apple tv 4k theater set up: arc ultra era 300’s gen 3 sub

Have you contacted Apple about this?

Since every other app works though the Apple TV, why do you believe this is a Sonos issue?

I get that users have lost some trust in Sonos because of the issues associated with the new app launch, but Sonos products only play whatever format it is presented with.

As I understand it OP’s disappointment lies in the fact that stereo sound from a TV source does not play over his surrounds. This has been asked to ad as a feature for a long time - especially because this has never been a feature. I do not think that OP is right when he states “It worked fine before for atmos or any other format.”

I can write a very long response to this, but lets just say I disagree with stereo from surrounds. 

When you go to  live performance, do you turn your back to the stage, or do you face the stage?

I just feel that, it should be the same inside your home.

To leave out personal preferences I think there are people who like surround sound for musik and others don’t. Imo the „problem“ is that Sonos makes no difference in tv mode between tv stereo content stereo and music stereo content.

I think the solution could be to add an option like many classic avr devices do. Give the user an option for tv mode stereo signal to select between dynamic DSP result or fixed full stereo signal also for the rear speakers. This also would make users happy who like classic spoken tv stereo sound also on their rear speakers. 
​@106rallye … I think OP was talking about playing Dolby Atmos music in tv mode or watching a concert with DD5.1 audio track when saying „it worked before“. For stereo tracks in tv mode it always was the same like now. Just the results of automatic DSP surround simulation sometimes are quite different depending on the source stereo track. 

Try turning Continuous Audio Connection off in the ATV 4K audio settings. It is new as of a few tvOS updates ago (tvOS 26.4). That setting sends all audio out in Dolby MAT and might be the reason you hear a difference. I have mine turned off as I didn’t have any of the problems that new setting is supposed to fix and didn’t like the way it sounded.

Interesting… I‘m pretty sure that this function doesn’t have any effect on the audio output you will hear. For my understanding it just put it into another format. 
Just speaking for myself I didn’t hear any difference when turning it on. 

With it on, all audio is sent in Dolby MAT (which Sonos displays as Atmos, even when it’s not Atmos). According to Apple, it is populating the correct channels within the Dolby MAT for the content being played (the remaining channels being silent). It just doesn’t sound right to me. Sonos no longer does the processing it would normally do for stereo 2 channel audio.

If you have an amp that does surround processing on stereo 2 channel audio, that will no longer work with the Continuous Audio set on.

​@kdowling 

I never noticed that… maybe because I tested the option just for some hours and decided not to use it. So the normally simulated rear signals the DSP creates from a stereo signal in tv mode won’t be there with the option turned on!? Did I get it right?

That is the way I understand it and the way it appears to work here. Since the ATV is sending silence on the channels not used, instead of just not sending them, the receiver/amp/soundbar is going to play silence on those channels.

The following assumes that surrounds have been set to Full for music which automatically increases the volume/presence.

Apple Music plays through my Era 300 surrounds with Arc Ultra sound bar. However, the surrounds are not as loud when streaming music through the app. You can adjust the volume level of surrounds. Another trick is to set the distance as 10 feet or more if not already set as such. Doing so causes the surrounds to play slightly louder. 

Regarding Continuous Audio. I find that leaving it on expands the sound stage of the Arc Ultra. I did an A/B test while playing the same track and the presence was much improved with Continuous Audio set to on. That said everyone’s listening experience is difference.

One more thing when playing music via the TV. Click on Speech Enhancement and you’ll see that it is recommended to be turned off.

I think you may be mixing up two different things. The “Full” setting for Music Playback on surrounds pertains to playing music via sonos. It has nothing to do with audio coming from the ATV device. Which is TV audio via hdmi. The Continuous Audio Connection setting only applies to audio from the ATV device. Doesn’t matter if it’s music or a movie. That is what is being discussed. Apple Music on ATV to TV to Sonos. If the music you are playing from the ATV is 2 channel stereo, the sound will change depending on CAC being on or off.

Edit to add: My testing has been with Beam 2, Sub (Gen 3) and Era 100s surrounds. 

It’s a misnomer in labeling. It has more to do with inputs (‘streaming’ versus ‘from the TV’…not really sure how to label that, since it could be HDMI or optical input…perhaps why it isn’t easily labeled in the controller). Music itself can certainly come from ‘the TV’. So it gets confusing. 

And, not to put too fine a point on it, if Sonos ever moves from direct input from the TV sets to streaming across some other method, it will be even harder to simply identify these differences…so that your mother can understand.
 

Which, I think, is still the ‘ease of use’ Sonos is striving for. Satisfy the larger ‘ease of use’ crowd, rather than edging into the perceived ‘audiophile’ smaller audience. 

I don’t believe I’m misunderstanding anything. The OP said his surrounds are not putting out (any) sound when playing music via AppleTV. I did my investigation using ATV via my setup. My response was that The surrounds are not as robust as opposed to streaming but there is audio.

My intended communication to the OP was to make sure the  surrounds were set to Full. They could also adjust the volume and or play with the distance setting which I did as part of my testing. Failing all that I would think the OP would run a diagnostic and contact Sonos Tech support.

