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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
started this topic

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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6764 Topics
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avoyles4803Avid Contributor I
asked in Home theater
Playbase mimicking surround question

Hey y'all, I have Playbase and 2 Play1s setup for surround. They do fine with a Dolby 5.1 signal of course (coming out of my Vizio TV). I thought Playbase was supposed to try to "mimic" surround sound do some fake things to push sound to the rear speakers when it got another signal, but so far I've noticed no sound coming from the rear speakers. I first tried it with some TV programs, admittedly stuff like John Oliver or Daily Show that wouldn't have much rear anyways, but then also recently tried it with the original Planet of the Apes on blu-ray, which has a DTS soundtrack so presumably would be fitting to at least mimic the surround even though Playbase can't do DTS. I've tried different types of outputs from my PS4 for the DVD, and it seems the same whether my settings are reading "Stereo" or "Dolby Digital 2.0" Is it just that it only works on particular encodings/situations, or that it's just VERY subtle to the point where often times you get nothing at all? I would've thought

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Airgetlam
7 years ago
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jsrnephdocTrending Lyricist I
asked in Home theater
I don't even know what I want! I DO know my wife wants a simple interface

I know this is an awful first post; I beg you all please to cut me some slack. I'm a 70 yo movie buff who loves Mahler, the Band, the Grateful Dead, and Lin Manuel Miranda. My home theater system is driving my wife crazy, and I need some help. I'm hoping to emerge from all of this with a Sonos surround system and one remote control sitting on our coffee table🆒 (Yesterday, all I knew about Sonos was that you could buy speakers from them at the Apple Retail Store, which substitutes for going to church for me) Just two months ago, it was all so simple; Bose Lifestyle 35, Apple TV (4th gen), TiVo HD, a bunch of legacy stuff ("inherited" Denon DVD player, a VHS VCR with RCA video and R/L audio outputs, a rarely-connected Sony PS4 (I'd struggle with the HDMI inputs to the Base console when the grandkids came over and challenged me to video games I couldn't understand or when we'd watch one of our few BluRay movies). The Bose Remote controlled most of it (when we watched a DVD we had t

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K
7 years ago
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RaymanSpbContributor I
asked in Home theater
Video projector and Sonos

Good day, I would like to build up a home theatre system, consisting of TV, video projector, external sources (apple tv, external hard drive etc) and sonos system (playbar, sub, two Play 1 units). Obviously some kind of Splitters or HDMI switchers will have to be used to connect everything together and the Sonos playbar is to be connected to the switcher. Unfortunately, I was told by one of the companies, that there will be delay in sound while playing the image from video projector. Can you please advise, if it is possible to create the above-mentioned system and what is the best way to make it working smoothly and have the sound well synchronized with the picture no matter what source is used? Especially when playing video from the projector and having sound from Sonos.

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Kate S
7 years ago
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XerophthalmiaContributor III
asked in Home theater
Stereo source on Sonos 5.1

So people have talked about that some televisions only support stereo passthrough from the optical output. In that case Sonos simulates surround sound (it's probably some kind of extended stereo...?). My question is, if your TV CAN send out a 5.1 signal, but the source is only stereo, how does the system handle the sound. In av receiver setups like my own, only the front speakers would sound. To get sound from all speakers I would have to change the receiver settings to extended stereo (Pioneer VSX-930). Does Sonos automatically simulate surround in that case or is there a setting to do so?

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X
7 years ago
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IancharlesbsContributor I
asked in Home theater
Optical connector converters

I need to convert from optical to HDMI for an older TV (only 4 years!)

452114
I
7 years ago
EmAyArSe
EmAyArSeTrending Lyricist I
posted in Home theater
Playbase Input and Usage. (PC)?

I've been looking at the optical audio input on the Playbase and am wondering if I could take computer audio out of the built-in SPDIF port on my motherboard, and plug it into the Playbase? That way, this thing would act as a super-deluxe computer speaker, I could stream various stuff directly from my computer throughout the house on my other Sonos speakers (i.e. Podcasts), and my desk would get a lot more tidy. Also, can anybody tell me what kind of delay Sonos introduces when processing digital signals? For example, would voices match lip movements? Would it make light gaming unacceptable? If all of the above are positive, I'm thinking this Playbase, with a Sonos Sub, might make an excellent home office sound solution.

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Ryan S
7 years ago
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VasilisContributor I
asked in Home theater
How to connect home theater projector system to Play 5's and SUB?

