I've installed a few Sonos sound bars/subs, but never paired with rear speakers before.  Reading through the docs I've found that a Connect:Amp can be used to drive rear speakers and that both soundbar and connect need to have wired Ethernet.  Also, for some reason a Sonos Boost is required for this configuration...

My biggest question what comes out of the rear speakers when TV is the audio source?  Is it some type of pseudo surround sound with only surround content coming out of the rear speakers or do you get the equivalent of multi-channel stereo, or can you select between modes?

This is for a bedroom with rear speakers above the bed, so the client is actually more interested in multi-channel stereo type of setup than actual surround sound.

If the customer wants multi-channel stereo, rather than surround, don't bond the rear speakers to PLAYBAR, Group the rear speakers to PLAYBAR (as separate rooms). You'll need to tinker with PLAYBAR's audio delay in order to bring the two "rooms" into sync. In this setup, wiring the rear CONNECT:AMP is optional.

I recommend wiring as many players as is practical. If you have only a few rooms and WiFi coverage is excellent, you can use Sonos in WiFi mode, but SonosNet is more robust. If one or more Sonos units is wired, the system will switch to SonosNet. If it is not convenient to wire a player, wire a BOOST. In difficult wireless situations multiple BOOST's can be used to support dead areas.

[Link: sonos.custhelp.com]

Grouping the rears is an interesting idea, but keeping audio in sync sounds like it might be problematic. Have you ever seen this drift due to network load or does it stay locked in once adjusted properly?

i think the bigger issue with this is usability due to volume control. The soundbar volume would be controlled by the TV remote and the rear speakers would have to be adjusted via Sonos app.

I routinely wire all my Sonos units to Ethernet (usually big racks full), but didn't realize until reviewing the docs on this that having a hard wired Sonos player creates what's Called a "Boost" configuration. Initially when reading up on the Playbar/Surround setup I thought that "Boost Setup" meant that a Sonos Boost device was required which didn't make a lot of sense to me. Now I understand that just means that a player needs to be wire.

I was hoping to save some cost and rack space by using the Playbar for this TV, but looks like it's probably going to require AVR, passive soundbar, etc. instead.

Thanks Don, I'd seen this support doc but found another one linked at the bottom that answered a few more questions.  I think with that and the info from Buzz I've got enough information to know the Playbar isn't going to be a very good solution.

The boost is definitely not needed if everything is hard wired Ethernet.

When the PLAYBAR sees 2 channel content on the tv, it plays in something like Dolby Pro Logic. However if it sees Dolby Digital, it will play Dolby Digital. For most tvs this requires an Hdmi audio extractor before the tv.

However for music, there is a check mark in configuration for "ambient" or "full" surround. Full surround is equivalent to 5 channel stereo. Ambient again is like Pro Logic Music. In addition, there are level controls for the surrounds independent of the PLAYBAR.

SB Smarthomes,

I think that you are correct about the volume control issue with Grouped players and the TV remote, but I'll check that to be sure. Unfortunately, I'm not near a PLAYBAR at the moment.

With respect to synchronized play, there is no significant "drift", this is the cornerstone of the Sonos networking. The synchronization is within about 2ms over the long term. The issue that you might encounter is that there is always about a 70ms delay between a Line-In and output from a player. This is done to to provide provide some time to prepare the signal for transport and a little slack for varying network conditions. PLAYBAR cuts this to about 35ms for the surrounds and SUB. If you attempt to Group PLAYBAR with other players, you'll have a 35ms issue -- unless you adjust PLAYBAR's audio delay. The original purpose of this adjustable delay was to allow some ability to compensate for various delays associated with video processing, but you can use this delay to slow down PLAYBAR to match the Group.

I wish that Sonos did not associate the word "BOOST" with wired networking. This creates a lot of confusion because BOOST is not required. In most respects BOOST is just another SonosNet mesh client, but with the audio inputs and outputs stripped out in in order to reduce costs. BTW, BOOST uses newer, more potent wireless technology than BRIDGE, however, both offer identical functionality.

I can confirm that adjusting the Playbar volume with the TV remote wifi NOT adjust any grouped zone.

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I don’t think this post is too old to resurrect, as it does pertain to my issue. I have connected a Playbar and Connect amp to the Ethernet switch and did the online configuration. Also ran the SONOS test tone which recognized all speakers. When I connect DirecTV as a source, I only get audio from the Playbar. I have also adjusted the Dolby and PCM settings in both the DirecTV client and the Samsung TV. Are there any suggestions?

DirecTV client
Samsung TV
SONOS Playbar
SONOS Connect amp

I have never seen a Samsung TV that can output DD (unless you are using the tuner or Smart functions).

In sonos try setting the surrounds to "full" and turning them way up to make sure they are working.

The surrounds do not show up in the app.

Are you going to room settings in the settings and then advanced audio?
You can't set TV to full, only music but you can adjust the volume level up for the surrounds.
Also, make sure when looking at room settings that it shows the room + LS + RS and not just ??.

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the setup is a little more involved when using the CONNECT AMP. Did you follow the setup procedures? [Link: sonos.custhelp.com]