Can you explain exactly what you mean by the “dedicated side front channels trick”?
Can you explain exactly what you mean by the “dedicated side front channels trick”?
Sure. I’m talking about having 2 additional speakers (Ones, i.e.) in the front of the room acting as Right and Left front channels alongside the soundbar and the rear ones.
This is done by creating another room (in the app) with them as Stereo and grouping them with the Home Theatre.
Basically you have 2 sets (Front Group: 2 Ones as Right and Left in the front; and Home Theatre: Beam + 2 Ones as rear channels).
This, of course, causes the side front channels to be played by 2 different devices.
You’ll have the Ones as a stereo pair, playing sound about 70msec behind the Beam which will sound like an echo or reverb. You could try it with what you have now, by removing your surrounds and setting them up in the way you propose. If you like it, go with it. Personally, I do not think it will achieve good results.
If you group a pair of Ones with your Beam/Ones setup, you will probably experience a slight audio delay. Read this thread:
Hey guys,
I wanted to ask a few questions about the “dedicated side front channels” trick using Groups in a 5.0 or 5.1 setup. I know the process of how to do it, but I wanted to confirm some details before deciding on a purchase.
I currently have a Beam + 2 rear Ones in Home Theatre mode. However, my room is very wide and the audio sources almost create a triangle shape instead of a rectangle.
With that being said:
- Considering that the Beam will still drive the 3 frontal channels, is the widening effect of the new side channels noticeable? Or does the Beam narrows it again and compensates it?
The Beam audio won’t change at all, as it does not consider your speakers in another Sonos room to be part of the home theatre room.
- How is TruePlay impacted by this? I’d guess I’d run it without the “Front Group”, rendering it untrue.
Trueplay is run for a single Sonos room. Therefore, the HT room tuning won’t consider your extra front speakers. You could then tune your extra speakers, as they are a separate room. Won’t fix the delay issue though.
- About the sync, is the Front Group ahead of the Home Theatre Group so all I have to do is delay the former? Is ARC capable of delaying the video if needed? Should I expect more crashes because of this?
None of the above. Home theatre room will play ASAP to match the video, it has no ability to adjust the video. The ‘front group’ (it’s a room really, not a group) will be behind the home theatre as required for multiroom audio to work correctly. You can’t reduce that delay. The only thing you can do is tell the home theatre room to delay audio a bit to better match your front room. However, that introduces lip sync issues.
Basically, is it worth it?
No.
Do note that I’m aware that the Beam is designed to bounce the side channels and widen the sound, but I get the feeling it isn’t wide enough.
I also know that an Arc would improve this, but I already have the Beam and frankly I’d need it even wider than an Arc.
Thanks in advance and take care.
The best Sonos solution for wide front speakers is using a Sonos amp and wired speakers instead of a Beam or Arc. You can still use your Ones for the rear.
The best Sonos solution for wide front speakers is using a Sonos amp and wired speakers instead of a Beam or Arc. You can still use your Ones for the rear.
Can it? Everything I read about the amp said you’d need 2 Amps and 2 sets of speakers to create a 4.0 setup (which would be outrageously expensive).
From what you’re saying, I could use an Amp + 2 generic cabled speakers + 2 Ones wirelessly, right? And I could even add a wired sub?
All of this with TruePlay?
By the way, that was a great answer Danny. Thanks.
Would you say I shouldn’t worry about my current setup with the Beam?
I think for Trueplay to work with the Amp you need to be using compatible speakers. Sonos sells some customized Sonance ones that support Trueplay.
Fixing Beam audio problems pretty much comes down to replacing it with an Arc.
I’m reasonably happy with my three rooms, Beam, Beam and Sub, and Beam, Sub and S1 surrounds. I do wish for more direct control of the center channel volume and wider Stereo imaging but not unhappy enough to spend the money to improve it.
The best Sonos solution for wide front speakers is using a Sonos amp and wired speakers instead of a Beam or Arc. You can still use your Ones for the rear.
Can it? Everything I read about the amp said you’d need 2 Amps and 2 sets of speakers to create a 4.0 setup (which would be outrageously expensive).
You can use a 2nd amp for the rear speakers, but you do not have to.
From what you’re saying, I could use an Amp + 2 generic cabled speakers + 2 Ones wirelessly, right? And I could even add a wired sub?
Yes to both of these.
All of this with TruePlay?
That I am not sure about. Probably not, unless you are using the Sonance architechtural speakers designed to be used with Trueplay. This is definitely the case for normal stereo use, but not sure on home theatre setup.
By the way, that was a great answer Danny. Thanks.
Would you say I shouldn’t worry about my current setup with the Beam?
I have two rooms with Beam setups at my home, and I am pretty happy with both. The same for my room with Arc. I have no complaints when it comes to TV audio. Music playback on the other hand could use some improvement, that stereo separation you’re refering to. Playing music in ‘full’, with the rear speakers playing stereo for streaming music helps a lot, and I’m good with that for the two Beam setups. The room with the Arc is much bigger, and I honestly am considering using two 5s in the same room for music playback.
I understand. That makes sense.
Honestly, after reading everything, I don’t think it’s worth it in my case to switch to an Amp + 2 wired speakers + sub (maybe). It would be very expensive (although regular subs are cheaper than the Sonos one), I wouldn’t have TruePlay and I wouldn’t have a center channel.
Granted, it’s probably better (soundstage wise) to have wide front channels with a ghost center channel than narrow front channels (the Beam).
I have to guess it’s probably better to consider the Arc solution.
I know it has been said many times here already, but it’s a shame that Sonos won’t allow us to have the Beam as center channel only and then add 4 other mono speakers (instead of 2 + sub).
It would be great if they released a Five like speaker with Beam features to be used as a center channel.
