5.1 With Sonos Play:5 Left/Rigth

I'm sure this has come up before, but I did not find the topic in a quick search and i wanted to add my feedback.

With Beam/Sub and play:3 rears the resulting 5.1 sound is good. But I can only imagine what adding play:5 to the front left and right would do. In particular to keep up with the sub that overpowers the whole system (because it's so great and powerful).

It would not require any hardware changes, and what would be needed is the programming/tuning to set the left/right speakers up.

What can we do to convince Sonos to add this functionality? They will 100% benefit from increased sales and customers will benefit from even better sound.

Thanks

Hi ynalezinski,

Welcome to the community, and thanks for the suggestion. We're always looking for ways to improve, and many of our current features have come from requests like this. I'll send along a feature request for you.

Thanks for the reply. I have not heard back and since I cannot direct message you, I will make my statement and ask my questions here.

I have 3 x Play:3, Beam and Sub and until the last step of creating the 5.1 setup, I did not know that I would not be able to add 2 x play:5 to the front setup (very disappointing after a fairly significant investment in Sonos gear). The Beam in the front is fine, the Sub helps it keep up, but I know that it could be better. (music from the Beam and Sub in the front is an even worse experience than missing the L/R channel for movies - in particular for Classical, Jazz or anything before the 1980s!)

Having 2 x Play:5 in front is necessary for music and needed for a proper home theatre experience.

I know, from reading feedback online, that "real", "physical" 5.1 is desired by some of your users.

The act of adding Play:3 or Play:5 to the front will increase sales for Sonos.

Not being able to add L/R, disappoints the users that want that feature - which is worse that missing out on increased sales. Furthermore, how many potential customers opt for a competitor when they realize the limitation.

From what I can tell, adding the ability to have front L/R speakers is a matter of coding the logic into the Sonos controller and "fine tuning" the physical speaker output/sound interaction (how the speakers vibrate together). Both are just a matter of coding and testing. No hardware needed to be changed or developed)

I'm confident that Sonos has people responsible for sales budgets and others responsible for innovation that would be happy to layer in more capability (capabilities that some of your competitors already have).

Ideally, Sonos would add the ability to "save" speaker configurations/setups/tuning so that we could switch between stereo, 2.1 and 5.1 in the same room, as required. (Since this is a feature that is also requested a lot) . It also allows users to move some of our smaller speakers around (outside for example) when we are entertaining without having to re-tune each time)

I think that addressing this very big gap in the Sonos product line (really just a gap in setup options) will greatly benefit all Sonos internal stakeholders, and Sonos users.

I would be happy help with more feedback, defining scope/specification, cost/benefit analysis and/or beta testing if that helps move this forward.

Also, while I appreciate the previous reply, I don't think that type of vague response is what Sonos users expect from such an innovative and nimble company. Please supply a timeline for when this feature will be added to the Sonos ecosystem. Otherwise, please explain why this feature is not possible and add that fact to the website, marketing and FAQ. Hiding (by omission) the fact that commonly accepted "5 speaker + sub" 5.1 is not possible, is not fair to customers investing in modular and scalable sound products. Customers can easily be $1,500 to $2,000 in to the system before they try and put all the pieces together and find out we cannot.

Feel free to take this conversation offline, if that is more suitable.

Thanks,

Yanik

Thanks for the more detailed feedback. As a rule, we can't comment on possible future products or features, but we do pass along feature requests and feedback. Not everything ends up being implemented, but many requests do.

I don't feel your reply is useful, or respectful of the investment that I've made in your product - I am asking about a common sense feature that is reasonable to expect given the way Sonos designed the system and the components that are available for sale (modular, wireless and TruePlay tunable). It's also an option every other sound system manufacturer provides. I understand that a sound bar CAN provide left and right, but why not AUGMENT L/R with Play:5. If, or some reason, Sonos feels it's against their corporate DNA to augment sound bars with left and right speakers, then offer a play:5 center option. (since play:3 not available and discontinued because of a weak CPU).

Right now I'm upset at the lack of useful feedback and feel like I owe it to future Sonos customers to provide feedback on whatever platform I can to warn them of this before the purchase your products.

