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kljustice
Contributor II
October 14, 2019
Question

Answer truthfully, does SONOS do 5.1?

I am a big movie watcher and I paid good money for my SONOS speakers because I wanted to have wireless 5.1 surround sound, NOT stereo surround sound. Such as if someone is behind you, you will hear footsteps behind you and not all around you, center channel included.

 

So far I am not hearing that from the SONOS, what’s really fustrating is I have no way to “really” tell. Some speakers come with surround sound programs that allow you to hit a speaker channel in a room setting placement and test where is it coming from so that you can see that it’s working. Since SONOS doesn’t provide their own tests for this I’ve been bootlegging these tests and applying it to the SONOS, so far I’m not hearing the SONOS 5.1, I’m only getting stereo, and SONOS doesn’t have their own tests for this either. When I watching movie, it seriously still sounds like stereo surround sound, 2.1. 

 

So far I have yet to meet anyone that can prove to me that SONOS is outputting true 5.1 surround sound. I could have spent 1/3 of the price on wired speakers and gotten what I want. Prove me wrong because i’m kind of depressed about this.

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18 replies

John B
October 14, 2019

You can look in 'About My System' to see if Sonos is playing DD5.1. Unless you think it's lying to you.  Are you playing a Dolby Digital 5.1 source and is your TV outputting DD5.1?

nik9669a
Senior Virtuoso
October 14, 2019

I’m sure you can download a 5.1 a/v test video if you do a search on the internet. 

AjTrek1
AjTrek1
October 14, 2019

Hi kljustice

 

Do you really think we’d not answer truthfully? :smiling_imp:

Judging from your profile you have a Sonos Beam and I’ll assume Play 1’s x 2 as surrounds.  With no mention of a sub then your configuration is DD5.0. Adding a sub would complete the set up and give you DD5.1

Let’s assume for the sake of argument that you have the Beam, Play 1’s as surround and the requisite sub to afford DD5.1; but you are not getting/seeing it even after going to “About my system” as suggested by@John B. 

Assuming all connections are correct that means your TV is not capable of passing DD5.1 over HDMI (which I find very strange) or will not process DD5.1 over it’s optical out...but neverthe less here’s a possible solution.  

From the source (such as a cable box) send the audio via the optical output of the source directly to the Beam using the optical/HDMI adapter. Send the video directly to the TV from the source via HDMI.

If you have to use the setup as I described you need to incorporate a mutli-input HDMI/Optical switch to connect all sources via optical (for audio) with the optical/hdmi convertor going to the Beam. Each source would also connect via HDMI for video in the same manner with a single HDMI cable going to the TV.

That’s a lot of conenctions so I hope it is just that you are missing the sub thus not allowing DD5.1

I hope this helps.

Cheers!

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.
airforceteacher
airforceteacher
Headliner I
October 14, 2019

So, one possibility: my LG TV has two optical choices. One passes DD5.1, one doesn't. If you're not getting 5.1 according to the app, then check your sound settings. 

Airgetlam
Airgetlam
October 14, 2019

I’ll answer truthfully.

Yes, it does.

Bruce
    AjTrek1
    AjTrek1
    October 15, 2019

    I’ll answer truthfully.

    Yes, it does.

    @Airgetlam 

    And we should believe you because…..

    LOL

    Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.
    Airgetlam
    Airgetlam
    October 15, 2019

    I’ve tested it?

    Early on, when I still used DVDs, I had a couple of various copies of DVDs with test sequences on them. Being curious, I tested the 5.1 system of Sonos, after it replaced my old Sony A/V receiver system.

    I’ve never been a huge fan of believing marketing text. Big fan of doing my own testing :)

    Bruce
      sjw
      Local Superstar
      October 15, 2019

      As a big movie watcher, are many of your movies in DTS as opposed to Dolby Digital?

      Sjoop1985
      Sjoop1985
      October 15, 2019

      It does do 5.1, but no one on here can deny that it is a limited implementation, that only works if you feed it Dolby Digital 5.1.

      Because I was thinking of changing the placement of my Sonos One surrounds, I've been listening to a number of test files that I found here, to see how it would sound. If you pick the files with DD5.1(ac3) soundtracks, you will get surround sound from your Sonos. As discussed above, you might need to jump through some hoops to get it, though.

       

      However, as I've said on this community before, if you are an enthousiast that wants 5 or 7 discrete channels, support for every codec out there, possibility of growing the setup to Atmos, then Sonos is not the Home Theatre for you.

      Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans (John Lennon) --- Living room: Arc, Sub, 2x One - Kitchen: One - Bedroom: Play 3 - Office: Beam - Bathroom: Play 1
        Ken_Griffiths
        Ken_Griffiths
        October 15, 2019

        My wife is quite sure that she hears footsteps behind her too… 😁

         

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