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Outdoor system recommendation

  • 16 August 2023
  • 5 replies
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F
  • FAF
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  • 6 replies

I am actually looking for sales advice, or a recommendation. I am trying to determine the best setup for my back patio. In my living room I have an ARC + a sub and a pair of One SL’s for surround.  I also have another room set with a port for my LP & CD’s. I also have a Roam that is a weak fix for my outdoor or garage use now..

We recently installed a new patio with covered area for an outdoor living and dining area. Winters can be unpredictable in Boise, so I have not decided if I should install an amp with outdoor speakers or go with a Move - however I am buying a TV cart so I can watch sports outside until the weather gets gnarly, and then wheel it inside.  Which would bring something like a Ray + sub mini as a possibility. I do not need super loud outdoors, just efficient sound that is mostly used for music, but also able to connect to the second TV. 

I am trying to determine what will best suit my needs and am looking for recommendations for the best direction. I am not even familiar with the Era products to bring them into this discussion, but I am open to ideas.

One more thing - being sincere - even my current configuration can be confusing to navigate on the app, so I would say that ease of use is as important as sound.  

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Best answer by melvimbe 16 August 2023, 22:35

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5 replies

F

Maybe I am not asking an intelligent question, as there doesn't seem to be any intelligent answer - as from what I can tell Sonos doesn't have a good product solution for me other than buying multiple pieces. 

A Sonos Move will not connect to the TV

A Sonos Ray (or Arc or Beam) Would not be available if the TV was not in the room

A Sonos Amp would only help if hardwired to the TV

So, I will need another Sonos Port dedicated to the TV to send the signal from the TV back to the main system, but then I would need a speaker to receive and playback the signal outdoors? 

melvimbe

I went with a similar setup years ago.   I had an amp powering outdoor speakers, and a TV on a rolling cart that I would roll out when I wanted it.  The amp and TV were connected via HDMI cable (ARC)...two cables actually.  I had the amp connected to the back side of wall plate near where the the TV would be.  Then I would use the second cable to connect wall plate port to the TV.  It was a good plan in theory.

What ended up happening is that the cart would live in the game room, and the kids would use it with a second xbox for gaming.  Rarely did I roll it outside as it was just a 5 minute chore I didn’t really want to mess with.   I eventually just mounted a TV outside and permanently connected the TV to the amp.  The TVs hold up pretty well outside, and honestly, they are not that expensive these days for a 4k 45in.  If it needs to be replaced every 2 years, it’s not the end of the world.  

I just keep the TV covered most of the time, but if a heavy storm or freeze is in the forecast, I just unply the TV, take it off the mount, and store it inside some where till the weather improves. The HDM wire(s) can just hang there.

So, in short, I would recommend mounting a TV rather than rolling cart. Just pick out a mount that is easy to remove the TV when you need to. 

 

Oh, and I would go with the amp over getting a Move.  You won’t have to take the Move outside everytime you want it, and the Move can only play TV over bluetooth with a delay, causing a lip sync issue.  And you can’t play the TV audio through the rest of your system.  A new Move is rumored to come out in the next few months though, but I don’t think those restrictions will change much.

Danny
F

Thanks Danny!

You have put me on the right track, although it is not really the health of the TV I worry about, it is the wall space to mount it - which is why I am going towards a cart. But I can see Sonos is not really a good solution for an outdoor TV. I love the sound, but it seems every device has limitations. Maybe there is a good 3rd party fix.  

 

melvimbe

Thanks Danny!

You have put me on the right track, although it is not really the health of the TV I worry about, it is the wall space to mount it - which is why I am going towards a cart. But I can see Sonos is not really a good solution for an outdoor TV. I love the sound, but it seems every device has limitations. Maybe there is a good 3rd party fix.  

 

 

I don’t think you’re going to find a better solution if wires between TV and your amp is the issue.  Nothing is going to be able to send audio data from TV to the amp without a delay.  The one exception might be a bluetooth connection, but you will have limited audio quality, still may have a bit of delay, and may not be able to connect to an amp placed somewhere inside.

Danny
buzz

FAF,

There is a 75ms latency between Line-In and output from SONOS players.

Lip sync varies greatly from device to device. SONOS sync is very predictable and controllable, however, the time steps are a little crude. When using a SONOS soundbar via HDMI-ARC, the minimum latency is 30ms for the soundbar and surrounds. Note that there will be additional latency for any SONOS players Grouped with the TV audio.

These latencies are in addition to any inherent latencies of the TV and input devices.

I propose an experiment. Temporarily, connect PORT’s Line-In to the TV’s audio. You may need some sort of adapter to do this. Play the TV and fuss with your lip sync options. You may or may not be able to achieve good lip sync. I recently encountered a cable box that required inserting 150ms beyond the inherent 75ms Line-In latency. In this case the Line-In latency was constructive.

If you can work out satisfactory lip sync during this test, you can use the same scheme for AMP’s Line-In. Further, low latency analog wireless links are available that could allow AMP to be mounted at a fixed inside location — as long as there is a practical wireless path for this wireless link. Also note that a SONOS subwoofer will need to wirelessly link to AMP.

This project gets more complex and risky if you want surround sound for this  portable TV.

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