Port or Amp

Hi @Metsfan1975 

You’ll need the Sonos Amp to drive wired speakers direct. If the speaker wires are already wired back to a AV receiver you can used the Sonos Port connected to the AUX RCA or Optical-in terminals on the rear of the AV receiver. 

Cheers!

P.S.

AUX terminals may also be referred to Tape-in.

Yes.  They’re wired into the wall like this.  So all I would need is the connect? 

Hi @Metsfan1975 

Your pictures on the right  indicate connections for a home theater using a AV receiver/amp. Doesn’t look like those are going to connect to speakers on a patio/deck. On the other hand if the AV Installer used those connection plates for a patio you can wire them back to a AV receiver and use a Sonos Port or discontinued Sonos Connect as I described in my previous post.

The connections on the left look more like coaxial connectors as there is no color coding for left or right?

Thank you.  Yes, I think the ones on the left are for the patio where as the ones on the right is for the surround sound in the living room.  

My vote would be for AMP, however, there are some operational considerations. AMP alone will not provide any audio connection to the A/V receiver. If you want audio from the SONOS system to be available to the A/V receiver, you’ll need a PORT, used as an input to the A/V receiver. The PORT setup will not power the patio speakers unless the A/V receiver supports a second Zone with speaker outputs.

You are probably correct. The connection block on the right in your picture is for the room and the four binding posts on the left are for the patio speakers. The silver connection on the left is probably a cable TV feed for the cable box.

In case you are wondering, a SONOS SUB would not be appropriate for this system. The “WOOFER” connection on the right is for a 3rd party powered subwoofer connected to the A/V receiver with an RCA cable.

@buzz @AjTrek1 thank you for your input.  So in order to play music using Sonos using the left side ports which do go to my patio, I would need to get the amp which would supply power to the speakers?  Sorry about all the questions.  Just confused on which product I would need to be able to play it outside.  Connect, Amp or port.  I guess it’s not just a simple buy a product to put in and it will play huh?  

For your purposes CONNECT or PORT would do what you need when used as an input to your A/V receiver, but CONNECT is older technology that you should avoid for new systems. SONOS is no longer selling CONNECT, but you can find them out on the web or second hand stores.

A good way of keeping things straight is that a product must have speaker output terminals in order to attach to the patio speaker terminal block on the left. Don’t confuse “CONNECT” and “CONNECT:AMP”. In terms of function “AMP” is the latest version of “CONNECT:AMP” and “PORT” is the latest version of “CONNECT”. I wish that SONOS had used different names for the products because these names cause confusion during discussions like this.

@buzz thank you for clarifying.  I truly appreciate it.  So in my case since the patio in ceiling speakers are wired and have those ports (from the photo), the Port would be the better way to go.  I’m wondering if I should just buy the Sonos in ceiling speakers and forgo all of the other stuff lol.  

PORT cannot be directly connected to those speaker wire binding posts on the left.

@buzz so should I be going with the connect or amp?

Let’s back up a bit.  There are essentially 3 parts to every audio system.  You need a source to provide the audio you want. For Sonos, this is a Connect or  Port.  You need an amplifier to provide power for speakers.  You can use any amplifier you want, but Sonos has the Connect:Amp or Amp.  The Connect:Amp/Amp have the source built into it, so you would not use a Connect/Port if you’re using a Connect:Amp/Amp.  The third thing you need is passive speakers, which have already for your patio.

So your two option is to get a Connect/Port with a third party amp four your passive speakers...or to just get a Connect:Amp/Amp.  The recommend option is an Amp, since it’s the most straight forward option and the most future proof option.

Not important for this discussion, but FYI, when a device is both an amp and speaker all in one, it’s called an ‘Active Speaker’.  The speakers Sonos makes all have the amp+speaker so are considered active speakers.  There are also devices that are source + amp + speaker, and the term for this is not so standard.  Some will call this a ‘Smart Speaker’, but other definitions require that a smart speaker also have built in voice control.  All Sonos speakers are source + amp + speaker, so some would call them smart speakers.  Some Sonos speakers also have built in voice control, so everyone would call those smart speakers.

Metsfan1975,

Do you have or want to add any other SONOS units? Do you want the ability to play music from your SONOS system through the A/V receiver?