Surround sound guidelines and limitations
This article provides guidelines and limitations of surround speakers in a Sonos home theater setup. To learn how to add your speakers as surrounds, see our article on adding surround speakers.
Sonos products that can be used as surround speakers
A Sonos home theater speaker can use two Sonos speakers of the same model as surrounds. For example, two Sonos Ones can be used for surround sound but One and Play:1 cannot. However, related models like One and One SL can be used together as surround speakers.
- Amp
- Connect:Amp
- Era 1001
- Era 3001
- Five
- One (Gen 1)
- One (Gen 2)
- One SL
- Play:1
- Play:3
- Play:5 (Gen 2)
- SYMFONISK テーブルランプ (Gen 1)
- SYMFONISK テーブルランプ (Gen 2)2
- SYMFONISK ピクチャーフレーム
- SYMFONISK ブックシェルフ (Gen 1)
- SYMFONISK ブックシェルフ (Gen 2)
- SYMFONISK フロアランプ2
¹Era 100 can be used as surround speakers for an Arc, Beam (any generation), or Ray. Era 300 can be used with an Arc or Beam (Gen 2) only.
2The SYMFONISK Floor lamp and SYMFONISK Table lamp (Gen 2) are related models and can be used together as surround speakers.
General Guidelines
- Ensure both speakers are in the same orientation: vertical or horizontal.
- Place your surround speakers behind and to the left and right of your usual listening position.
Limitations
The following features will be disabled on Sonos products used as surround speakers:
- AirPlay
- Line-In
- Subwoofer output
If the Sonos home theater speaker is also voice-enabled, then the microphones on any voice-enabled surround speakers will be disabled. The primary home theater speaker will handle requests from any voice assistants in this setup.
Limitations when using two Amps for home theater
You can use two Amps for home theater: one as TV front speakers and the other as surround speakers. When using two Amps in this configuration, there are some limitations on how they can be wired to the network.
The Amp powering your surround speakers cannot be wired to the network on its own – it must be wired in addition to the Amp powering the TV front speakers. However, if the Amp powering the TV front speakers is wired, the Amp powering the surround speakers can remain wireless.