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Discuss Ray, Beam, Arc, Arc Ultra, Playbar, Playbase, and the entire Sonos home theater experience. Should you get a Sub Mini or a Sub? Maybe two Subs? Which Sonos work with your TV? Talk about your Sonos Home Theater experience here.

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Tips & Tricks

Understanding Surround Sound and Sonos

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Ryan S
Ryan S
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Home Theater and Television Recommendation Megathread

Moderator note:  This article was updated in December 2024. Looking for information on Sonos home theater setups? Find answers about surroun...
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PerroflautaContributor I
asked in Home theater
No stocks of era 300

Hello, I enter the Sonos page and, although they say that from May 2, when I try to pay with PayPal it tells me that PayPal cannot be used if there is a lack of stock. This seems incongruous. I am quite disappointed because I was determined to take advantage of 30% to renew my playbar and play1 for the Arc ultra system and it was 300, but I find it impossible to buy it. When will there be stocks of era 300 in Spain? Greetings.

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soundlyContributor I
asked in Home theater
Roam 2 pair: slow to catch up when unpausing BT

I use a Roam 2 stereo pair over Bluetooth as bedroom TV speakers. Works fine, *except*: if you pause the TV, then (a little later) unpause, it takes about 5-8 seconds before it plays an audio - before that: silence. It also does this when turning the TV on, but that's less annoying. Is there any way of disabling whatever sleep mode this is?

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bbeck757Contributor I
asked in Home theater
Arc Placement Advice

I’m moving into a new home in a couple weeks and have some questions about how to place the Arc. For a little background, my setup in my living room will be the Arc, Sub (gen 3), and (2) One SLs for my surround speakers. I’d like to mount the Arc to the brick wall below the TV and above the fireplace/mantle but I don’t think the wall is tall enough to mount the Arc 4” below the TV like the website suggests unless I leave the Arc on the mantle. It’s a decent size TV and it might be close to touching the ceiling.How is the sound quality difference between mounting the Arc on the brick wall vs it just sitting on the mantle? The mantle sticks out probably 8” so I’m concerned with it blocking sound. Anyone have any advice? 

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BrodonkadonkContributor I
posted in Home theater
Upgrading from Ikea bookcase surrounds to Era 300s game console sound issues

I recently upgraded from an Arc with ikea bookcase speakers for surrounds to Era 300 surrounds. Streaming content sounds great which is in typically Dolby Atmos or Dolby Digital 5.1. I tried out using my game console and am finding that the rear channels have a bit of a garbled sound. My console is outputting uncompressed 5.1 sound, and with the ikea speakers the rear channels sounded normal. My console specifically is a docked Steam Deck and I’m unable to output Dolby digital or atmos. Has anyone experienced this before and is there some remedy to fix?

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EricalismContributor I
posted in Home theater
Should I upgrade ?

Hi, I am currently have beam gen 1, 2 One SL as surround, 1 sub mini. I mainly steam movies through Apple TV. Should I upgrade to Beam Gen 2 or Arc and do I need to upgrade the 2 One to Era in order to have Atmos? Thank in advance

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MSN88Contributor I
asked in Home theater
Different configuration for TV and music?

Hi, I know this question was already asked several years ago, so I thought maybe it’s been updated since.I’ve got an Arc Ultra, Sub 4, and 2 300s, and I’d like to use a different configuration when listening to music then when watching TV. Basically, I’d like turn off the surround sound, when listening to music.Anybody know how to do that easily?Thanks everybody.

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dttiimd98Contributor I
asked in Home theater
Single Era 100 with Ray soundbar

I bought a ray sounbar and sub mini as a set. I then felt like I missed the surrround experience as I have 4 overhead speakers from before but I don't have room for two speakers behind my couch so I only bought one era 100 speaker which I was told could sync with the ray sound bar and provide a rear feed. Is this incorrect? Do I need two speakers two have any chance of rear sound? Since the era 100 is sold as a single or a pair I thought it was good to go but I can't get it to sync with the ray soundbar for tv/movies. 

