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Avid Contributor III
September 28, 2018

Feature Request: Beam swap left/right channel

I mounted my Beam upside down under my TV because it was the only way since the mount was blocking access to the cable ports and the Beam controls were too close under the TV if mounted upright. By mounting it upside down I am able to access the Beam buttons underneath and have a clear entry to the cable ports. Please make it possible to swap left/right channel of the Beam.
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24 replies

Lyricist II
January 2, 2019
Sure, I'll explain a bit further. I have a setup with a projector and an electric screen that extends from the ceiling. You would normally combine such a setup with ceiling mounted speakers, if you don't have any shelves or other furniture directly underneath the screen (which I don't). Placing a speaker on the floor would be quite far away from the screen, which provides a bit of a funny effect when the voices are coming from a notably different direction than where the screen is. Also, a lonely soundbar on the floor arguably looks a bit weird.
If you want to put a Beam on the ceiling you almost have to flip it around for the controls to be visible and for the microphone not to point straight into the ceiling. Also, the Flexson mount only supports upside-down installation when mounted from the top. It's even advertised as a feature for installation "under-cabinet" or "higher up the wall" on the Sonos website, which is a bit strange given that you can't swap channels. In essence, if you install the beam under a cabinet as advertised, you need to live with your stereo channels being mixed up. The same for many projector setups, such as mine.
Hope this helps. My ceiling is not angled btw, it's a normal straight ceiling.
melvimbe
January 2, 2019
That makes sense. In my mind I was picturing the Beam facing downward, not angled down/out. Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about the mic and controls in that scenario. You obviously won't be able to reach the controls, and the mic is optional. You can now 'pair' the beam with an echo dot and get pretty much the same functionality. The biggest issue would be whether you can get the right angle.

is there a reason why you're not going with ceiling mounted speakers? You could get Sonos amp to accomplish pretty much the same thing, with improved sound (depending on the speakers you get).
Danny
Lyricist II
January 2, 2019
With individual speakers you would normally go for a left/right/centre configuration, which the Amp doesn't support - I believe it only supports two speakers on it's output side.
I guess you could use an Amp merely as an input device and hang three individual Sonos speakers for left/right/centre off the ceiling, but then you'd be speaking a very different price tag.
I liked the idea of having a sleek stylish soundbar rather than a battery of speakers in the room, but I guess I have to evaluate alternatives.
melvimbe
January 2, 2019
With individual speakers you would normally go for a left/right/centre configuration, which the Amp doesn't support - I believe it only supports two speakers on it's output side.

It has a phantom center channel.


I guess you could use an Amp merely as an input device and hang three individual Sonos speakers for left/right/centre off the ceiling, but than you'd be speaking a very different price tag.


You actually cannot do that as it's not a supported configuration. You can only hang surround speakers and sub off of the Amp..or any of the other HT products (beam/playbar/playbase) from Sonos.
Danny
Lyricist II
February 9, 2019
Keith N wrote Thanks for taking the time to post your feature request and welcome to the Community. I am happy to pass this topic along to the team for consideration and visibility.
Do we ever get to hear if this is likely to happen? It’s been 4 months and a couple of updates since the original post.
Lyricist I
February 27, 2019
I also bought the sonos beam and mounted it with the Flexson mount above my television because in front or under it there is no space. Since the television is in front of me and the beam above it, I mounted the beam upside down in order for the sound to point downwards towards me and not upwards to the ceiling. I thought this 'feature' of swaping the left and right channel was for sure implemented since, firstly, the Flexson mount advertises an upside down mounting, and secondly, the word 'sonos' is the same when mirrored or turned around by 180 degrees. Thus I am really disappointed that this simple setting is not thought of by the engineers.
Lyricist I
April 26, 2019
I would love to be able to reverse channels for this purpose as well!
Contributor I
May 10, 2019
Yes, this is a much needed feature on all sonos devices. Please implement this update
Lyricist I
August 8, 2019
Hi there, ninjaguy. Thanks for taking the time to post your feature request and welcome to the Community. I am happy to pass this topic along to the team for consideration and visibility.

Thanks again!


I second this request - the mounting holes underneath the Beam fits perfectly for mounting the speaker upside down underneath the shelf my tv is standing on. Unfortunately the left/right channels gets reversed which obviously doesn't match the rest of my surround-setup.

@Keith N Any chance of this feature making it into production? 🙂
Ryan S
Retired Sonos Staff
August 8, 2019
I'll make sure to add your voice to the request, but I don't have any plans to let you in on if it'll happen some day. Thanks for asking!
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