Why Sonos why?? | Sonos Community

I am new to Sonos and this community forum. I recently bought 2 x Play 1's and the Beam. Before this I owned a Marantz set whit Monitor Audio RX speakers and this set (as every set) had the possibility to switch between 2.0 or 5.1... oh sorry I am to early.

But first in short about me, 44 years of age, wife / kid and happy #happydays. And decided to sell my Marantz set and buy the a Sonos set.... why you ask... we dont's play any CD, DVD or BR anymore and it is bulky in the living room (as the wife said).

So I bought two new Play-1 and a Beam and maybe.. new and unopened. I said maybe I will buy the Sub 2.0.... but during the setup I was surprised that I as a consumer can't decide where to place the two Play-1 in the front or in the rear. No Sonos want you to place them in the rear, no question about that (now I don't feel like buying the sub anymore). So yesterday evening I read some Topics about this matter in this community and I know now I am not the only one who is bothering this. Why on earth is someone else decided for me where to place my speakers in my own living room?! Since when is big brother watching me in my own living room?

But why do we buy Sonos or do Sonos want us to buy Sonos?? 1 - Music, 2 - Cinema, 3 - No wires, 4 - Lifestyle. For movies, ok it is a nice-to-have to have surround. But what if I don't want to use surround?! Because in my living room there is no space for surround speakers. My couch is against the wall and on my left side I have a table standing and on the right a large window. So no space left for surround speakers. And what if I want to listing to music?? Most of the time when I am listing to music I am sitting in my couch.... But do Sonos want me to seat between the surround speakers? Also when I want to play them loud? Yes Sonos said, you can select 'Full' in the app. for a better experience. Do you want to change my living room in a discotheque? Why Sonos why? I don't want to... it is my living room, my setup, my decision, my buy, my experience.

So during reading several topics yesterday evening in this community, about this matter, I want to say the following to Sonos.

Dear Sonos,

I am very happy whit your product I recently bought at a local shop. But would you be so kind to place an in-app function where I can select, if I prefer my other two speakers in front or rear? If would make this product more complete, and your product is all about lifestyle and choices, and now you are making this choice for me.

Hoping for positive feedback.

Best Regards,

Roger

PS - Pls make me buy the Sub 2.0

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Hi. Are you aware that the Beam provides the front three channels, L, R and Centre? If you don't want surround sound, you don't need the other speakers. For stereo music you could just use the Beam. Or put the other two speakers at the front, and just use them as a stereo pair for music only, perhaps grouped with the Beam.

If you will excuse my saying so, you do not seem to have really understood the product.

No one is forcing you to bond the Play:1s as surrounds. You can also set them up as stereo pair, if you wish to. In that case you can place them at the front, to the sidewalls, at the back - wherever you feel like.

Hi, Roger. As stated, you can definitely just set up the PLAY:1's as an independent stereo pair, then group them to the Beam. For this reason, I don't see us introducing the feature you've suggested. I will forward it nonetheless. Please do let us know if you need anything else. I do hope this issue hasn't spoiled your experience too much but I'm sure that you will be happy with the proposed solution once you try it.

Thank you, yes I am aware that the Beam is LCR. But the Beam is needed in a movie setup. And I don't think a Movie and Music setup is the same kind of setup. My only question is if it is possible that Sonos can give us the choise to choose.

Thank you for your fast reply. No, nothing has spoiled yet 🙂 But the feature ive suggested makes the difference between music and movie lovers or hybrid persons.

I know about people who placed the surround speakers in the front rather than as rears. It's a matter of taste.

I'm afraid that this doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever.

The point of adding surrounds to a Beam or Playbar set-up is so that you have the REAR audio channels. The audio designers create the sound stage for a 5.1 soundtrack so that the audio coming from the left and right REAR speakers is intended to be heard from BEHIND you.

That's not to say, of course, that you cannot put your bonded surrounds in front of you or have your Play 1 Stereo pair as a separate room and group to the Beam when you like.

However, I see zero chance of Sonos having a switch to allow you to have the surrounds in front of you. What do you expect to happen to the audio track? How is Sonos expected to process the audio that was designed to be behind you (that gun behind you or door opening) so it's now in front of you. It simply doesn't compute for me.