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SamSinContributor I
asked in Home theater
Beam Gen2 User Manual

I had an install done by Best Buy. I purchased the Sonos - Beam (Gen 2) 5.0 Channel Smart Soundbar with Dolby Atmos. They took the manual when cleaning up.I tried downloading the PDF, but it shows up the size of a postage stamp no matter how hard I try to print it.  Is it possible to have a manual mailed to me? Who do I contact?

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XenomorphContributor I
asked in Home theater
Surround arc ultra

Hi!. I’ve just started with somos arc ultra and i’d like ti know wich surround soeakers and sunwoofer i need to complete my home cinema (médium size room) . Itll be enougb with sub mini and era 100?

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DrecabContributor I
posted in Home theater
No power button on Sonos Arc

When you spend 2700 on a surround setup you would hope it has a power button. Brand new 3200 lg tv always reverts back to sonos even when switched to TV speakers. I have to unplug from the wall everytime we are not watching a movie. 

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Danitron81Contributor I
asked in Home theater
I can only get PCM stereo or Dolby Digital 2.0 sound on my Beam Gen 2

Hello, I have a Sonos Beam (Gen 2) connected to the HDMI ARC (not eARC) on my Samsung Q60R, and honestly, I'm completely stuck with the setup. So far, I can only get the sound to output in PCM 2.0 stereo or DD/DD+ stereo. I've already checked the TV settings, and there's no "Passthrough" option to let the soundbar handle the decoding. I have the option to connect it via Optical, but I'm not sure if that would help me achieve my goal of at least using the 5.1 channels (for now, without a subwoofer). Any ideas that could help me? Thanks!

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FriskeAvid Contributor I
asked in Home theater
Surround Sound LG 75UT8000

Our fire station just got an LG 75UT8000.  We have been doing surround sound through a Samsung tv prior. As of right now I can get surround through the LG when playing through the built in apps. But I only get PCM when playing through the HDMI output which plays from an Apple TV 4K. There were no issues through Apple TV on Samsung TV. I haven't changed settings on Apple TV. I've tried auto & pass through options on LG TV and still get PCM through the Apple TV. Currently connected optical output audio through a Sonos Playbar.  Thanks for any insight 

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michaelwekuContributor II
asked in Home theater
Home Theater Era 300 Placement

Hi,Would placing the era 300 upside down around 50cm from ceiling affect sound quality that much?Perceptually how would it differ from placing them at ear level?Thanks

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LovSContributor I
asked in Home theater
Arc ultra india release?

When will  the Arc Ultra available in India ?

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MiniEmma
MiniEmmaContributor I
posted in Home theater
Samsung One SolarCell Remote with Sonos Playbar but via ARC Audio Extractor/Converter

Hi allThis is similar to a lot of posts on here but with an added extra in the form of Optical - HDMI converter.We just bought a Samsung S95D TV and all was well.  Once I discovered the Universal Remote settings on the TV and just clicked Yes to the Power Off question I even had the One SolarCell remote working the volume on my beloved Sonos Playbar that was connected to the One Connect box via Optical cable.BUT we noticed terrible lip sync issues when watching on our Sky Q box but the delay was the wrong way around for any of the delay settings to work. All delay settings just made it worse.  Googling seems to show this is a known issue.SO we bought an Optical/HDMI converter, plugged the optical from the Playbar into it and then it into HDMI 3 eARC and the lipsync is much better but I can no longer find a way to make the ONE SolarCell remote to work the volume.I've tried all sorts of configurations in the Universal Remote settings but I am unsure whether to choose Optical or HDMI 3? I

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AdeTheuxContributor I
asked in Home theater
"No signal" LG + Arc + Apple TV + TV box

I’ve read dozens of threads about the “no signal” problem when the Arc is connected via eArc but still have an issue that appeared recently.No config change, but I did receive a new TV box from my provider. Since, then, when turning on the TV, I get a “no signal” message on the LG TV.Apple TV works fine constantly. Switching the input back to TV gives “no signal” again.I performed the TV setup after unplugging everything and letting the TV etc unplugged for about 10 mins.I performed a factory reset on the Apple TV, Arc, LG TV, and received a new TV box from my provider as they thought it was the culprit.If I plug the TV box directly in the TV HDMI port (not via eArc), it all works fine.But via eARC, the Apple TV will always work and the TV box will pretty much always show “no signal”, black screen and of course no sound.If I un/replug the HDMI of the TV box, sometimes, the Arc LED turns green, sound starts playing and the image appears again. Sometimes the sound will start playing but

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kallenContributor I
asked in Home theater
Using existing, non-Sonos surround speakers with an Arc Ultra

I am upgrading my home theater with an Arc Ultra and would like to use my existing, wired surround speakers and Velodyne sub-woofer. Is that possible; if so, how?

