Hello Sonos Community and Team,
I’ve been a dedicated Sonos user for over 10 years and truly appreciate the innovation and quality your products deliver. I currently have a Sonos Home Theater setup that includes:
- Sonos Arc Ultra
- 2 Era 300 speakers
- 2 Sonos Subs
When streaming music, Sonos allows you to choose the “Play from All Speakers” option, ensuring the audio is evenly distributed throughout the home. However, when TV is the audio source, the system automatically selects a 5.1 surround sound configuration without offering any choice for how stereo sound is handled. Unlike music playback, there’s no option to override this setting to play the audio on all speakers.
Why This is Important:
- Stereo Content Dominance: Most videos on platforms like YouTube are in stereo. The current 5.1 emulation for TV playback often fails to activate the rear speakers properly, leaving them silent.
- Impact on Larger Rooms: In bigger spaces, this uneven audio distribution means that the sound isn’t filling the room as intended.
- Workaround Limitations: To address this issue, I’ve been pairing a Sonos Move 2 at the back of my room. However, the experience would be significantly enhanced if the audio could be played through the Era 300 speakers, as part of the integrated home theater setup.
The Ideal Scenario:
- For 5.1 or Dolby Atmos TV Sources: The system would play the audio as intended.
- For Stereo TV Sources: It would be fantastic to have the option to “Play from All Speakers” — just like with music playback. This would provide a more balanced and immersive audio experience throughout the home.
My Request:
- For Sonos: Please consider developing a feature that allows users to enable the “Play from All Speakers” option for TV input when the source is stereo. This small change could make a significant difference in user experience.
- For the Community: Has anyone found a workaround to achieve more even sound distribution during TV playback without having to reconfigure the entire home theater grouping? Any tips, tricks, or alternative solutions would be greatly appreciated!
I have searched the forums for a similar request but did not find an existing thread addressing this specific issue—so I’m posting it here. I believe that implementing this feature would benefit many long-time Sonos users by providing greater flexibility and ensuring an excellent audio experience regardless of the source.
Thank you for considering this request. I look forward to your thoughts, suggestions, and hopefully some positive news from the Sonos team!
Best regards,
Tiago