I've read a lot of posts on this forum regarding sonos 5.1 surround with the new sonos beam and people trying to achieve a multi channel stereo setup without any delays, instead of setting up a 5.1 sonos configuration with their television set. I'll start off by letting you guys know what setup I have and then maybe some of you can clarify what we are actually capable of doing with sonos speakers and what we can't achieve with these speakers.
So I purchased a sonos beam, a sub, and 6 sonos one's in hopes of connecting all these speakers to my HTPC so that I can replicate a multi channel stereo setup which I've already achieved with my AV receiver attached to my PC. So basically I just wanted to see if I could setup a multi channel stereo configuration using sonos speakers in hopes of avoiding using cables. This way I could place speakers all over my bedroom without using any wires. So to achieve this setup, I used the hdmi/optical adapter provided with the sonos beam to connect the beam to my motherboard's optical output using an HDMI cable. Then I set the digital audio (s/pdif) as a default device in the control panel sound manager. Then using the sonos software settings, I added a sub to the beam. Subsequently I ran the trueplay tuning feature provided in the sonos app. Then I paired three sonos one's together and placed them around the bedroom and on my work desk. Once I pared them, I also ran the trueplay tuning feature in the sonos app for each paired speaker. Once that was completed, I grouped all the paired One's with the beam/sub combo. Then I simply played a few songs using youtube, itunes, winamp, windows media player, tunein radio through the sonos software and everything works like a charm without any delays. Now here is my question. I am actually listening to a multi channel stereo setup or simply a multi channel non stereo configuration??? Originally I thought the sole purpose of owning sonos speakers was that you can purchase as many as you wanted, and you could place them all around the house and pretty much group them together so that music can play through all the speakers throughout the house in sync. Or you could listen to different music in different rooms, or group speakers in a single room and listen to music in that room. So I don't quite understand why some people are saying that if you don't setup a surround sound to the TV or PC and if you simply group the speakers you will end up with delays? And also why can't we achieve a multi channel stereo setup? Am I missing something here? I also tried connecting the beam to my television set using the hdmi arc input, and i was also to obtain a 5.1 surround configuration in addition to a multi channel configuration by simply adding the sub to the beam thus creating a sub/beam combo and then pairing up a couple of play one's in stereo and subsequently grouping the stereo paired play one's together with the sub/beam combo.
Multi Channel Stereo / Multi channel non stereo when grouping sonos speakers with the sonos beam to TV or PC
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Multi-channel setups send a separate, discrete channel to each speaker. This allows for a distinct 3D listening experience, with directional queues that let you know where the sound is coming from and/or going to as it pans from channel to channel.
What you are doing is sending the exact same signal to every speaker (or speaker pair). That loses all the 3D effect, spreading it all around the room. For instance, if a plane is flying overhead, in 5.1 you will hear the sound start in the center channel, then hit the center, right and left, then pan back to the R/L rears. Thus your ears will experience the plane passing overhead as you watch it on the TV. With your setup, the plane will be everywhere in the room, there will be no panning from front to back.
What you are doing is sending the exact same signal to every speaker (or speaker pair). That loses all the 3D effect, spreading it all around the room. For instance, if a plane is flying overhead, in 5.1 you will hear the sound start in the center channel, then hit the center, right and left, then pan back to the R/L rears. Thus your ears will experience the plane passing overhead as you watch it on the TV. With your setup, the plane will be everywhere in the room, there will be no panning from front to back.
I completely understand what you are trying to say with regards to 5.1 surround and how movies were specifically recorded in that fashion so the listener can experience a 3D effect. But I am talking about stereo coming out of two paired speakers, where you have a left channel and a right channel. Maybe if I simplify my scenario it would make more sense. If I take two sonos one's and pair them up, I will have a two channel stereo configuration (left channel and right channel). Now if I pair another set of sonos one's, I will also obtain another two channel stereo configuration (left channel and right channel). Now my question is, if I group two sets of paired sonos one's together wouldn't I achieve multichannel stereo configuration, where I have two speakers dedicated for left channel and another two speakers dedicated for right channel? Or, would I simply have monoaural sound coming from each speaker, in other words all speakers are reproducing the same copy of the signal? And if this is the case, then why would the sonos app allow you to pair speakers and then be able to group them together. They should unpair the speakers first and then group them together, so we as the customers would know for sure that the speakers are no longer paired together for two channel stereo configuation. Does this make more sense?
You would have two lefts and two rights. The reason they do that is because they don't know that the two pairs are in the same room, they could be at opposite ends of the house, or on different floors. Since you know they are in the same room, you should be configuring them as non-pairs if you wish that configuration.
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