What would I need for the following home sound setup?

M

Hello all,

 

So I’m looking into installing a sound system in some areas of my house, and I was looking into SONOS because I was told they’re simple to install, and they all connect to each other. 

So my question is, what would I need to install the following in my house and get it all working together:

 

Living Room = 4 Ceiling speakers.

Kitchen = 2 Ceiling Speakers.

Outside area = 2 Speakers.

 

That’s it, and I’m guessing a Sub for the Living Room area? Could anyone help me on what I would need apart from the speakers and the sub? How many Amps and anything else to connect them all together or individual zones?

 

Thank you.

17 replies

G
Userlevel 7

If the living room speakers are a 4.1 home theater setup, you will need two Sonos Amps and a Sub. One Amp will power the two front speakers and one Amp will power the two surround speakers. The first Amp will connect to your TV’s HDMI ARC port. The Sub will connect wirelessly to the first Amp. The second Amp will also connect wirelessly to the first Amp.

If the living room speakers are not a home theater setup, you just need one Amp to power all four speakers with an optional Sub.

The two speakers in the kitchen will require one Amp, and the two speakers outside will require one Amp.

This would give you three separate zones: living room, kitchen, and outside.

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
M

If the living room speakers are a 4.1 home theater setup, you will need two Sonos Amps and a Sub. One Amp will power the two front speakers and one Amp will power the two surround speakers. The first Amp will connect to your TV’s HDMI ARC port. The Sub will connect wirelessly to the first Amp. The second Amp will also connect wirelessly to the first Amp.

If the living room speakers are not a home theater setup, you just need one Amp to power all four speakers with an optional Sub.

The two speakers in the kitchen will require one Amp, and the two speakers outside will require one Amp.

This would give you three separate zones: living room, kitchen, and outside.

 

Got it, yes, there is a TV in the Living room, however, the ceilings are pretty high and they’re not flat, but they come down on a slight inclination, so I’m not sure if that would work out for a home theater? The inclination comes down from the right of the TV to the left, so 2 speakers would be higher.

 

My idea was to just put a Beam soundbar on the TV, and just have the 4 ceiling speakers for like music, unless the ceiling inclination doesn’t have any negative effect?

 

If I do Kitchen and Outside area under 1 amp, that means whatever I play on the kitchen will play outside? But will it always play? Or I can turn off the speakers if I don’t want to hear them in either zone?

 

Thank you for the answer!

G
Userlevel 7

A single Amp acts as one zone, so any connected speakers will play the same music at the same volume. You won’t be able to turn off certain speakers connected to a single Amp unless you install a speaker switch.

The Beam would definitely be a better option for the TV. In-ceiling speakers are not usually recommended for the front channels in a home theater setup.

Another option is only installing two in-ceiling speakers in the living room to act as rear surrounds for the Beam and adding a Sub for a 5.1 home theater setup and using this for TV AND music audio.

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
M

Ah I see, ok I’ll look into a switch to see how it works.

As for the living room, I could only install 2 to act as rear speakers for the TV, but my concern is the ceiling height and the inclination of it. 
 

Like I mentioned before the ceiling is not flat, but it has a slight inclination coming down from one side of the TV to the other, so one speaker would be sitting lower than the other, I’m not sure if this would cause any sort of sound issue or bad performance?

 

And also the ceiling is high as I mentioned, I would guess around 4-5 meters height. 

J

A personal view..... I understand the desire for the clean look that ceiling speakers give. But they are a significant audio compromise and should not be considered for anything but background music (IMO).

You might consider a Beam (or Arc), Sub and two One SLs for the TV room. That would be good for TV and music. Then an Amp and speakers for the Kitchen and outside area. A suitable speaker switch here would enable you to adjust volume on two sets of speakers separately.

M

A personal view..... I understand the desire for the clean look that ceiling speakers give. But they are a significant audio compromise and should not be considered for anything but background music (IMO).

