New home, sonos playbar, Panny TV, speaker cables.....

isotonic_uk

Hi All

I am in the process of moving house shortly. I have an interesting problem which I don't know how to resolve.

I have a Panny 42GT30 and have recently won a Sonos playbar which was great as I also use a Play5. The soundbar will be obviously be used with the TV. Love the sound and would like to keep rather than sell.

I am moving houses soon and the vendor who lives there at the moment has kindly left all the speaker wiring around 2 areas of the living room. He had works done years ago and managed to hide the speaker cable underneath the laminate flooring, this is great as I want to create a surround sound system, something that is better than what I already have. I know my wife doesnt want too much speakers scattered around the room so a 2:1 system will be fine. I may in the future also buy the sonos sub that is also available depending on how the sound is when I move to the new house.

The main benefit I want is good sound when listening to streaming music via the sonos or watching movies/shows.

The cables are in 2 locations as I mentioned meaning I can attach some speakers on there. However what I want to build is something where I can still utilise the playbar and then buy an AV receiver where I then can plug in my floor standing mission speakers, however I am not clued up and unsure what to look for in an AV receiver, but I do know I want the best possible up to £500. Unsure about what brand as well and can I connect the receiver using a HDMI connection rather than using the mono red/white jack cables? Would this improve sound dramatically....

At the moment I have a cable from TV to playbar over digital optical cable, if I was to get an AV receiver, what would be my options, would I put the playbar via the Receiver or still via the TV.

Really I want all speakers to work in tangem.

Also whilsts on the subject does anyone know how to turn off sound on Panny GT30 via the settings so I know its only using the playbar?

Thanks

almillar

That playbar looks to be a standalone device, with no inputs, so I imagine it won't play at all with an AV amp. For £600 you could have a very nice surround system!
HDMI is the way to go. People can often be confused how an AV amp is set up - it's like this - devices all connect INTO the amp. The amp then connects, via one HDMI cable INTO the TV. You now use your amp to switch between all the devices, amp outputs sound, passes on the picture, and the TV just spits it out.
What other devices do you have? Are you using the tuner inside the TV?
Pioneer make good high end stuff, but you can do better for an amp under, say £500. If you've already got good stereo speakers, £200 would do for the amp (consider second hand for great bargains), £200 for a sub, and £100 would get you some rears and the cabling.
I don't think the TV will have a setting to simply turn the speakers off. Just turn the volume down to zero. Or perhaps plugging something into the aerial socket?
I can advise better if you tell me what devices you have. You've made a good start with the TV!

Fosterdog

Have you seen the new Sonos Play 1? They will sync to the playbar and two of them with it will give you 5.1, I was dubious at first but I've seen it on demo and was really impressed.

They are about £170 each so both will still be under your £500 budget and will work seamlessly with your existing kit. With the added benefit of being able to put them in different rooms as stand alone stereo speakers if you wanted to.

The other option for about the same price is the Play 3, will do the same job but can only transfer to one other room instead of two if you wanted to.

WTFH

If you're wanting to stick with wireless, then the play1 or play 3 would be the way to go.
Since you mention Mission floorstanders, I assume you alreay have them (if not, want to buy mine, they are gathering dust since I got a playbar!)
You can connect them to a hifi and then use a Sonos Connect:
http://www.sonos.com/shop/products/connect
to connect it to the playbar (and any other sonos devices)
Or use a connect:amp to replace the hifi for powering the speakers

As for the TV sound, when you plug the playbar into the optical out on the TV, you should be able to select that in the TV settings and the TV will switch off its speakers. Then you just need to program the Sonos to use the volume control on your TV. (and that works a treat on our LG)

WTFH

oh and no, you can't put anything between the TV and the playbar - they need to be connected directly.

WTFH

Right, a quick bit of digging, and on page 102 of your TV manual, it tells you...
1. Press the Viera Link button on your remote
2. Select Speaker Selection
3. Choose Home Cinema. This will switch off your TV speakers.