Way to turn a loyal, repeat, customer into a frustrated one.

@ynaleziski While it perfectly normal to want to know more information, Sonos still has to be concerned about sharing it's plans with the public and giving away information to competitors. You can also look at recent history with the Google Integration to see that providing company plans to the public has other concerns. People don't want to hear about delays, which can happen with the best managed projects, and can get turned off. Sonos has to wonder if they were better off not giving any information about google integration.

I also don't think that enabling separate L/R speakers is as easy to implement as it seems to be on the surface. I'm not a wireless expert by any means, but I would guess that creating a new 6 speaker bonding setup creates some significant challenges over the current 4 speaker bonding setup. Sonos would want to make sure that the setup is stable in most home environments. And although you would use play:5, others would want to play:3s, play:1s, Sonos Ones, or Amp so that would need to be tested and developed as well. Customers would want to use a beam/playbase/playbar for the center channel, more dev and test, and would probably want a discount if they're not using 2/3 of the speakers. And how would all these setups function when playing a music source? And you have to trueplay all these various setups. And what about the folks who then say there is no reason Sonos shouldn't also support a 7.1 setup (playbar for front with 4 surround channels) and all the various configurations that brings in.

As far as it being easy money, I can't say that there are enough customers out there who want this configuration. People like the simple soundbar setup. Of those who want a fuller surround setup, how many are going to go with a wired setup? I don't know that it's the winner it may appear to be from the outside looking in.

I do want to see this option available as well. I just can't conclude that Sonos is dropping the ball on this with what little information we have on the market size and effort to development. From what I've seen on other topics, Sonos doesn't operate blindly in these areas, so I would conclude the decision to not currently support this HT setup is well reasoned.

I have 3 x Play:3, Beam and Sub and until the last step of creating the 5.1 setup, I did not know that I would not be able to add 2 x play:5 to the front setup (very disappointing after a fairly significant investment in Sonos gear).

This just sounds like bad research on your part before you bought your system, which you are now turning around by blaming Sonos that they did not implement a feature.

Although I can appreciate your feedback and feature requests, I don't really understand your tone, especially since your disappointment is your own fault. Your posts read like you expect Sonos to act immediately, and you complain about not getting a response or useful feedback, as if you're entitled to that on a community mainly by users, for users...

Please consider that for every post on this community asking for such things as front speakers, a center speaker, DTS support or what have you, there are hundreds of users for whom their system does exactly what they want it to. Just because you have taken the time to write an elaborate post, or even the fact that you spent good money on your Sonos gear, does not mean Sonos owes you anything beyond the featureset you've currently purchased. You're not their only customer, nor are you the biggest. So maybe demanding feedback and timelines, sounding like you're the CEO of the company, is not really appropriate.

Let alone that, as Danny pointed out, you are in no way able to gauge how "easily" your requests could be implemented.

I just looked up the definition of "Entitlement Nation" at MerriamWebsters.com, and lo and behold, it linked to this thread. 😉

"Bad research" - more like a bad assumption, that Sonos would provide the basic 5.1 speaker support that has existed in the industry since before Sonos ever existed.

And yes, I'm entitled - to my opinion, my frustration, my opportunity to give honest feedback... Who are you people? The Sonos thought police? I guess when the Sonos team leaves a vacuum to fill, with their non answers, the trolls come out to play.

@ynaleziski While it perfectly normal to want to know more information, Sonos still has to be concerned about sharing it's plans with the public and giving away information to competitors. You can also look at recent history with the Google Integration to see that providing company plans to the public has other concerns. People don't want to hear about delays, which can happen with the best managed projects, and can get turned off. Sonos has to wonder if they were better off not giving any information about google integration.

I also don't think that enabling separate L/R speakers is as easy to implement as it seems to be on the surface. I'm not a wireless expert by any means, but I would guess that creating a new 6 speaker bonding setup creates some significant challenges over the current 4 speaker bonding setup. Sonos would want to make sure that the setup is stable in most home environments. And although you would use play:5, others would want to play:3s, play:1s, Sonos Ones, or Amp so that would need to be tested and developed as well. Customers would want to use a beam/playbase/playbar for the center channel, more dev and test, and would probably want a discount if they're not using 2/3 of the speakers. And how would all these setups function when playing a music source? And you have to trueplay all these various setups. And what about the folks who then say there is no reason Sonos shouldn't also support a 7.1 setup (playbar for front with 4 surround channels) and all the various configurations that brings in.