Yes, you can obviously put the speakers wherever you want to... they’re your speakers, but ideally for movie surround sound, they should be 'surrounding' you, front and rear/left and right.

For stereo music it’s just left and right obviously and for that there is a 'full' setting in the room setting for the Beam within the App.

If I were putting the speakers on the same (front) side of the room, then I would not 'Bond' the Play:1’s with the Beam, I would use the 'Group' option instead.

Personally I like the 5.0 surround sound and playing many films on Netflix and Prime Movies really brings home the advantage of movie surround sound... whilst the 'Full' setting for music audio makes the stereo sound great on both sides of the room (front and rear).

However we do all have our own preferences and so it’s really down to your choice in the end. It does not matters a jot, whether anyone agrees, or disagrees with you.

Creating, Separating, and Placing a Stereo Pair

How to group rooms in the Sonos app

Thx guys for all replies and support. Yesterday I connected the Beam and listing to all type of broadcasts and music. I know the philosophy behind a soundbar of Sonos, it is LCR. I think the Beam is great, it is very clear and has a wide range... when watching 'normal' television. And I watched a bit of Netflix after, here it misses some lows the mids and high's are again crystal clear, and the Beam produce a wide sound here. But after I listing to some music,..... it misses a lot of dynamic here. It sounds a bit canned and a lack of bass. So no I don't feel like this soundbar is going to replace a LR. But if I could set my two Play-1 in front and select it to fill up the bass the Beam is missing in music, because the Play-1 has a better bass performance... again I think this could work.

Again I have the feeling that the focus of Sonos is fixed on watching movies as soon as you buy more.

May I ask... when is the Playbar 2-gen going to be released? Untill then it is the Beam, but as soon the PB second gen is going to be released I have the feeling in selling the Beam.

Sorry I don't want to whine in front of everybody, but I try to understand.

Sorry but I don't think you understand how Dolby 5.1 works.

5.1 means 1 centre speaker for speech, 1 left and right front speaker for foreground audio, 1 left and right REAR speaker for rear background audio and 1 Sub for bass. No matter where Sonos places it's speakers, or the user, the audio soundtrack is DESIGNED to work best with the speakers in the correct layout. As it happens the front left, centre and right are all in one unit so "have" to be in the correct place relative to the screen but you as the user obviously have the freedom to place the rear surrounds wherever you want. And whether or not you will find this satisfactory or not will depend on how you use the set-up, what audio signal you send it and how sensitive to the aural position of sounds intended to be behind you actually being in front of you. But you can certainly try it out.

As for Play 1 having better bass performance than the Beam I couldn't say. What I can say is I have Playbar, Sub and Play 1 surrounds set to FULL for music and I think they do a very good job of music reproduction.

As for a next gen Playbar/Beam having the facility you desire I'm afraid my view is, due to my comment above, that there simply won't be a "put the surrounds at the front" setting as I said before it's non-sensical

@Mad Maze: Actually, the Sonos Amp would provide what you are looking for: discrete left/right channels, creating a phantom center for TV purposes.

https://en.community.sonos.com/announcements-228985/introducing-sonos-amp-6812069This is the way I plan to go myself, FWIW.

@Mad Maze. I still don't think you have grasped that you can already do what you want. If you configure the P:1s as surrounds it makes sense to put them behind you. But you don't have to configure your speakers that way, as we have all been trying to explain.

That's interesting but it's not using the Beam which is what the OP wants and also it's for those with non-Sonos speakers too.

But thanks for the added detail of what the new Connect:Amp can do

First post here guys so go easy, I have read a lot on this site and think i've got it.

I have a Beam hooked up to me LG E8 and it's brilliant, no dramas at all ... skeptical wife hasn't left it alone all day so now we want more. Not interested in 5.1 surround as room won't support it properly as we sit againt a wall and been there and done that. What we want is more punch for music so either add a sub or a couple of play ones but they would have to be at front.

Like the first poster I want them left right against the wall either side of the TV to support the Beam in stereo. So would grouping them in Party mode be the answer or should we opt for the Sub and be done with it.

The Beam is a lovely product but how well would the pricey Sub work with it.

Thanks guys.

Hi! I have Playbar + Sub and the Sub is a great addition! My guess is it’s an even better boost for the Beam which has less base than the Playbar.

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