Sonos Amp review: all kinds of power

On the front, you’ve got the usual Sonos interface elements of an LED and touch buttons for volume and play / pause, while the back has RCA and HDMI inputs, two Ethernet jacks, a subwoofer output, the power connector, the pairing button, and the speaker connections.Let me just say: I love the speaker connections on the Sonos Amp. The basic connectors are designed for banana plugs for a clean install, but if you’re running bare speaker wire there’s a very clever adapter that has standard screw terminals, which you then plug into the Amp. This sounds small, but it means you can fit the wires into the screw terminals without having to reach around the Amp itself — you connect the wires first and then just plug the adapter into the Amp. It’s clever, and it makes connections in tight spots so much easier.Once you’ve got everything plugged in, setup is the same as any other recent Sonos device: you open the app, open the new device setup process, and hit the pair button on the back. I still think you should be allowed to try, though.)I tested the Amp with three speaker systems in my house, all of which are very different: the Klipsch Cornwall IIIs in my living room, which are gigantic 90-pound monsters designed in the ‘70s, a pair of Polk Atrium5 two-way outdoor speakers that hang over our deck, and the Monitor Audio Radius 270 home theater speakers in our media room.The Polk outdoor speakers have always been connected to a Sonos Connect:Amp, and in short tests (it’s cold outside!) I can’t say I noticed a huge difference in sound quality. I also can’t say that it makes sense to buy a $599 high-end amp to run bookshelf speakers as TV speakers when you can buy a Sonos Beam for $200 less, but if you have ceiling speakers or you really want to consolidate your living room audio situation around some beloved bookshelf speakers, it becomes an attractive option.Under new CEO Patrick Spence, Sonos has not only increased the pace of new product introductions, it’s slowly expanded the breadth of ways it can deliver audio in your house. And now there’s the new Amp, which is designed to fill in virtually every other gap with the full set of Sonos’ capabilities, whether that’s running a set of hidden speakers in the ceiling, making your vintage speakers connect to a modern music platform, or just making your TV play nice with your audio setup in the living room.