So, I have now spent a great deal of time (and money) on setting up what I initially thought would be the ideal home theater entertainment system. I have several items of which I will list below but, now that I have given it further consideration, I'm unsure of how these devices will all connect to give me the experience I imagined, or if connecting them is even possible. Devices: Elite Screen Projector Screen Epson Home Cinema 3700 Full HD 1080p 3LCD Projector DirecTV box Xbox One S Apple TV Fire Stick TV Sonos Play:5 (1) Sonos Play:5 (2) Sonos SUB It just dawned on me that my home theater projector doesn't have WiFi and, other than line-in, there is no other way to connect the speakers to an audio source, therefore, connecting it (projector) to my Sonos Play 5's and SUB does not seem practical. I'd like to solicit ideas on how this setup can work. Hopefully it's something simple that I'm missing or unaware of that will solve this equation, or at least confirm tha

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Airgetlam
7 years ago
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Yorkshire HeathenContributor I
asked in Home theater
Can I Or Should I Connect My AVR to Sonos 5.1? It's Complicated....

Looking at options to get rid of all my 5.1 speaker wires. I have an Onkyo TX-NR709 AVR running to 5.1 surround speakers an LG 55EC930V Oled TV, with inputs from a Bluray Player and a Freesat box (plus a now obsolete iPod dock). I also already have 2 Sonos play 5 speakers that I use in other rooms. I have a feeling I'll find out my AVR would be made redundant by a sonos 5.1 set up but I wonder if I should leave it filling the gap in the furniture that I had custom made for my set up, and feed the output from that to the playbar/playbase instead of having everything go through the TV? Is there any sound quality advantage? The other thing I was wondering is that this might allow me to still have my existing powered subwoofer instead of getting a Sonos sub (no need for long wires on that one). I was then also wondering if I could keep my centre speaker in the cabinet under the TV too for an even fuller front sound, but that may be a bit daft. The AVR seems to have a baffling array of capa

28338
U
7 years ago
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SonoosContributor I
asked in Home theater
Playbar not showing in room settings name just LivingRoom(+Sub+LS+RS) is this normal ?

I could have sworn I used to see PlayBar in there, now it's just LivingRoom(+Sub+LS+RS). When I go to about my system I can see the PlayBar, but not in any Room settings screens or preferences. Is this normal ?

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ratty
7 years ago
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lsolesenContributor I
asked in Home theater
5.1 with Netflix and Chromecast on Samsung TV

I own a Samusng UE32D5000 TV. I have the Playbar working as external speaker. I paired two Play:1 with the Playbar, and they play together when sending music. I stream most of the tv I see through the Netflix app on the phone (Samsung Note 3 Android) via Chromecast 2. I have set the sound SPDIF to use Dolby Digital (other option is PCM). However, from the Netflix App I am not able to choose Dolby Digital 5.1 as the sound output. How will I get a 5.1 using the Sonos Playbar for my usage?

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Manny S
7 years ago
Junichi Yamazaki
Junichi YamazakiContributor I
asked in Home theater
Any method to feed AAC audio to PlayBar

I plan to import Playbar to Japan to connect my TV. A problem is that Japanese broadcast uses MPEG-2 Audio (AAC) for 5.1ch audio. I understand that Playbar supports only Dolby Digital (AC3) and PCM (2ch). Is there any hardware box to convert AAC to AC3. I do not want to use PCM stereo instead.

148411
Smilja
7 years ago
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k1wgsContributor I
asked in Home theater
Recalibrating Playbar

I'm changing my surround sound set up and have moved my playbar, which was just enjoying life as an audio speaker in the dining room, into the lounge, connected it to the SKY box. Next step was going to be recalibration but the option, which should be under 'Advanced Audio' in the Android app (and also the Windows option), isn't there. There's only one entry: TV Options and that's just something to do with delay / lip sync.

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K
7 years ago
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bdnContributor I
asked in Home theater
TV-mode and sound from Samsung KS8005

I have a PLAYBAR which is connected to my Samsung KS8005 TV via the optical cable. Sound is playing fine, when the PLAYBAR is set to TV-mode. If I want to stop the playback on my PLAYBAR (and only have sound from the TV), is there a way to disable/stop TV-mode, without having to play something else (like a radio station) and then pausing that right away? Bonus question. If I set the TV to use the internal speakers, then my PLAYBAR still plays sound if it is in TV-mode, even though nothing should (in my opinion) be sent to it via optical. Has anybody else experienced this? Maybe it's a Samsung software bug? Thanks.

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S
7 years ago