You might consider a Beam (or Arc), Sub and two One SLs for the TV room. That would be good for TV and music. Then an Amp and speakers for the Kitchen and outside area. A suitable speaker switch here would enable you to adjust volume on two sets of speakers separately.

Thank you John,

 

The One SL’a are wireless right? Meaning I could place them anywhere around the Living room area. In this case I would have 1 amp, 1 sub, the beam and 2 SL’s in the living room that would work for music and for TV? And I think all of this would be wireless?

 

Also would this setup work as Surround sound for the TV? And when not using the TV would the beam play music with the speakers or only the speakers would be playing music?

 

As for the Kitchen and outside area, the kitchen ceiling is much lower than the living room so I think 2 ceiling speakers for music would be fine. 

melvimbe

A personal view..... I understand the desire for the clean look that ceiling speakers give. But they are a significant audio compromise and should not be considered for anything but background music (IMO).

You might consider a Beam (or Arc), Sub and two One SLs for the TV room. That would be good for TV and music. Then an Amp and speakers for the Kitchen and outside area. A suitable speaker switch here would enable you to adjust volume on two sets of speakers separately.

Thank you John,

 

The One SL’a are wireless right? Meaning I could place them anywhere around the Living room area. In this case I would have 1 amp, 1 sub, the beam and 2 SL’s in the living room that would work for music and for TV? And I think all of this would be wireless?

 

 

You would actually be setting up 2 Sonos rooms in that case, that happen to be in the same room.  You could setup the Beam, sub, and One SLs for surround, and that would be your home theatre setup.  The amp would be a separate room and you could really only use that for music.  It’s debatable whether the amp plus ceiling speakers would be an improvement for music over just using your home theatre setup for that.

Also, the Beam is designed for small to medium rooms.  If you feel you need 4 ceiling speakers for music, I have doubts that the Beam will fill the need of the room adequately.

 

 

Also would this setup work as Surround sound for the TV? And when not using the TV would the beam play music with the speakers or only the speakers would be playing music?

 

 

Kind of answered already.  You can’t use your amp for TV audio in that case.  if you tried, it would play, but the audio from amp speakers would be delayed, creating an echo.

 

As for the Kitchen and outside area, the kitchen ceiling is much lower than the living room so I think 2 ceiling speakers for music would be fine. 

 

Danny
M

A personal view..... I understand the desire for the clean look that ceiling speakers give. But they are a significant audio compromise and should not be considered for anything but background music (IMO).

You might consider a Beam (or Arc), Sub and two One SLs for the TV room. That would be good for TV and music. Then an Amp and speakers for the Kitchen and outside area. A suitable speaker switch here would enable you to adjust volume on two sets of speakers separately.

Thank you John,

 

The One SL’a are wireless right? Meaning I could place them anywhere around the Living room area. In this case I would have 1 amp, 1 sub, the beam and 2 SL’s in the living room that would work for music and for TV? And I think all of this would be wireless?

 

 

You would actually be setting up 2 Sonos rooms in that case, that happen to be in the same room.  You could setup the Beam, sub, and One SLs for surround, and that would be your home theatre setup.  The amp would be a separate room and you could really only use that for music.  It’s debatable whether the amp plus ceiling speakers would be an improvement for music over just using your home theatre setup for that.

Also, the Beam is designed for small to medium rooms.  If you feel you need 4 ceiling speakers for music, I have doubts that the Beam will fill the need of the room adequately.

 

 

Also would this setup work as Surround sound for the TV? And when not using the TV would the beam play music with the speakers or only the speakers would be playing music?

 

 

Kind of answered already.  You can’t use your amp for TV audio in that case.  if you tried, it would play, but the audio from amp speakers would be delayed, creating an echo.

 

As for the Kitchen and outside area, the kitchen ceiling is much lower than the living room so I think 2 ceiling speakers for music would be fine. 

