Contributor I

Switching between Music and TV seems inconvenient

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
December 15, 2023
13 replies
435 views

Maybe I’m doing something wrong here but here are the steps I seem to need to go through in order to enjoy a nice TV watching experience and a nice vinyl listening experience. Am I missing anything here or is this the way it is. Right now, it take about 5 minutes of tinkering to switch modes.

Note that I prefer to listen to music without the Beam, as I like a traditional left/right channel with a sub.

I have 2 100s, a Sub and a Beam. (Upgrades to 500s will come later)

Starting in TV mode and wanting to listen to a record:

Remove the Surrounds from the “living room” room.
Remove the Sub
Move the Sub to one of the 100s
Open the Line-in source and make sure the Music group is selected (this has the two 100s and sub)

If I want to then start watching TV:

Open the Living room
Add the Sub
Add the Surrounds

Any advice or commiseration is appreciated.

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Ken_Griffiths

I don’t think I would personally want the TT audio soundstage set behind my listening position - that’s almost like turning your back on the Artist/Stage. Who would want that? My own preference would be to put the TT and another stereo pair of speakers/sub out in front (as that’s my normal/preferred listening position for Music).

If anything here, I would much prefer to switch off the rear surround speakers and perhaps listen to the stereo music through the Soundbar only, that’s if there was no alternative, rather than having the audio behind me, but obviously the line-in TT audio is disabled on Sonos Surrounds, so that requires another Sonos device with a line-in option anyway.

So I’m sure adding another stereo pair of Era 100’s would be my personal chosen route here, rather than all the faffing of bonding/unbonding devices and re-Trueplay tuning the rooms etc.

jgatie

If you wish to dual purpose your surrounds/Sub as a stereo pair and Sub, then yes, that is the way you must do it.

AjTrek1

Hi @ngakalden

Below is a link to a post I wrote regarding vinyl. It’s rather long and was greated with mixed responses. Although I think sone of the responses interpreted my reason for the post incorrectly. However, that’s water under the bridge. Take a look at my post and take from it what you will.

Cheers!

EDIT: It won’t resolve your issue but may make an interesting read. 😊

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.

Stanley_4

Grand Maestro

I’d really lean to getting a pair of Sonos Fives to put in the front of the room for music.

Second choice would be replace the Beam with an Arc and leave the Surrounds set to Ambient or off, whichever sounds better to you.

The Arc/Sub is going to sound pretty good for TV and music but the Fives would likely give you a better stereo image if they and your seating position are properly arranged.

ngakaldenAuthor

Contributor I

I don’t think I would personally want the TT audio soundstage set behind my listening position - that’s almost like turning your back on the Artist/Stage. Who would want that? My own preference would be to put the TT and another stereo pair of speakers/sub out in front (as that’s my normal/preferred listening position for Music).

If anything here, I would much prefer to switch off the rear surround speakers and perhaps listen to the stereo music through the Soundbar only, that’s if there was no alternative, rather than having the audio behind me, but obviously the line-in TT audio is disabled on Sonos Surrounds, so that requires another Sonos device with a line-in option anyway.

So I’m sure adding another stereo pair of Era 100’s would be my personal chosen route here, rather than all the faffing of bonding/unbonding devices and re-Trueplay tuning the rooms etc.

The surrounds are not behind me, they are “surrounds” in the app, but are front, left and right channels.

ngakaldenAuthor

Contributor I

If you wish to dual purpose your surrounds/Sub as a stereo pair and Sub, then yes, that is the way you must do it.

Is there a way to automate this process, maybe with a 3rd party tool?

ngakaldenAuthor

Contributor I

I’d really lean to getting a pair of Sonos Fives to put in the front of the room for music.

Second choice would be replace the Beam with an Arc and leave the Surrounds set to Ambient or off, whichever sounds better to you.

The Arc/Sub is going to sound pretty good for TV and music but the Fives would likely give you a better stereo image if they and your seating position are properly arranged.

Even if I used 5s, wouldn’t I still have to go through all of those steps I listed to transform listening into Stereo for vinyl?

jgatie

The surrounds are not behind me, they are “surrounds” in the app, but are front, left and right channels.

That’s the very worst you could do for surrounds. They are actually messing up the front soundstage and destroying any directional cues. Might as well keep them as music only speakers, because they aren’t doing the TV any good where they are.

ngakaldenAuthor

Contributor I

The surrounds are not behind me, they are “surrounds” in the app, but are front, left and right channels.

That’s the very worst you could do for surrounds. They are actually messing up the front soundstage and destroying any directional cues. Might as well keep them as music only speakers, because they aren’t doing the TV any good where they are.

I see. Doing some research now and it seems I’ve had this configured all wrong.

So perhaps the solution is use the 100s as (rear) surrounds. Get the 500s for LP Vinyl listening as a separate group.

The only issue I still see is that the Sub will have to be removed from the Beam and linked to a 500 each time. Is this right?

melvimbe

I don’t think I would personally want the TT audio soundstage set behind my listening position - that’s almost like turning your back on the Artist/Stage. Who would want that? My own preference would be to put the TT and another stereo pair of speakers/sub out in front (as that’s my normal/preferred listening position for Music).

If anything here, I would much prefer to switch off the rear surround speakers and perhaps listen to the stereo music through the Soundbar only, that’s if there was no alternative, rather than having the audio behind me, but obviously the line-in TT audio is disabled on Sonos Surrounds, so that requires another Sonos device with a line-in option anyway.

So I’m sure adding another stereo pair of Era 100’s would be my personal chosen route here, rather than all the faffing of bonding/unbonding devices and re-Trueplay tuning the rooms etc.

The surrounds are not behind me, they are “surrounds” in the app, but are front, left and right channels.

It sounds like you are much more interested in stereo separation, for TV and music, than a home theatre setup. You might want to consider getting a Sonos amp, which can connect to the TV, bond with sub, and give you the stereo separation you’re looking for. You will have to deal with wires to passive speakers in the front though.

Danny

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