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Feature Request: Flip beam and surround sound output (for projector setup)

  • 8 October 2021
  • 6 replies
  • 124 views

Dear Sonos Team,
I have a projector, which leads to a suboptimal speaker setup for the room.  The projector and beam are behind the couch, while the surround speakers (two 3s) are in front of us.  Is it possible to flip the output, such that the main audio comes from the surround speaker (in front of me) and the surround sound comes from the beam.  I don’t want to have wires running up and down and across my minimalistic living room, with a beam floating alone on an empty wall where the projection is. 


Thanks for your support!

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Best answer by ratty 8 October 2021, 12:33

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6 replies

No, and there’s another lengthy thread here on the same subject.

It’s not just case of swapping the front and surround channels. The Beam produces the centre (speech) channel. Having that come from behind your heads would be very odd.

The desire to do away with a soundbar floating on the empty wall is understandable. Perhaps what you needed was an Amp and a couple of small stand-mount passive speakers, against your screen wall. That would generate a phantom centre channel.

Thanks for the speedy reply Ratty. So instead of the beam to hook up the projector i can use an Amp? Would there be a delay or other disadvantages with the Amp? Having the speech behind me sucks, as you rightly pointed out. EDIT: WOW, 800$ for the amp is certainly a disadvantage. Iv already spent 1800$ on Sonos, but i may need to draw the line. 

 

 

 

 

An Amp, fed a signal via HDMI-ARC (or using the optional optical adapter), would have the same delay as the Beam. Don’t be tempted to use the RCA Line-In, since it would add more delay.

Where is your input signal coming from? Is it going to the projector first, and from there the audio sent to the Beam?

My projector is an older model without HDMI-ARC or Optical, so Im using a cheap HDMI splitter to send sound to the beam.  Its working without issue or noticeable delay.  But i guess the point its moot since im not willing to spend the 800$ for an AMP, followed by the cost of additional speakers to make the centre channel as you described. Its a great tip, just out of my budget. I just wished the software had a bit more flexibility or customization options if needed. Thanks again,

 

Well, like I said, Beam is a soundbar and like all soundbars it’s designed to sit in front of the listener and deal with (at least) the centre and main L/R channels. There’s no way Sonos could provide an option to send the centre channel anywhere else.

I appreciate your feedback, thanks!