounds stage that is ok with just the soundbar, but from my listening experience, extremely unbalanced with the Sub. You can turn the Sub down, but then what's the point of paying so much for it?

Unfortunately, the solution of adding L/R dedicated front speakers (such as the play:1, play:3 or play:5 is not currently possible and Sonos will not say if it ever will be).

I did not know that this limitation existed until I made the investment in all the equipment. If you plan to add the Sub, I think you will waste your money and should look at another solution. Without the sub, for a small room the 5.1 solution with virtual L/R front speakers is acceptable.

I hope this helps.

Please keep in mind that, from my experience, if you add the Sub your soundbar will not be able to create a balanced listening experience. In home theatre mode the Sub will create great low rumbles, but the soundbar will not be able to match the L/R front channels in a balanced way. For music it's even worse since most music is mixed to provide a stereo sounds stage that is ok with just the soundbar, but from my listening experience, extremely unbalanced with the Sub. You can turn the Sub down, but then what's the point of paying so much for it?

Unfortunately, the solution of adding L/R dedicated front speakers (such as the play:1, play:3 or play:5 is not currently possible and Sonos will not say if it ever will be).

I did not know that this limitation existed until I made the investment in all the equipment. If you plan to add the Sub, I think you will waste your money and should look at another solution. Without the sub, for a small room the 5.1 solution with virtual L/R front speakers is acceptable.

I hope this helps.


Hi Diogo R

I rarely disagree to the level I'm about to with any Community Member but what ynalezinski just said is incorrect on so many levels. May be s/he had a bad experience or just didn't know how to setup the system properly:?

The Playbar carries the L/C/R channels as it is suppose to. The Sub and Surrounds are Bonded to the Playbar. The Playbar is a computer that analyzes the signals it receives and extrapolates them at a crossover point to the sub and concurrently sends the surround material to the surround speakers. This same process occurs for TV audio and music.

When music is played think of having two stereo speakers in front and two in the rear; the sub still receives the low-end. To be honest the Playbar will not give the same separation of a front stage with music as two separate speakers. By the same token neither will a competitors sound-bar. Anyone with half-a-brain knows that there is tradeoff when listening to music played through a soundbar versus two speakers. I've yet to find a single thread in this forum (until now) that said the sub worsen the listening experience.

As Sonos and most retailers have at least a 15 day return policy (Sonos 45 days) just buy the speakers you want and audition them and decide for yourself (maybe something ynalezinski should have done). I'm confident you'll keep them. Be sure to use an iOS device to engage Trueplay in the Sonos app to tune the speakers to your environment. If you don't use an iOS device I recommend borrowing one.

I hope this helps and encourages you to make your own informed decision. Cheers!

Well, with half brain or not, help me out. Imagine I am watching a DVD concert in my Tv, and I want to change my 5.1 definitions in order for the Ones to be full and not just surround. Is it easy to make this change?

Well, with half brain or not, help me out. Imagine I am watching a DVD concert in my Tv, and I want to change my 5.1 definitions in order for the Ones to be full and not just surround. Is it easy to make this change?

Sonos will analyze the source material.. if there is material encoded as surround that is how it will present it to the rears in an HT setup The rears will play what they are sent.

If the source is encoded as music (stereo) and you previously set the surrounds as described in the link I provided then they will play as Full automatically.

Any other adjustments will have to made secondary by the user. In any event you can’t force surround material to play as if it’s not unless you have a mixing board and can change the encoding. 🙂

Well, with half brain or not, help me out. Imagine I am watching a DVD concert in my Tv, and I want to change my 5.1 definitions in order for the Ones to be full and not just surround. Is it easy to make this change?It sounds like the TV/DVD output is in PCM stereo, rather than DD 5.1 ... You can check the audio output by opening the Sonos App, goto 'Settings/About my Sonos System' ... look for the Beam in your device list and it will show the type of audio output that is currently playing.

If it’s 'stereo' (as I suspect), then obviously the rear Left/Right Channels in 'every' 5.1 System are not normally used for that type of TV output.

Thats great! Even so, I use a lot of Plex as a media server in my apple TV. If I select a Music concert on Plex and play it in the AppleTv, will sonos automatically convert to full music or it will still be 5.1 surround?