So unless the OP completely misstated (worded) the issue I responded to what was submitted. I didn’t try to speculate what the OP may have meant nor detract from their post.

The comments about Continuous Audio setting was in response to another member interjecting that aspect  into the conversation which the OP didn’t mention. I merely gave my opinion on the use of Continuous Audio.

Lol. Ok.  Let me rephrase... The OP is using an Apple TV 4k to play “Apple Music through the tv”. The Music Playback surround setting of Ambient or Full does not effect tv sound (hdmi soundbar input).

I am the other member that interjected CAC into the conversation. I’m not going to re-explain why. The OP can test and see if it fixes their problem of no sound from the surrounds when playing Apple Music through the tv. If not, they can turn it back on.

Way back, further than my memory is reliable, didn't someone Sonos say something about a soundbar generating ambient rear channels when the TV is sending a stereo source?

Who knows how many firmware revisions back that was, even if I'm recalling correctly?

Too many other pots on the fire today to fool with it and I don't have Apple TV anyway.

Yes, exactly. But that is not related to the Ambient/Full music playback setting.

If CAC is on and the Apple TV 4K is sending silent rear surround channels (all channels silent except left/right) for a stereo 2 channel audio, sonos is going to play silent rear surround channels. ie, silence in the surrounds. So instead of playing the ambient rear channels it would normally play, you get nothing.

Edit: This is what I meant above when I said “Sonos no longer does the processing it would normally do for stereo 2 channel audio.” It also effects center/sub.

I’m not going to say anymore on this subject. However the AI generated synopsis below gives a good explanation. Whelther one indulges or discards everything by AI is a personal preference. Take from it what you will.

I’m not sure what any of that has to do with what is being discussed here. No one has mentioned anything about using Apple Music on iOS/iPadOS/macOS. Nor has anyone compared Apple Music on those devices to using Apple Music on an Apple TV device. I’m completely confused on what your point is, so I’m out.

When I first purchased the arc ultra I quite often use the music app on Apple TV and played atmos and stereo audio through my theater. It produced a full soundstage and responded to ambient and full playback selections in the Sonos app. 
 

Now only when using the Apple TV Music app the surrounds are not producing sound for any type of audio. 
 

Even if this is an Apple quirk a company like Sonos should have known about Apple updates before they happened. Or the very least have explained why they don’t support Apple Music on Apple TV. 
 

rebuilding the theater group from factory is what I need to do to test this further. (Another thing Sonos should not require so often) 

If you were playing through Apple TV with the output set to the HDMI-ARC output on the TV, then the bolded is impossible.  The “Ambient” and “Full” settings for surrounds are for audio sources only (meaning sources not coming from the TV via HDMI-ARC).  It doesn’t have any effect on HDMI-ARC sources. 

You may have had the Apple TV outputting to Airplay, but that is not the recommended setting for TV sources or Atmos Audio, because it only puts out stereo.  No DD 5.1, no DD+ and no Atmos from TV (HDMI-ARC) or Atmos Audio through the Sonos app.  So I don’t know what you were hearing before, but it wasn’t Atmos if the source responded to “Ambient” and “Full” in the Sonos app.

​@Tysoncrosbie 

jgatie is 100% correct. The Ambient/Full setting does not apply to TV (hdmi) input. What you may have been hearing is an ambient sound in the surrounds that sonos generates when the TV is sending a stereo signal. So, the question becomes, why aren’t your hearing it now?

A few months back, Apple introduced a new audio feature with tvOS 26.4 that was turned on by default. It is located in the AppleTV audio settings under Audio Format and is called Continuous Audio Connection. CAC for short.

Before that settings existed or was turned on, the audio output formats from the AppleTV 4K were (as shown in Sonos controller):
“Stereo PCM” for stereo
“Multichannel PCM 5.1” for 5.1 etc
“Dolby Atmos” for Dolby MAT (which Apple sends Atmos in)

With the new setting turned on, all audio is sent in Dolby MAT, which sonos displays as Dolby Atmos.

Sonos uses the Stereo PCM input when generating the ambient sound in the surrounds for stereo input.

If you turn off the new Continuous Audio Connection setting in the AppleTV 4K, it goes back to the way it was before.

I just tested this on my setup* to make sure nothing changed since the last time I tested it. When CAC is on and AppleTV 4K is outputting stereo, I hear nothing in the surrounds. When CAC is off and the AppleTV 4K is outputting stereo, I hear the ambient sound sonos generates for the surrounds.

You can test this yourself and see if that is what you were previously hearing. Turn CAC off and play stereo music in Apple Music on the AppleTV 4K. Do you hear anything in the surrounds?

*Beam 2, Sub (Gen 3), Era 100s surrounds

Sonos does not require factory resets outside a few rare situations, Sonos even recommends against them until you have consulted support.

A factory reset rarely solves a problem, it may hide it for a time but it is still there. It does destroy valuable, to Sonos support, data making troubleshooting more difficult.