Sonos Arc and ceiling speakers in kitchen to hear dialogue

  • 2 January 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 157 views


How does TV dialogue work with ceiling speakers acting as surround? 

Hello,

we are looking to install a Sonos Arc in our living room, which has an open floor plan that includes  the kitchen and dining area. When in the kitchen watching TV, it would be nice to hear what’s on (you can still see the TV from the kitchen) without blasting the volume from basically across the house. We’d like to install two Sonos ceiling speakers in the kitchen and have a Sonos Amp powering them.  Ideally, the amp would be in the attic above the kitchen, powering the ceiling speakers and connect wirelessly to the Sonos Arc which is connected to the TV in the living room. But it’s my understanding the Amp would just play the surround speakers fed by the Arc. If we’re wanting to hear what’s happening on the TV (i.e. dialogue), would that work? Or would we just be hearing “rear speaker” surround sounds like a train approaching? If so, what would be a solution to hear the same front speaker dialogue from the TV in the kitchen though the ceiling speakers without having to run speaker wire up the wall from the living room across the house to the kitchen? It would be much easier to power the ceiling speakers with an amp in the attic directly above the kitchen and hopefully have a wireless connection to the amp. 


3 replies

Userlevel 7

You don’t need to bond the Amp/ceiling speakers to the Arc as surrounds. You can just set up the Amp as a separate room/zone and group it with the Arc, and the TV audio (with dialog) will play out of both ceiling speakers wired to the Amp in the kitchen. But there will be a slight audio delay from the kitchen speakers when playing TV audio. It may not be very noticeable though if the kitchen is far enough away from the Arc.

Thanks so much! Yes I figured we may have  the issue of audio delay but are hoping the distance will be enough to not notice

Userlevel 7

To add to @GuitarSuperstar suggestion…

If no one is actively viewing the TV (in the same room) you have the option to turn the volume down for the Arc in the grouping via the app. You won’t hear the delay but you may still notice the audio being out of lip/sink if watching a movie. When viewing sports; if not watching the screen to view play-by-play action, you’ll be unaware of any delay.

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