As far as it being easy money, I can't say that there are enough customers out there who want this configuration. People like the simple soundbar setup. Of those who want a fuller surround setup, how many are going to go with a wired setup? I don't know that it's the winner it may appear to be from the outside looking in.

I do want to see this option available as well. I just can't conclude that Sonos is dropping the ball on this with what little information we have on the market size and effort to development. From what I've seen on other topics, Sonos doesn't operate blindly in these areas, so I would conclude the decision to not currently support this HT setup is well reasoned.

To be clear, me reply was meant for the other 2 people. You feedback in appreciated. I considered most of what you highlight when I wrote my original messages and still think that leveraging existing hardware by adding new configurations creates marketing opportunities to existing customers and future ones. The downside risk is limited to R&D costs and the opportunity for sales is large - which would allow for the finite R&D costs to be amortized over sales going forward essentially forever.

You bought a soundbar. A soundbar is defined as containing a left, center, and right speaker in one enclosure.. Show me one other soundbar on the market that also doubles as a single channel center speaker and I may consider your expectations justified. Good luck finding one.

No, I won't. you provide an example of a Sonos product that can be used as a center speaker?

You have 18,617 replies - I wonder how many of them are useful instead of hurting the Sonos brand.

The vast majority are useful. And just how am I hurting the brand by telling the truth? A soundbar never doubles as a center speaker and you bought a soundbar. If you wanted a center speaker, Sonos doesn't sell one, Sonos sells soundbars. That's your fault for not doing the research.

"Bad research" - more like a bad assumption, that Sonos would provide the basic 5.1 speaker support that has existed in the industry since before Sonos ever existed.

Yes, it was a bad assumption. And yes, the 5.1 setup with separated L+R+C speakers has been around a long time, and Sonos decided not to support such a setup...I would guess because the didn't think it would sell well enough in the market. There isn't any rule saying that a company has to do this setup, clearly. And that doesn't really explain why you bought a soundbar and expected it to behave as a center channel.

And yes, I'm entitled - to my opinion, my frustration, my opportunity to give honest feedback... Who are you people? The Sonos thought police? I guess when the Sonos team leaves a vacuum to fill, with their non answers, the trolls come out to play.

Well sure, you're entitled to opinions and all that, but you did it on a public forum, where other are free to comment on it. And as I stated before, I agree with your opinion that separated left and right speakers in a HT Sonos setup would be great. I don't agree that Sonos is letting customers down in any way by not creating this. I do think they've made mistakes with other decisions though, absolutely.

And yes, I'm entitled - to my opinion, my frustration, my opportunity to give honest feedback... Who are you people? The Sonos thought police? I guess when the Sonos team leaves a vacuum to fill, with their non answers, the trolls come out to play.

I think I stated quite clearly that I appreciate your opinion and feature requests. My issue was with your tone, sounding like you're Sonos' CEO, adressing the R&D department and asking for timelines as if Sonos only has to answer to you - they do not.

To be clear, me reply was meant for the other 2 people. You feedback in appreciated. I considered most of what you highlight when I wrote my original messages and still think that leveraging existing hardware by adding new configurations creates marketing opportunities to existing customers and future ones. The downside risk is limited to R&D costs and the opportunity for sales is large - which would allow for the finite R&D costs to be amortized over sales going forward essentially forever.

Of course leveraging existing hardware by adding new configurations creates marketing opportunities, but, as Danny already said, how do you know the hardware is capable of what you're asking? Second, who says this is a huge opportunity for sales, do you have the numbers to back that up? Keep in mind that communities like these are not an accurate representation of the user base. Again, my issue here is not your argument, but your tone, as if you're speaking absolute truths.

No, I won't. you provide an example of a Sonos product that can be used as a center speaker?

