We've got a 9 zone distributed audio system going in using :

- 8x amplified speaker zones powered by 2x 8 channel amps each with 1x optical out
- 1x TV / distributed audio zone using a Sonos soundbar (Se are using the sonos soundbar as a 'dumb' Sound bar only as we can get a grill to go over it so looks like a custom length soundbar. We are not using it for its Sonos app features. The custom soundbar cover allows us to have an effect of a custom soundbar like the Leon soundbar for about 30% of the price)

For the Sonos soundbar we are cabling it from the rack as follows

optical out of amp --> [TX optical audio over cat6 balun] --> cat6 (c. 50m run) --> [ RX optical audio over cat6 balun] --> optical in on Sonos soundbar.

The 8 channel amps have a programmable delay on the powered outputs from 0-160ms, my concern is that the extra optical audio conversion to and from cat6 and DAC processing on the soundbar end would add delay to the signal and leave the soundbar zone out of sync with the other zones, which are adjacent.

Is this a legitimate concern, or would i be able to rectify this using the maximum delay of 160ms ?

PLAYBAR incorporates a minimum of about 35ms of latency into the audio. This latency can be extended. As long as the audio latencies are constant, you should be able to equalize them, but lip sync might suffer.

Thanks @buzz

For the TV audio and lip sync its going [matrix] --> cat6 [balun] --> hdmi --> [TV] --> optical [soundbar]

So presumably if i set the delay on the powered distributed audio zones the lip sync wouldn't be effected as essentially the delay is not on the TV sources or soundbar

Does that make sense (just want to check im not missing something)

There are two potential synchronization considerations in this system.

First, is the obvious lip sync between PLAYBAR audio output and the TV picture. Some lip sync issues are built into the source. It is not likely that the matrix or balun will exacerbate source lip sync issues.

Second, is audio synchronization between the house and PLAYBAR. As you calculate your delays, add 35ms for PLAYBAR -- plus whatever is added by the TV's own processing.

Edit: spelling

Thanks Buzz !