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TheChemist
TheChemistTrending Lyricist I
posted in Home theater
Sonos ARC with Apple TV 4K gen3 and LG OLED evo C4

If you activate the eARC option on LG OLED evo C4 (2024 model) the native DD+ 5.1 audio is sent from the Apple TV 4K gen3 streaming Apps to the Sonos ARC soundbar in Multichannel PCM 5.1 format with loss or little presence of surround effects and poorly reproduced central voice, while if you deactivate the eARC option on the TV (therefore keeping the less performing ARC transmission) the audio reproduced by Sonos ARC is the native DD+ 5.1 with the surround and central voice effects present and well reproduced...using the smart TV apps downloaded from the LG store the audio in eARC passes to the Sonos ARC soundbar correctly and is faithfully reproduced in DD+ 5.1...is there anything that can be done to avoid disabling eARC, which results in the failure to play Dolby Atmos streams ???...

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tiagoProducer I
posted in Home theater
Feature Request: “Play from All Speakers” Option for TV Playback

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 SubsWhen 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

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pag262007Contributor I
asked in Home theater
Sonos ARC, Bass, 2 ERA 100s w/ Apple TV and youtube tv live

I have a set up with Sonos Arc, Bass, and 2 ERA 100s and they don’t sound really good with youtube tv live via Apple TV. I have tried everything I believe. Everything comes out of the Sonos ARC and hardly out of the ERA 100s.  They were expensive and I would like it to work properly….I used the music app through sonos and music came out great!!

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EricUAvid Contributor I
asked in Home theater
Why doesn't Sonos allow an Arc to be used as a Center Channel only along with two AMPs and a powered sub?

I have some nice Front L/R speakers along with some in-ceiling rear speakers.I went and purchased a Sonos Arc along with the two Sonos Amps and was surprised to find out that the Arc could not be setup as a Center Channel only.  Seems to me that Sonos missed an opportunity to sell me some more gear.  I returned the ARC and will setup the fronts to produce a “faux” center speaker.

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James4818Contributor I
asked in Home theater
HDMI

Does anyone know if using an HDMI cable labeled "High Speed" or "Ultra High Speed" is a better option to use with the Sonos Arc Ultra rather than the one included?

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JonnyinQldContributor I
asked in Home theater
Playbar

I have a playbar with optical out only port only. How do I connect this to an old projector that only has HDMI ports?The HDMI switchers I see don’t seem to have optical ports?  

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TudorTrending Lyricist II
asked in Home theater
Sound format not showing on app or in settings

I have Sonos Arc, Sonos Amp connected to two rear ceiling speakers and a Sonus Sub.   I have a one year old Samsung QE55S95C.   When I had my previous TV I had an Apple 4K box.  When this transmitted Atmos, I could see this on the app.    Now I have a new TV with eARC and Apple built in, I do not see the audio format on the app.   I am unsure if this is related to the new TV or the changes within the app. I have connected eArc from the TV to the Arc.When watching TV the app does not show the format of the sound as it used to do.  So when watching something that I know is in Atmos, the app simply says source HDMI.   If I go into settings to see each component on my Android phone, there is no line for “Audio In”When I go to settings on my iPad I get each component serial number, Sonos OS, Version, Hardware version, IP address and a line for Audio in.    However for no component is anything listed in “Audio in”I have spoken to tech support and they have confirmed that they can see that I

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delmasromContributor I
asked in Home theater
better surround

Hi.I have a beam gen 1+2 one gen 1=sub gen 2.It will be a diference if ai put the one s as rear speakers and add 2 sonos one in front,or is it better to buy 2 sonos play 3 to put them as front speakers.thanks 

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