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Contributor III
January 17, 2018
Question

Outdoor speakers for sonos connect amp

Trying to decide which speakers to get for my backyard (pool area), i only want to put 2 of them either 2 atrium (1 pair) or 2 atrium 8 (1 pair) the atriums 8 have the capability for dual input making them a load speakers (Single stereo speaker), not sure how big of a benefit this is outdoor but it does sound interesting

Ill ordered the sonos amp, so not sure what would be my best option 🙂
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18 replies

Contributor III
January 18, 2018
Also this amp does 55w per channel right?
Chris
Lead Maestro
January 18, 2018
That's what I have heard before that it's a solid 55watts per channel.
Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
Chris
Lead Maestro
January 18, 2018
Well if they are really loud at 90% I don't think you have a problem. That is just one speaker - how does it sound with both hooked up.
Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
Contributor III
January 18, 2018
Im sure good, ill try in a bit, any issues running this thing at 90% for extended time?
January 18, 2018
No issues, as long as the amp is in a well ventilated place in the home. And it there is an issue brewing the amp will shut down before damaging itself, so you will get notice.

Modern amps have led people to believe that sound levels should be elevated early in the movement of the volume control, something that is designed to lead them to think that the amp is powerful. The Connect Amp does not do this, and keeps sound levels rising without distortion almost all the way to 100%.

As to sound levels for most speakers that do just one channel, having just one speaker on reduces the sound levels compared to both on and playing stereo together. So I don't know why for these speakers, r/l sounds louder. Recheck the wiring from the recommendations to see if an error there is the reason.
Contributor III
January 18, 2018
Awesome thanks for all replies... Now is there a way to check if the amp is working correctly without trying another one?
Chris
Lead Maestro
January 18, 2018
Sounds like it is working properly if you get good volume at 90%.
Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
Renowned Enthusiast II
January 18, 2018

I guess if I had the budget I would probably chose the ones that are actually each stereo. I assume it will sound better that way.

So would I, they would sound better. Almost every outdoor situation does better by not having the speakers play just one of the two channels because stereo imaging in a small sweet spot is rarely a desired outcome and one speaker usually dominates in its part of the space. Unfortunately, the Connect Amp does not have a mono toggle switch that would be very useful in these installs.


Just a word of caution, ‘stereo’ single speakers are not the simple fix they might appear to be.

I have ceiling speakers throughout, stereo pairs in the bedrooms, and single ‘stereo’ units (single bass driver, twin tweeters) in the bathrooms.

For weeks I was hearing strange anomalies in music I was very familiar with. Certain parts of the mix would disappear. I even queried this with the speaker manufacturer who confirmed that depending on the mix, certain parts could be electrically cancelled out (with the single bass driver) or acoustically cancelled out (with the twin tweeters being so close). It doesn’t happen a lot — but it is definitely something to bear in mind when considering single ‘stereo’ speakers.

Andrew