 

 

Ok so for the living room / TV area, I wouldn’t need an AMP? The setup would just be 2 One SL’s, 1 Sub, and the Soundbar (Arc or Beam)? And that would work for both TV entertainment and Music?

 

Thank you, trying to figure out what I need to order!

M

So just to be 100% sure on what I’m ordering:

Living Room / TV Area - 2 One SL’s, Sound Bar (Arc preferably), Sub.

Kitchen & Outside area - Amp, 2 Ceiling Speakers, 2 Outside Speakers.

 

That would be it? So Kitchen and Outside area work as 1 zone, for music, while the Living room / TV Area work as another zone, and would work for both Music and for whatever I play on the TV?

 

Thank you.

J

So just to be 100% sure on what I’m ordering:

Living Room / TV Area - 2 One SL’s, Sound Bar (Arc preferably), Sub.

Kitchen & Outside area - Amp, 2 Ceiling Speakers, 2 Outside Speakers.

 

That would be it? So Kitchen and Outside area work as 1 zone, for music, while the Living room / TV Area work as another zone, and would work for both Music and for whatever I play on the TV?

 

Thank you.

That is pretty much it.  A couple of points to make though.

  1. The One SLs are wireless (they connect to your network wirelessly) but they are not cordless.  They will need power sockets to plug into.  They will need to be positioned either side of the listening position and level with or behind it to get good surround sound. 
  2. For music, the Beam and surrounds will all play, as two stereo streams.  Or you can (in effect) just have the Beam playing.  
  3. You will need a speaker switch to give you independent control of the volumes in the kitchen and outside (including shutting off one pair of speakers completely if required).  I suspect you will need this.

Hope that helps.

106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

Just two additions:

  • the two "zones” are two "rooms’ in Sonos speak;
  • the two "rooms” will sound in sync when grouped while playing music, but will be a little bit out of sync when playing a TV source (70ms).
J

As a random choice, not a recommendation, this is the sort of thing you would be looking for…

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Speaker-SELECTOR-Control-IMPEDANCE-Protection/dp/B085CN84L7

M

As a random choice, not a recommendation, this is the sort of thing you would be looking for…

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Speaker-SELECTOR-Control-IMPEDANCE-Protection/dp/B085CN84L7


Ok, and just to be sure if I add this, how does the connection work? Like between the amp and the speakers? 

jgatie


Ok, and just to be sure if I add this, how does the connection work? Like between the amp and the speakers? 

 

Yes, it would be wired between the Amp outputs and the speaker inputs. 

M


Ok, and just to be sure if I add this, how does the connection work? Like between the amp and the speakers? 

 

Yes, it would be wired between the Amp outputs and the speaker inputs. 


Sounds good! I think I’ll go ahead and order the stuff then. 
 

Thank you all for the help! 

A

A non-public view. I apprehend the preference for the easy appearance that ceiling audio system give. But they're a full-size audio compromise and must now no longer be taken into consideration for whatever however history song (IMO). A unmarried Amp acts as one zone, so any related audio system will play the equal song on the equal volume. You won`t have the ability to show off sure audio system related to a unmarried Amp until you put in a speaker switch. The Beam could actually be a higher choice for the TV. In-ceiling audio system aren't generally advocated for the the front channels in a domestic theater setup. Another choice is simplest putting in in-ceiling audio system withinside the residing room to behave as rear surrounds for the Beam and including a Sub for a 5.1 domestic theater setup and the usage of this for TV AND song audio.

E

A single Amp acts as one zone, so any connected speakers will play the same music at the same volume. You wo n’t be suitable to turn off certain speakers connected to a single Amp unless you install a speaker switch. 
 
 The Beam would surely be a better option for the Television. In- ceiling speakers aren't generally recommended for the frontal channels in a home theater setup. 
Another option is only installing two in- ceiling speakers in the living room to act as reverse surrounds for the Beam and adding a Sub for a5.1 home theater setup and using this for Television AND music audio. 

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