You made the assumption that Sonos should support this, as you claim this is "normal" for such a setup. If you claim this about a soundbar-centered setup, then you are the one that will need to substantiate that claim.

That said, let me repeat that I appreciate your feature request, even if they are features that I don't really need. It would be great if Sonos could support this, just like it would be great for the hardware to be able to decode or downmix any audio (DTS, Atmos, you name it) on its own, without deferring to a TV, so it just works out of the box like a layperson would expect. However, I also think that there's a limit to how far Sonos should go to cater to HT enthousiasts, something I also said in this thread (with some great points by Danny, too).

You're all correct, I never should have purchased Sonos products. It was a mistake, and I plan to share that with everyone I can, on any platform I can, at every opportunity. Good job at being the Sonos "White Knights" - I've seen the light and it points me in a direction away from Sonos.

Sonos: If you are reading this, please fill the information void in the community, because you'll do it better than your users - who are all just speculating. Up to a week ago I had nothing but praise for your products, now I feel like your representative don't care about our investment in, and commitment to, your products. In the absence of good information, your more pedantic and condescending users are eager for a chance to speculate, all the while making others feels bad. Is this Twitter? Where the platform is attitude and culture agnostic? Or do you plan to lead and grow the community in a way that creates pride in ownership and loyalty? I understand that I'm now and active and willing participant to this negative discussion, but it would not be this way had your representative acted more like a stakeholder in the success of the Sonos community, rather than a politician giving non answers and letting the users fight it out amongst themselves. If you're going to get it wrong, do it by trying to provide the best and most useful information - don't be afraid to talk about what Sonos would like to do, what it can't do, and when it might happen. Giving a non-answer, to a valid request, is just as bad as giving an honest answer that changes over time.

When you're done condescending Sonos, their employees and us again, take some time to actually read this community. Sonos has a policy not to share any details on R&D roadmaps and timelines and their employees on here reflect that. If you had informed yourself, you wouldn't have been disappointed with the answers you got, similar to when you bought something you thought was something else.

You'll be hard pressed to find any tech company (Google, Apple, Samsung) that openly shares its roadmaps on user forums, so feel free to join one of their boards and act like you know how the company should be run, what features they need and how they should communicate.

As for white knighting: most of us are here because we love these products and the brand, so we will occasionally defend them. I have no issue with criticism of Sonos, also yours, but for the third time, I take issue with your tone.

I'm sure Sonos will add this feature request right next to the one for DTS support.

It's borderline criminal that they advertise a 5.1 solution. They don't truly have one.

When you're done condescending Sonos, their employees and us again, take some time to actually read this community. Sonos has a policy not to share any details on R&D roadmaps and timelines and their employees on here reflect that. If you had informed yourself, you wouldn't have been disappointed with the answers you got, similar to when you bought something you thought was something else.

You'll be hard pressed to find any tech company (Google, Apple, Samsung) that openly shares its roadmaps on user forums, so feel free to join one of their boards and act like you know how the company should be run, what features they need and how they should communicate.

You need the last word? And to be right? Well you can't have it and you are wrong.

And just because it's policy, or common practice, it does not mean I agree with it - or that it's in fact right.

I'm sure Sonos will add this feature request right next to the one for DTS support.

It's borderline criminal that they advertise a 5.1 solution. They don't truly have one.

Agreed, my experience with the Sonos 5.1 offering is not good at all.

This thought process irks me a bit. Sonos does indeed have a 5.1 solution, they support Dolby Digital. What Sonos does not do, and has been requested at great length, is support other versions of 5.1, such as Dolby Digital +, DTS, and Atmos. Nor do they provide a way to have separate speakers in the front of your room. All of Sonos soundbars contain the front right, center and front left speakers in a single box. But they are separate speakers that handle each audio stream.

So, Sonos does support 5.1. Perhaps not in the form you wish. Which I can understand, I would like more variety myself, but it would be disingenuous of me to say that they didn't support 5.1

Fair enough, then, in my opinion, they don't offer a 5.1 solution that justifies the cost (when Sub is added) and seem to be unwilling to improve their offering using existing hardware.

I can respect that statement. The matter of cost justification is in the eye of the beholder, but I can certainly understand the perspective.

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