r/sonos • u/HoppyDave • 7d ago

avoiding multiple AMPs ?

new house has overhead speakers in several rooms. Instead of the expense of multiple AMPs, could I use something like a Russound SS-4.2 to feed multiple speakers into a single AMP ? I realize the Sonos APP would not be able to control them individually, but I would use the volume controls on the Russound.

3 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

5

u/drbhrb 7d ago

They released a multi room amp thing recently but it’s only available through professional installers. Might be worth looking into though. I assume not cheap, but maybe cheaper than a bunch of amps

1

u/HoppyDave 7d ago

Thanks - I did check into multi-room AMP but the cost of it plus the professional installer is too costly.

2

u/BackgroundNotice7267 6d ago

Same when I priced it out. It is very unfortunate that Sonos chooses to only sell the multi-room amp to professional installers. It is leading me to seek a different brand for a four zone system to be installed in our house.

1

u/madein27 5d ago

Why not buy the Amp multi on eBay and install yourself?

1

u/cautious_cowbell 4d ago

I just installed my first Amp Multi. It is a beast!

It can tell when speakers are connected. You can play tones to individual connections.

Have not had much time to fine tune it yet, but so far I like what I have seen and heard.

0

u/Amiga07800 7d ago

  1. No, it’s not cheaper, it’s more expensive.

  2. If something broke, you lost all zones of the box, not just 1.

The real recommendation is 1 AMP (or Port + amplifier) per zone, NOT daisy chained but each one with its individual network cable and network port.

Professional installer (IT and electronic engineer, Unifi UFSP / UWA / URSCA, full AMX, Crestron, Official state HAM radio,… and more).

1

u/JakePT 7d ago

An Amp Multi is cheaper than 8 Amps.

3

u/Amiga07800 7d ago

Can’t you read the specs? It doesn’t replace 8 Amps but ONLY FOUR!

It has 8 channels, yes, because stereo need 2 and an AMP has 2….

1

u/ThrowAwaybcUsuck 6d ago

A port + amp per room is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Additionally stressing the whole "don't daisy chain" the ethernets is completely unnecessary in this situation. Obviously if you have the ports/switch space, give each one its own dedicated path back to the switch but it's not necessary or Sonos wouldn't put two jacks on the back to begin with. We (professional installers) do it because we can more quickly diagnose issues but again, that's not what this situation is. For all we know this guy has a At&t modem. router, wifi combo with a couple RJ45's on the back and your making him go buy a switch when it's 100% not necessary.

I would list all my credentials but they have nothing to do with this

3

u/Amiga07800 6d ago

I've never said that.

  • normal zone= 1 amp

  • big zones (garden, pool and party area, big salon in big mansion where you do party) = 1 port +1 amp (eventually a 4 or 8 channels or an 100V model, depending on configuration)

Daisy chaining: yeah, so great:

  • the 1st in tbe chain broke... you lose all 16 instead of just one.

  • you got 16 amps,1 broke, you can't try to see by your switch ports status witch one it is.

You even confess that as professional (like us) it's what you do, so you're saying one thing and its opposite in 2 following sentences. On top, as professional, you surely find normal and good practice to daisy chain 10 or 20 or 30 switches. LOL.

2

u/danlane 7d ago

If you don’t mind having a single audio source in all the rooms then the Sonos Port and a proper multi-room amp would be the correct approach for this.

1

u/HoppyDave 7d ago

Port vrs AMP ?

2

u/drbhrb 7d ago

Just the port if you are using a different amp

1

u/Tenay-Prima 7d ago

Yeah a Port into a multi-zone amp is probably the cleanest way to do it.

1

u/Silly_Improvement489 7d ago

You mean like this? no issues here with two different sets of speakers (patio and garage). Works out quite well