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stereo and surround sound from tv and streaming


In an ideal way I was looking too play audio through a pair of Sonos era300’s or fives from my Samsung series 7 tv. But it dosnt seem that easy. I’ve looked at an Arc and mini sub but I’ve been told it’s a good set up for theater tv but not brilliant for streaming music.

I’m also looking to stream from my Mac or iPhone to the tv and audio out of era300’s or fives.

 

Open to suggestions.

 

thanks

11 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +19

A home theatre device such as Arc is the solution for tv input. Anything else will experience a delay resulting in lip sync issues. If it’s just an audio station a line-in device -Fives or Eras - will be fine but if there’s picture too stick with the Arc. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +15

You need a Sonos soundbar for TV audio. You can’t get TV audio out of just a pair of Era 300s.

Whoever told you a Sonos home theatre setup is no good for music is an utter fool. As I’ve advised before, you can adjust your surrounds (Era 300s) to be a certain level for TV and another level for Music, so that when you play music the Eras are a greater level than the Arc and so are the dominant speakers. 
I wholly recommend the home theatre setup. 

There is no way in the Sonos world to get a Dolby Digital (or above) signal from a TV signal interpreted by any device other than their soundbars, or a Sonos Amp, all via either an optical or HDMI ARC connection.

You could conceivably send an AirPlay 2 signal (stereo only, due to Apple’s restrictions) from either Apple device to your Era 300s or PLAY:5s (except gen 1, which can’t accept an AirPlay 2 signal). 

Many folks, including myself, have installed a soundbar, with Sub and surrounds, and flanked the soundbar with a separate ‘room’ of PLAY:5s or Fives as a music set. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +19

You won’t get the same stereo separation from a soundbar as from independent speakers. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +15

You won’t get the same stereo separation from a soundbar as from independent speakers. 

True but the immersion - and to a good degree, stereo separation- of a Sonos home theatre setup (if they also want TV audio) is very impressive. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +19

You won’t get the same stereo separation from a soundbar as from independent speakers. 

True but the immersion - and to a good degree, stereo separation- of a Sonos home theatre setup (if they also want TV audio) is very impressive. 

But only for a 5.1 signal. A lot is only sent in 2.0. 
 

How’s all this helping you, @Andy4883 ?

Userlevel 7
Badge +15

You won’t get the same stereo separation from a soundbar as from independent speakers. 

True but the immersion - and to a good degree, stereo separation- of a Sonos home theatre setup (if they also want TV audio) is very impressive. 

But only for a 5.1 signal. A lot is only sent in 2.0. 
 

How’s all this helping you, @Andy4883 ?

Stereo music set to Full is still immersive, even without Spacial/Atmos.

Userlevel 7
Badge +19

You won’t get the same stereo separation from a soundbar as from independent speakers. 

True but the immersion - and to a good degree, stereo separation- of a Sonos home theatre setup (if they also want TV audio) is very impressive. 

But only for a 5.1 signal. A lot is only sent in 2.0. 
 

How’s all this helping you, @Andy4883 ?

Stereo music set to Full is still immersive, even without Spacial/Atmos.

You have a stereo signal from front and from rear, with you in the middle. I’m not sure I consider that to be immersive though, with the same two signals. Immersive really needs independent signals to each speaker. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +15

You won’t get the same stereo separation from a soundbar as from independent speakers. 

True but the immersion - and to a good degree, stereo separation- of a Sonos home theatre setup (if they also want TV audio) is very impressive. 

But only for a 5.1 signal. A lot is only sent in 2.0. 
 

How’s all this helping you, @Andy4883 ?

Stereo music set to Full is still immersive, even without Spacial/Atmos.

You have a stereo signal from front and from rear, with you in the middle. I’m not sure I consider that to be immersive though, with the same two signals. Immersive really needs independent signals to each speaker. 

Immersive is immersed within, to me… Anyway, semantics!!

Userlevel 7
Badge +19

Note as well that if the source is tv, the signal may only be stereo, in which case there is still no specific signal being sent to the surround speakers. In that scenario there will be no sound from the rear speakers. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +19

In the OP it implies Arc or Fives/Eras, not both, so there may not be rears to accompany the Arc. 

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