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Having a new house build with a huge Great Room that is approx 24-36 in size.

  • I’m buying the Sonos ARC and Sub, but then I’m really limited to in-ceiling speakers (10’ high ceilings).
  • If I buy multiple Sonos Amps for in ceiling speakers, can I have one Amp configured for front speakers (in addition to the ARC), then then have a  second Amp configured for rear/surround Speakers?
  • concerned that just having the Arc and one set of rear in-ceiling speakers won’t be enough for such a large Great room and I need to get speaker wire installed before insulation and sheet rock gets installed in the next few weeks.
  • ‘I’d really appreciate any and all recommendation as I’m new to Sonos for large room configurations.  I’d rather lean towards more than end up with not enough speakers.

You can only add one pair of surround speakers to the Arc. The Arc already acts as the center, front left, and front right channels of the 5.1.2 setup, so adding two more front speakers with an Amp isn’t possible. You can only use one Amp and two in-ceiling speakers as surrounds only.

You do have the option of adding a second Sub as long as one Sub is a Gen 3. This would give you a 5.2.2 setup.


Honestly, your room size is big, but I don’t think it’s fully beyond the scope of the Arc. And I suspect you aren’t going to be watching movies 24ft back from the TV.  Your room is bit bigger than my  Family room/Kitchen/breakfast room space, but I never felt that it wasn’t loud enough.

What are your goals for the space?  Is this intended to be used for ‘serious’ home theatre use, or is it more of a casual, everyday living, watch football with friends sort of space?  y You could opt to use an amp for the front speakers, no Arc or Beam, and a 2nd amp for rear speakers.  That won’t give you atmos, but if that’s not a priority, then not a problem.

As well, the strong point of Sonos is that it’s wireless.  Since you are in construction and put wires in the walls, there certainly isn’t anything wrong with doing a traditional wired setup.  Even if you want to use Sonos to stream music, you can connect your wired system to Sonos via a Port.