Model Trains (MTH Trains with Proto 3 sounds)

  • 25 November 2020
  • 1 reply
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Has anyone connected their Sonos system to a model railroad? I have a a bunch of MTH and Lionel train engines that have a many sound effects. Was thinking it would be awesome if there was a way to connect the trains to my Sonos system. The trains are connected to wifi and bluetooth so I’m sure there is a way. Just curious if anyone has tried this. These are $500 -$1000 dollar train engines each with excellent speakers in them but would be cool to get full surround sound with my subs etc. for whole model layout. 


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1 reply

WiFi isn’t a music streaming protocol.  Different audio systems use WiFi to send audio to their speakers, but it does not mean that different audio systems can play audio together in sync.  Besides, I doubt your trains even send audio through WiFi, it’s likely for controlling the trains only.

Bluetooth is an option, if your train sends audio via bluetooth, but the only Sonos speaker that can receive a bluetooth signal is the Move, and it cannot then share that signal with the rest of your Sonos system.

Also, you would not get surround sound for your train noises. 

The only other option would be if your train has an audio output that could be connected to a sonos speaker that has a line in.  However those line in connections come with a 70ms delay, so they will be a bit behind.