Can Sonos help improve muddy sound caused by high ceilings and hard surfaces?

  • 9 December 2017
  • 9 replies
  • 861 views

Userlevel 2
Our living room/dining room (about 20' x 40' has 18' ceiling open to the second floor. We currently have a Bose speaker system connected to a Yamaha receiver. The problem is that television audio is very muddy and it's really hard for us to hear conversation in movies and shows. I am thinking that if we had more speakers distributed around the room it might get the sound closer to our ears at a lower volume and counteract the echo effect. The Bose system has 5 speakers but only one actually carries the main audio so it is never in the right place for listening. Does Sonos have speakers that we could hook up that could do this? Would they hook up directly to the Yamaha receiver or to the TV? Any suggestions to get the sound closer to our ears?

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9 replies

Consider wireless headphones as well, for something that completely eliminates room acoustics issues.
Userlevel 2
Headphones are good when I'm alone but if I'm watching television with my family we don't want to isolate ourselves. I thought that having several speakers located around the room closer to our ears would be better than the single main speaker we have now or the TV speakers at the front of the room. I just don't know which speakers would do this and how to set up.
Does Sonos have speakers that we could hook up that could do this? Would they hook up directly to the Yamaha receiver or to the TV? Any suggestions to get the sound closer to our ears?
The only thing I can come up with is using the audio line out jacks where available on either the receiver or the TV, wiring these to a Sonos Connect placed next to the receiver/TV, and then placing play 1 speaker/s closer to ears and grouping it/them with the Connect wirelessly.

There is one little issue that may be a problem: the Connect will deliver audio to the play 1 units with a 70 milliseconds delay that will cause a small lip sync issue that is usually not a distraction. But for this the Home WiFi has to be stable/good enough to allow the Connect to run in uncompressed mode. Weaker WiFi means the Connect has to run in compressed mode, with a 2 seconds delay, that never works.

Also, even the 70 milliseconds delay is noticed if other speaker are playing without it - the resultant echo is distracting. Which means the sound must be audible then only via Sonos speakers.

If going down this road, I suggest a try/return purchase because the Connect isn't cheap. And unlike play 1 units, you will not find any other use for it.

Note also that each Sonos speaker will play all content - so you won't see the kind of effects that a 5 speaker set up can give for movies with dedicated channels for left/right/centre/surround. Or 5.1 with Subwoofer added to the .1 channel. But clarity ought to improve a lot with speakers placed closer to ears because room acoustic effects would then be drastically reduced.
Userlevel 2
Thanks - I think you understand the situation I'm trying to correct. How do the speakers work with a TV under regular conditions. How do you get the TV sound to the speakers?
How do you get the TV sound to the speakers?
Copied from my post above:
"using the audio line out jacks where available on either the receiver or the TV, wiring these to a Sonos Connect placed next to the receiver/TV, and then placing play 1 speaker/s closer to ears and grouping it/them with the Connect wirelessly."

The Connect unit sends the acquired over wires TV sound to the play 1 speakers, wirelessly.
Userlevel 2
I thought the Connect is only if you want to use non-Sonos speakers. Is this the only configuration for use with a TV?
The Connect is one of the three Sonos units with a line in socket needed to get the signal from the TV. And wirelessly it can work only with Sonos speakers. A Sonos 5 speaker also has the necessary jack, but you would have to run wires to it for sone distance and then other speakers could be 1 units, wirelessly connected to the 5.

None of these are standard configurations for TV for which Sonos sells the Playbase/bar. These would leave your specific problem unsolved because they are wired to and placed near the TV.
Userlevel 2
Thanks for your patience and help. I wish the playbar could "broadcast" to a remote speaker or 2.
It can. To as many Sonos units as you will ever want to put in one room. But I am not sure how the room acoustics will deal with the sound from the group playing together, and it will cost more than a Connect.