Optimize Your Living Room With the Best Sonos Setup
Creating an immersive audio experience in your living room starts with choosing the right Sonos speakers. With options ranging from compact smart speakers to powerful home theater soundbars, Sonos has something for spaces both small and large. But picking the perfect living room Sonos setup involves more than just selecting random speakers.
You'll want to consider factors like room size, audio quality needs, speaker placement options, and smart home integration. The goal is to end up with a seamless Sonos configuration that fills your living room with crystal clear sound for music, TV, movies, and more.
Choosing the Correct Sonos Speakers for Room Size
The first step in building your living room Sonos entertainment system is selecting the right speakers based on the physical space. Larger living rooms need speakers that can fill the entire area with sound, while smaller living spaces may only require a couple of compact smart speakers.
Sonos Move - Portable Smart Speaker
The Sonos Move features a durable design perfect for both indoor and outdoor use. It automatically tunes its audio output to match any environment using Sonos' Trueplay technology. With 11 hours of battery life, voice control integration, and rich stereo sound, the Sonos Move is great for smaller living rooms.
Sonos One - Voice-Controlled Smart Speaker
The Sonos One is a compact yet powerful smart speaker suited for small to medium-sized living rooms. It supports Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant for total voice control of your music and smart home. Two Sonos One speakers can be paired in a stereo configuration for separated left/right channel sound.
Sonos Five - HiFi Smart Speaker
If you want truly room-filling audio for larger living spaces, the Sonos Five is the way to go. Its three tweeter array and two mid-woofers produce crisp treble and deep bass that can easily fill an entire open floor plan. The Five also has Apple Airplay 2 support for streaming content from Apple devices.
Sonos Beam (Gen 2) - Compact Soundbar
The newly released Sonos Beam Gen 2 is a compact soundbar perfect for boosting your TV's audio in living rooms where wall-mounting a full-size soundbar is impractical. It features integrated voice assistants, Dolby Atmos surround sound, and HDMI ARC connectivity for controlling your TV speakers.
Sonos Arc - Premium Home Theater Soundbar
For dedicated home theater setups, the Sonos Arc soundbar delivers an ultra-immersive viewing experience. Its angled driver array casts sound around your entire living room for a true surround sound effect. With the Arc, you can stream music in crisp fidelity or enjoy blockbuster films with theater-quality audio.
Sonos Speaker Placement for Optimal Living Room Sound
Proper Sonos speaker placement is just as crucial as choosing the right models. Their positioning in the living room impacts sound quality, bass response, stereo separation, and more. Use these tips to find the optimal location for your Sonos entertainment setup.
Center the Soundbar Below Your TV
For living rooms with a central TV, place your Sonos soundbar centered below the screen. Most Sonos soundbars connect via HDMI ARC, allowing you to control TV volume and mute functions directly from the bar itself.
Flank the TV with Stereo Speakers
Add a pair of Sonos One smart speakers or Fives for true stereo sound. Position them equidistant from your central seating area, angled inward to create a wider soundstage. This setup is great for music listening in living rooms without a TV.
Add Surround Speakers for Home Theater
To complete your living room home theater, place a pair of Sonos speaker satellites on stands behind your seating area. The surround speakers complement the soundbar with rear audio channels for a true cinematic experience. Allow at least 2 feet clearance between surrounds and walls.
Experiment with Speaker Positioning
Every living room has unique dimensions, seating plans, and acoustic properties. Take time finding where your Sonos speakers sound best. Adjust their angle, distance, and direction until you find the audio sweet spot that sounds perfectly balanced from your central listening position.
How to Connect Your Sonos Speakers
With your Sonos living room speaker models and placement decided, it's time to get them connected. Sonos wireless speakers feature a streamlined setup process using the Sonos app for iOS or Android devices. Just follow these steps:
Download the Sonos App
Grab the free Sonos app from the App Store or Google Play Store. Launch the app and create your user account. Make sure the mobile device is on the same WiFi network your Sonos system will use.
Connect Speakers to WiFi
When powering on new Sonos speakers for the first time, they will automatically enter setup mode. Open the Sonos app which will walk through getting each speaker onto your WiFi network.
Group Rooms and Speakers
Once connected to WiFi, you can group multiple Sonos speakers in the same living room under one consolidated room name. Group your TV soundbar, surround speakers, and any other Sonos devices so they operate as one integrated system.
Run Trueplay Tuning
To optimize audio based on room acoustics, start the Trueplay tuning process in the Sonos app. Trueplay uses your mobile device's microphone to map the living room and adjust EQ, volume, and more for the best quality sound.
Streaming Music, TV, and More on Sonos
Your optimized living room Sonos entertainment system makes enjoying content incredibly simple. From music to TV shows, here are some streaming sources to consider:
Add Music Streaming Services
Within the Sonos app, connect popular music platforms like Spotify , Pandora , Tidal , Amazon Music , and Apple Music for access to tens of millions of songs, customizable radio stations, and more. Personalize access control for multi-user households.
Play TV Audio Over Sonos
To play your TV sound through Sonos speakers, enable HDMI ARC on your television, then connect the TV to the Arc or Beam soundbars via ARC-compatible HDMI cable. This routes TV audio to Sonos for an immersive viewing experience.
Enjoy Music, Radio, Podcasts, and More
Beyond music libraries and TV, you can play internet radio stations, favorite podcasts, and other streaming content from services like TuneIn and Audible via the Sonos app. Add Sonos Favorites and customized playlists for quick access too.
Enable Alexa or Google Voice Commands
Sonos soundbars and smart speakers work with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant for handy voice control. Say voice commands to queue songs, launch radio stations, play TV shows, adjust system volume, and control smart home devices.
Advanced Sonos Customization and Controls
Once you've got the basics down, it's time for deeper customization of your living room Sonos system:
Adjust EQ Settings to Your Taste
The Sonos app includes a configurable Equalizer section. Tweak bass, mid, treble levels, and experiment with compression presets to achieve your preferred audio signature for music, movies, and television.
Create Playlists and Favorite Stations
Personalize your streaming music experience by making up custom playlists featuring favorite songs from your entire Sonos music library. Save shortcut presets of preferred internet radio stations for quick access as well.
Schedule daily wakeup alarms or sleep timers that trigger your Sonos system at set times. Choose your preferred music, podcast, radio station, or soundscape to gently wake up or fall asleep to from anywhere in your living room.