You can technically link up to 32 Sonos speakers together. But there are a few considerations with that number in mind, and using 32 speakers at once is unrealistic. Sonos recognizes a “room” as a soundbar, 2 subs, and 2 surrounds for a home theater.
My name is Donovan, and I’m an audio enthusiast, musician, and producer. I’ve set up many different home studios and theaters and have experience working with Sonos systems. I’ve done some research to know how many you can link.
This post will explain how many Sonos speakers you can link together. I’ll provide you with the total number possible of speakers you can connect, alongside some important considerations to remember when setting up your Sonos system.
Let’s get rolling.
Contents
Key Takeaways
- You can link up to 32 Sonos speakers together at once.
- Using 32 Sonos speakers in one room or system is unrealistic, and I don’t know anyone who has tried to reach the maximum number of connected speakers.
- While it is technically possible to link 32 Sonos speakers for music listening purposes, you can’t link this many for a surround sound home theater. The maximum number of speakers, in this case, is 1 soundbar, 2 subwoofers, and 2 surround speakers.
- Linking too many Sonos speakers together can result in some issues, such as lag and interference. You should shoot for the ideal number of speakers to fill a room or listening space most effectively.
How Many Sonos Speakers Can You Link Together?
A quick search of the Sonos website will reveal that you can technically link up to 32 speakers together simultaneously. While that may sound pretty impressive, it’s essential to know that this number is somewhat misleading and unrealistic.
First off, there are several caveats to that 32 speaker total. You are limited to connecting specific types of Sonos speakers, and the same total doesn’t apply to home theater setups.
And even though you could theoretically connect 32 speakers in a single room system, I don’t know anyone who has actually done this or why you would even want to.
It’s great that you can link multiple Sonos speakers together, and doing so can give you an excellent listening experience that will enhance your home music or theater experience. But going overboard here can quickly lead to many problems.
Let’s break things down a bit so you understand why connecting 32 Sonos speakers is unrealistic and give you some better total speakers numbers to shoot for.
Looking at a strictly music speaker setup, you can pair more Sonos speakers together at once. I think six speakers is probably the most you’d ever want or need to link for a single listening room.
More than six would be hard to deal with, and you might run into issues such as lag and interference. Plus, six speakers are enough to fill most rooms, even large ones, with sound.
It’s also important to remember that speakers are typically set up in pairs because this will give you a stereo field. This means that the left and right speakers can have slightly different audio signals, just as the audio you are listening to them on was mixed.
You’ll struggle with getting an accurate stereo field when you get into many different speakers. This can lead to bad audio and other issues.
Now let’s explore home theater setups with Sonos speakers. If you use a Sonos soundbar and want a good home theater setup, you’ll be limited to only using five speakers. You can’t connect more than this for home theater purposes.
A typical surround sound setup with Sonos speakers includes one soundbar, two subwoofers, and two surround speakers. While you can stick to a single subwoofer instead of two, you can’t increase the number of surround sound speakers in the mix.
While a five-speaker surround sound setup might sound limiting, it’s pretty standard, and you’ll be able to enjoy excellent audio this way. But you can’t run a 7.1 or 7.2 surround sound setup with Sonos.
How to Connect Sonos Speakers
Connecting multiple Sonos speakers is simple, but you’ll need a few critical things to make it happen. First is the Sonos app, which is a must for anyone using Sonos speakers.
You can download the Sonos app onto your phone or computer, and it’s compatible with iOS and Android phones. Do that before attempting to connect your speakers, or you’ll be spinning in circles.
The next critical piece of the puzzle is a solid WiFi connection. Sonos speakers connect to one another through WiFi and aren’t Bluetooth speakers. Without WiFi, you won’t be able to connect your speakers and make the system work.
But once you have both of those things handled, you can use the Sonos app to connect multiple speakers together easily.
Be sure to turn on all the speakers you want connected to and then open the app. Sonos should recognize all available speakers, and you can choose which of them you want to be set up in a room.
Which Sonos Speakers Can Be Paired?
Another important consideration to remember as you set up your Sonos system is that only specific Sonos speaker models can be paired together to make a stereo pair.
It might sound fun to get a bunch of different Sonos models to see how they sound lined up next to one another, but you’ll be unable to connect them for stereo audio if you do this. It makes more sense to buy multiple Sonos speakers of the same model.
Here are all the Sonos speakers that can be paired:
- Play:1
- Play:3
- Play:5 (Gen 1)
- Play:5 (Gen 2)
- Roam
- Roam SL
- Era 100
- Era 300
- Five
- Move
- One (Gen 1)
- One (Gen 2)
- One SL
- SYMFONISK Bookshelf (Gen 1)
- SYMFONISK Bookshelf (Gen 2)
- SYMFONISK Floor Lamp
- SYMFONISK Picture frame
- SYMFONISK Table lamp (Gen 1)
- SYMFONISK Table lamp (Gen 2)
Also, note that the list above indicates which speakers can be connected in a stereo pair to speakers of the exact same model.
For example, you can connect 2 Sonos Play:3 speakers for a stereo pair. But you cannot connect one Play:3 and a Sonos 5 together for stereo playback. However, some of the same models of different generations can be paired.
FAQs
Here are a few short answers to some of the most commonly asked questions related to how many Sonos speakers can link together.
Can you connect 3 Sonos speakers together?
You can easily connect 3 Sonos speakers together, as the maximum number of total speakers you can link is 32. You need to use the Sonos app to link everything together. Power on your speakers and select which ones you want to be connected in the app.
Can you connect all Sonos speakers together?
Even though connecting 32 Sonos speakers together is technically possible, this number is a bit misleading. For home theater setups with surround sound speakers, you can only link a soundbar, two subwoofers, and two surround speakers simultaneously.
How many Sonos speakers can you connect for home theater?
You can technically only connect 5 Sonos speakers for a home theater. These would include one soundbar, two subwoofers, and two surround speakers for a 5.2 surround sound setup. You can’t link more surround sound speakers in a single room.
Can I connect 4 Sonos speakers together?
You can connect 4 Sonos speakers together or even more. But there are some limitations to using stereo pairs of speakers in a single room. You also might run into issues when trying to connect different types of Sonos speakers.
Can you use 4 Sonos speakers for surround sound?
You can only use two Sonos speakers for surround sound purposes. Even though you can connect many Sonos speakers for regular stereo listening, you are limited to two speakers of the same model for a surround sound setup.
Can you connect 4 Sonos speakers to a Sonos Connect amp?
You can connect up to 4 Sonos speakers to a single Sonos Connect amp, but you don’t want to attempt to connect any more than that. If you try to connect six or more speakers to the Connect amp, you might run into impedance issues which can damage the amp.
Final Thoughts
While connecting up to 32 Sonos speakers together is possible, you are very unlikely ever to want or need to do this. And if you are setting up a Sonos home theater speaker system, you can only link five speakers.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that more is always better regarding an audio setup. If you have good speakers and set things up correctly, you can fill a room well with only a few speakers. Linking a few Sonos together is great, but you’ll never need to link 32.
How many speakers do you have in your Sonos setup? Do you think you’d ever want more or less? Let me know in the comments below.