Hi All:

I’m helping out a friend with trying to incorporate SONOS and a doorbell chime through a single pair of speakers. Basically, he has a CONNECT connected to a pair of speakers through an amp in his kitchen. He’d like to have a chime for his doorbell sound through the same pair. He wants to use a push button at the door and he has a few CAT6 ran from there to the location of the SONOS.

I did some digging on past posts and it seems that some have used the Viking SLP-1. I looked and this has an internal amplifier than can drive a few 8 ohm speakers. It also has a line in and a line out. It seems people have had luck using this piece with other whole home systems as well.

I can’t seem to piece together how this would all be connected! I’m sure I’m missing something stupid!

I’d be curious to hear if anyone has used this Viking device or other devices for similar applications and how they wired it up.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks as always,
Ali

I think it’s safe to assume I need some sort of device that’ll switch the speakers over when triggered. Maybe I can use a Niles DBI that’ll trigger some sort of relay?

Hmm, have used Connect:amp auto play feature for TV audio which does basic audio sensing. Not positive Connect has this though. If yes, the Niles doorbell interface would play .wav at a set level...

Dave in balto did this a few years back. I think he used a Niles piece in combination with an audio control Bijou.

I've confirmed with multiple people that the problem with this is that the SONOS system doesn't resume playing once the bell is done ringing!



|Dave in balto did this a few years back. I think he used a Niles piece in combination with an audio control Bijou.

Hm, interesting! Was this on a thread? I tried a search but no luck!


Also, I just realized that the Niles won't even work because it isn't speaker level!

I also noticed the SLP-1 has a 12V trigger. Maybe using this and a SPK-1 will do the trick?

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

A little contorted, but you could make up a small resistor matrix and mix any source with the feed from CONNECT to amplifier.

CONNECT can auto-select a source, but there is no easy way to go back after the chime is done.

Not sure I'd want to run home audio speakers off an slp-1 amplifier.

[Link: rdlnet.com]
2 of these and a doorbell chime generator should do it.
I have not done it yet but thought of this while perusing the catalog.

Fred:

I'm not sure what you mean. The SLP-1 amplifier would only be used when the doorbell is pressed. Otherwise, the Niles SPK-1 would switch the speakers over to the Sonance Amplifier that the SONOS CONNECT is tied to.

I may be missing something. Please elaborate if I am.

Thanks,
Ali

alihashemi,

How is the power switched on your audio amplifier?

Buz:

It is on audio sense.

It's a two watt mono amplifier, and that may not play nicely with whatever speakers you want to install.

Fred, Is that because two watts might not be loud enough for the ring to be heard?

I like buzz's idea. Passively mix in the ring signal using a few resistors. That assumes you already have a ring signal.

Better yet, the SLP-1 has preamp ins and outs. Mix its ring into the signal going from the Sonos unit to the power amp. Set the level of the SLP-1 for a ring level you like. Does the SLP-1 duck the inputs? That would be a plus.

Fred:

My question as well!

Ernie:

This is what I wanted to confirm. If the in/out actually mixes, then we're golden! I like Buzz's idea as well, I just wanted to have the cleanest solution.

Thanks, everyone!

You may need to tweak the levels a bit and my simplest scheme does not provide "ducking", however, adding a relay can deal with the duck.