Dialogue level through playbar

agreed. please, please add this! no. 1 complaint about my soundbar. have to wake the neighbors to hear dialogue. thank you!

Also have to agree with this, fine through the daytime when no ones in bed but later at evening times, you have to turn it up loud to hear dialogue and the loud scenes become booming.

Just adding to Daniel's answer, though there isn't a manual way to adjust the dialogue settings, there is an automatic Speech Enhancement mode you can turn on when needed. If you haven't turned on Speech Enhancement yet you can find the details here.


Also have to agree with this, fine through the daytime when no ones in bed but later at evening times, you have to turn it up loud to hear dialogue and the loud scenes become booming.

There's also a Night Sound option you can use which will have the loud noises muffled a bit when it's turned on. This can help prevent waking up your neighbors and family. The details are here too.

Already know about this option but it just turns the sub off really, which isn't what I need. I just need to be able to hear the dialogue when it's at a reasonable volume.

Already know about this option but it just turns the sub off really, which isn't what I need. I just need to be able to hear the dialogue when it's at a reasonable volume.
In the article Ryan shared you also find this option:
Speech Enhancement
The Speech Enhancement setting makes the TV dialog easier to hear. Touch the icon on your Sonos controller’s Now Playing screen to turn this setting on or off. (If the setting isn’t visible, make sure the room with the PLAYBAR is selected.)

Let us know how it goes.

Hi all!

I haven't got playbar., just single Play 3 for music (love it!).I love sonos experience so much I crave for a playbar. However, I am not convinced it is the right choice. My main concern is that I will need to crank up the volume real strong in order to hear what the people are saying. I have that problem already with sony built-in tv speakers 🙂 For half as much money I can buy Qacoustics M4 that got glowing reviews. And it uses simple stereo, not fake surround which is in my opinion the reason the playbars dialogue gets drowned in background noises.
Please Sonos fix this, I want to have another of your product in my home.

Neven

Hi all!

I haven't got playbar., just single Play 3 for music (love it!).I love sonos experience so much I crave for a playbar. However, I am not convinced it is the right choice. My main concern is that I will need to crank up the volume real strong in order to hear what the people are saying. I have that problem already with sony built-in tv speakers 🙂 For half as much money I can buy Qacoustics M4 that got glowing reviews. And it uses simple stereo, not fake surround which is in my opinion the reason the playbars dialogue gets drowned in background noises.
Please Sonos fix this, I want to have another of your product in my home.

Neven

Hi Neven,

The dialogue processing is usually quite good on the PLAYBAR, this isn't a common question we'll see come up. The advanced mode options are great to enhance the dialogue even more. Generally speaking, if you're concerned my recommendation is to test it out. We offer a 45 day money back guaranty for all units purchased directly from us. You can purchase the PLAYBAR from our online shop, and if you aren't satisfied, send it back.

Tnx Ryan!

I will do just that, try it out. And if it sounds good, than I am in trouble. I'll have to buy it, maybe sell my Play 3 to compensate.

Kind regards

Neven

We are having the same issues with the dialog - especially with TV dramas and Netflix shows. Sports seems to come through ok. Have tried the various special settings as well as tuning down the bass and increasing the treble. A bit better, but my wife and I still ask each other 'what did they say" a few times per hour long show. Trying out a competitor product now... dialog is much better, but the setup is infinitely more complicated. Actually somewhat relieved that it isn't my hearing that is the problem! (I'm at that age).

(I have opened a 'ticket' with support).. let's see what they come back with.

Cheers!

Just had an email about the new beta and dialog levels through the centre channel is listed as one of the changes. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet but hopefully it will fix this problem.

Just had an email about the new beta and dialog levels through the centre channel is listed as one of the changes. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet but hopefully it will fix this problem.

is that a "public" beta?

Yeah the public beta that was released yesterday, tried it last night though and it didn't really make a difference.

Yes, I agree. It is awful to watch movies at night with phone in hand to increase decrease volume during speaking and action parts. As much as I love sonos I warn everyone not to purchase the sound bar due to this extreme oversight. It is extremely annoying. I'm highly considering using my tv built in speakers since even they offer this option.

To Ryan S,

I am also finding the dialogue too low for the soundbar,I think there should be a option to increase it further.

+1

So frustrating. I have a playbar and 2x1's for the surrounds and we have to crank the sound up to hear the speech yet if there's an action scene the whole house shakes.

May just be my setup but the speech enhancement switch makes zero difference. Please sort this out Sonos, not really good enough for nearly a grands worth of kit

Speech enhancement makes a noticeable difference on my Playbar, even more pronounced with 5.1 sources. One of the reasons I bought it was because I was fed up not being able to hear what people were saying on TV programs!.

+1 I have the playbase just over a week and have the same issue. Using the TV speakers the sound is generally the same but with the playbase its a bit hit and miss. It does seem that the dialogue volume gets progressively better as you move from stereo to dolby 2.0 to 5.1 but thats just my impression.

Whats most annoying is to have to keep changing the volume as you change channels or is that just me?

+1 dialogue levels need some form of volume control, the speech enhancement helps but only a little. Using playbar, sub and play:1's for surround. Thanks

I'd be surprised if anybody uses their device without Speech Enhancement enabled. Kinda says it all really.

There was one week during the trueplay beta for Playbar that mine worked really well, then they changed the EQ before launch and it never sounded the same for me. Shame, as I know it could work, just never did.

I have mine hooked to sony tv with variable volume enabled which means it shows some level of volume on the tv as i adjust the playbase - not sure how accurate it is but at present, im watchi g sky and its at 69%. I know there seems to ve a deadzone up to 15% but watching on the speakers i usually have abt 30% volume albeit totally appreciate its far from apples to apples!

Time to raise this issue again dear Sonos. Such wonderful gear but such very average speech quality. Yes Voice Enhancement is on. But my goodness, this needs to be a focus!

+1 to this issue. Really disappointing

Im having same issue where dialogue is coming in playbar and only music from my back play 1's you cannot hear what the people in a movie is saying can you not adjust the sound or match the sound to be the same as the playbar so it all sounds the same until you fix this common known issue. We now are using only the playbar for sound and have all the play 1 turned off as this is getting annoying where there is no fix for this

Agreed this is and has been a major issue on our soundbar for 3 years now. No updates, trueplay tunings, speech enhancements, or night modes fix the issue. Always need to have the volume slider at the ready. Very disappointing