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Hi all,

 

We recently moved into a new house that had some passive Definitive Technology speakers wired for surround sound in the family room, there are also some in ceiling speakers throughout the rest of the house wired back to the family room.

 

I was drawn to Sonos for the ease of use and clean designs so I purchased 3 Amps direct from Sonos.

 

I set this up to run a 4.1 Surround System in the Family room and the 3rd Amp is powering the Ceiling Speakers. Works great.

 

I then wondered if I am missing out on a Center channel so I am also testing a 7.1 Onkyo receiver which can do much of what the 3 Amps are doing for much less money, roughly $500 versus $1800 for 3 Amps. With the Onkyo I set it up for 5.1 and the 2nd Zone powers the ceiling speakers.

 

But here I am wondering if I should go back to the Amps, I like the user experience better and slick design of the Amps. It feels more modern to me than the larger AV receivers Plus I enjoyed a few features that sonos allowed me to do that I cant get to work with the Onkyo namely:

 

  1. I can play music on my surround system while keeping the tv showing video
  2. I can broadcast the TV sound from the family room to the Ceiling speakers if I want to.
  3. I can play different music streams to the family room and Ceiling Speakers

I guess I am looking for confirmation on if I am crazy to play nearly 3 times the cost for this functionality and give up the true center speaker just for the Sonos experience and if there are any other AV receivers anyone might recomend that would be better for me.

 

To be honest the Sonos Phantom Center channel does sound good and I also like the reduced clutter of not haveing to place a center channel in the family room. Granted I can also run the Onkyo in phantom mode.

 

Any advice is welcome!

 

Thanks

Yea, $1300 is a lot of money for the difference between the two systems.

 

A possible alternative is to use your reciever + a port (The Port may be able to control the receiver, depending on your receiver model) for the HT room, and a Sonos amp for the other rooms.  That’s only a $1000 more than your receiver alone, and will give you features 2 and 3 back.  

 

Feature 1 is really a matter of how your system is hooked up.  I’m guessing with the receiver, you have your HDMI inputs going to your receiver, with a single connection going to the TV?  With that setup, yes, once you switch to music on the receiver, you won’t get anything on the TV.  If your receiver has HDMI-ARC though, you should be able to connect it the same way you connect the Sonos Amp (assuming you’re using HDMI-ARC and not an optical connection through accessory).

 

It’s really a judgement call.  If used receivers with ceiling speakers like you’re using in the past and liked them.  I now use a Sonos playbar  with play:3s for rear + sub and like it a lot better.  I wouldn’t go back.  And I like the way that I can conitually add to my system with new speakers for additional rooms plus whatever new tech in speakers comes out.

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