Question
New home - combo of wired speakers and playbar 5.1 set up?
I didn't do enough homework on our new construction project. I have New wired speakers in 6 areas - but just removed a wired 5.1 set up in the great big room with 22ft ceilings. My plan now is to get a few connect amps for the wired speakers and I'm looking at a Playbar, sub, and Play 3's for the 5.1 system... and maybe supplement with a play 5 later... I know if I set it up right I'll be able to play specific music in specific zones. My question is - will it all sound good if I play the same music in ALL the zones? Including the 5.1 set up?
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As long as the source is coming from Sonos to everything else, yep, it will sound great. However, if you're using something connected to regular speakers and feeding the sound from that to the Sonos speakers, there will be a slight delay.
Not sure I understand the difference... I have an AV rack with all of my computer networking stuff on it too... 48 port ubiquiti router, and an AV receiver... If I use pandora or iTunes, I assume it will all sound good. What if I'm listening to FM radio?
Also - what is up with the weird spam posts in active topics... they are quoting my first post??????
Also - what is up with the weird spam posts in active topics... they are quoting my first post??????
Ignore those, they'll go away soon enough. Someone's spamming the board, and used your post to get around the "filter".
The simple fact is that any analog input to the Sonos system incurs a small delay in order to do 2 things. First, it has to change it from analog to digital, and then it has to buffer it so that it can be played simultaneously across all potential Sonos devices (up to 32). The minimum amount of this delay is around 75ms, I'm told, but you can make it much worse by changing other settings. A fact I found out by personal experience the other night while messing with a friend's setup 🙂 I think it may have been 3 or 4 seconds, when setting the line-in to compressed, but I didn't actually measure it.
However, if the "source" of your music is initiated / downloaded from the internet by your Sonos system, the delay has already been "paid", and if you're feeding that music from the analog output on a CONNECT, for instance, and playing the result on your receiver and it's attached speakers, it all speakers will be in sync, both the Sonos and the receiver's speakers.
However, if your pushing music from the receiver in to the Sonos ecosystem, likely via the CONNECT, you have to pay for that buffering, and the Sonos speakers will be slightly behind the receiver's speakers.
As to playing FM radio, you can easily use one of Sonos' radio streams, they have both TuneIn, and iHeartRadio, amongst others, and in that case, you've be in the first situation, where all your speakers would be in sync. If you wanted to use the tuner on your receiver, they'd not be in sync.
I recognize this is a bit confusing....if I haven't been clear, ask more questions, and I'll do my best to answer so that it makes more sense 🙂
The simple fact is that any analog input to the Sonos system incurs a small delay in order to do 2 things. First, it has to change it from analog to digital, and then it has to buffer it so that it can be played simultaneously across all potential Sonos devices (up to 32). The minimum amount of this delay is around 75ms, I'm told, but you can make it much worse by changing other settings. A fact I found out by personal experience the other night while messing with a friend's setup 🙂 I think it may have been 3 or 4 seconds, when setting the line-in to compressed, but I didn't actually measure it.
However, if the "source" of your music is initiated / downloaded from the internet by your Sonos system, the delay has already been "paid", and if you're feeding that music from the analog output on a CONNECT, for instance, and playing the result on your receiver and it's attached speakers, it all speakers will be in sync, both the Sonos and the receiver's speakers.
However, if your pushing music from the receiver in to the Sonos ecosystem, likely via the CONNECT, you have to pay for that buffering, and the Sonos speakers will be slightly behind the receiver's speakers.
As to playing FM radio, you can easily use one of Sonos' radio streams, they have both TuneIn, and iHeartRadio, amongst others, and in that case, you've be in the first situation, where all your speakers would be in sync. If you wanted to use the tuner on your receiver, they'd not be in sync.
I recognize this is a bit confusing....if I haven't been clear, ask more questions, and I'll do my best to answer so that it makes more sense 🙂
Laugh. I just ran into a new one in which they copied one of my posts, too. Trust me, it's nothing personal. 🙂
That's where I ended up. Had 2 for 5.1 setups......before I bought in to Sonos. Soon enough, I figured out that everything I was doing on the receiver, I could do in Sonos, and I de-cluttered 🙂 Got rid of a whole bunch of cables.
A follow up questions, If I buy 4 Connect amps for the various zones for the wired speakers....can I use the Line In to add an FM receiver? If that works - can I get the FM signal to play over a Play 5 in another area?
Any signal you feed into any Sonos product (Playbar /Connect /Play5 etc) can be seen by all the other Sonos items and played simultaneously over all speakers.
For me I have the Playbar 5.1 setup, another Play:1 and a Play:3. Never needed FM input as all the stations are on TuneIn etc but you can feed a radio in via your connect.
If you have a lot of CD's a NAS drive is a good investment, my WD MyCloud was cheap and works flawlessly with Sonos.
If you wanted your Connect input to be played across every speaker you just have to group the rooms together via the Sonos app, very quick.
For me I have the Playbar 5.1 setup, another Play:1 and a Play:3. Never needed FM input as all the stations are on TuneIn etc but you can feed a radio in via your connect.
If you have a lot of CD's a NAS drive is a good investment, my WD MyCloud was cheap and works flawlessly with Sonos.
If you wanted your Connect input to be played across every speaker you just have to group the rooms together via the Sonos app, very quick.
One more configuration question - If I wanted to same some money and use an existing amp and an existing russound speaker switch, (connecting 12 speakers) - I'd connect that to a CONNECT - and if I wanted to hear that music on a play 5 in a different part of the house - would there be a noticeable lag or out of sync music?
Basically, no lag. However, it's not so much about what equipment you use but how you connect the equipment.
I'm not sure if it makes sense to look at it a different way. Essentially, if you can visualize where the audio signals are traveling between the source and ultimately to speakers, as long as it goes through your sonos equipment before it hits any speakers, you are not going to see a lag.
For example, if you have a CD player, and you connect it directly to your amp, then it will go from CD player -> amp -> switch -> speakers. While the same audio playing on the play:5 will follow the path of CD polayer -> amp -> CONNECT -> Play:5. You will hear lag with this setup. Audio going to the 1st set of speakers (12) will never pass through Sonos, thus Sonos doesn't have an opportunity to properly buffer.
Instead, connect the CD player to the CONNECT. That way the audio will always pass through Sonos before reaching any of your speakers, and Sonos can properly buffer.
I'm not sure if it makes sense to look at it a different way. Essentially, if you can visualize where the audio signals are traveling between the source and ultimately to speakers, as long as it goes through your sonos equipment before it hits any speakers, you are not going to see a lag.
For example, if you have a CD player, and you connect it directly to your amp, then it will go from CD player -> amp -> switch -> speakers. While the same audio playing on the play:5 will follow the path of CD polayer -> amp -> CONNECT -> Play:5. You will hear lag with this setup. Audio going to the 1st set of speakers (12) will never pass through Sonos, thus Sonos doesn't have an opportunity to properly buffer.
Instead, connect the CD player to the CONNECT. That way the audio will always pass through Sonos before reaching any of your speakers, and Sonos can properly buffer.
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