Same here. I just today purchased two Roam speakers thinking I could use them as surrounds. The idea was to have something easy I could use for 5.1. That turned out not to be the case. I already own a Move. I don’t need two more portable speakers. Don’t get me wrong I love my Sonos system, but this is a bit ridiculous. Sonos’ inability or unwillingness to let its customers use their Move or Roam as surrounds is very frustrating. Please give us an update that allows us to do so. 

Totally agree with this

Hi, 

I also vote to make the Roam able to be added as Surround speakers.   It’s perfect such that when you want to take them outside you just pick up amd go.   I want to pair with a single Beam setup.

Same here.  I would love to use the Roams for rear speakers with my Playbar and Sub.  There just isn't room for Play 1s or wall mounted speakers in my space.

Thanks a lot for your very helpful reply! If possible, I would appreciate if you could forward my suggestion to the product team for consideration

to me, having a couple of Move speakers able to be used as surround speakers, without any wire and 10 hours of autonomy would be something really great!!

thanks again and best regards

This. I have an outdoor theater and I would love the ability to use some Moves as surrounds. Likewise, using some Roams in my non-critical viewing area when I want to enhance my Arc would be awesome. 

Definitely a vote from me as well. I had both indoor and outdoor needs for speakers which is why I decided to get the roams. Disappointing that the roams can be used the same as the Ones. Especially since the speakers definitely can play music together, so it’s proven that the speakers can perform dynamic sound

This is a huge missing feature.  Seems an obvious benefit to have multi-use speakers that can augment a surround sound set up but still be used to take everywhere.  It would have been a big miss if the Move and Roam were built in a way that made this sort of connection prohibitive...

Here’s another vote for using Roams as surrounds - the size and portability would be perfect   Having truly completely wireless surrounds would be awesome. Please, please, please do this. 

Out of curiosity, would people still want this feature if setup as surround speakers meant that you had to turn off just about every other feature?  For example, if it meant that you could not use bluetooth mode, no auto trueplay, no voice assistant, etc,  and the speaker would not function unless both speakers were currently on and with 5Ghz range of the Arc/Beam/Amp that’s connected to the TV?  In other words, it would act just like any sonos surround speaker, except this runs off batteries rather than directly wired for power.

I also think this feature would massively increase the popularity and versatility of the Roams - I can’t believe Sonos have not incorporated this software upgrade yet!?

Like this too.

That's a must-have!

Two Sonos Roams would be perfect as rear speakers in my living room since I don't have any outlets or much space behind my sofa.

Another vote for roams as rear speakers in surround.  I’ll buy two as soon as it’s enabled 

Hi @Fran1969, welcome to the community.

Move and Roam are not designed to be used as part of a home theater setup. They were designed to move, either indoors or outside the home - and away from where your home theater set-up is. You can of course group them to play in sync with other products in your system, including your home cinema setup, though they wouldn’t be used as dedicated rear speakers. I understand that the size and portability of Roam and Move would be ideal in a surround setup, and I’ll be happy to forward your feedback on to our product team for consideration 

Then why allow them to be set as a stereo pair?   I dont see the benefit of stereo if meant to move around. This also assumes you have two roams and I’d 100% trade that functionality for the ability to add them as surrounds on the fly.

Id definitely buy a pair of roams if it had rear speaker capabilities. my room is too small for 2 play ones. I'm considering the Symfonisk shelf speakers, but even those are pretty big in person. The Roams would be perfect, but unfortunately they can be used in that configuration

i think this is a needed must. unless there’s a technical inability to do so, its commercial…

This

My thinking is that If there was the optional functionality to connect as surround speakers,  then while connected as surround,  the other functionalities would be superfluous.
if I was able to brief the design team, I would suggest that The must-have is to be able to easily (like the Sonos One) connect and disconnect from the surround system , and when disconnected to automatically operate as a roaming speaker (or pair of roaming speakers) with the standard functionality of the roam.

the battery power easily may not lasts through the full Hobbit - LOTR series , but then neither would I. But it would be great to be able to set up for a great film party without worrying about the power cables.

there may be limitations in the chip sets or space, and it is highly likely  I will not understand the technological barriers to creating this option and dropping it in with a system upgrade.  

+1 to this topic. It would really be great to have this feature. Being able to have a portable surround speaker system is another level. Hope the developers can consider it! <3

 

This also has my vote.

Should be able to use Roam (and Move) as part of a surround system.
Software shouldn’t be an issue - just the desire of Sonos to permit it.

Please push for this.

Bought my pair today and was surprised to find they cannot be used as rear speakers, one would definately suppose so! 
 

Pls make it happen!

Just got my pair of Sonos Roam SLs today, very excited! I bought them mainly to use as desktop speakers for my home office, since Roam supports Bluetooth, I can finally use them with AirPlay for my Mac and Bluetooth for PC. I went in knowing the Roam cannot be used as surround speakers for home theatre setup, but…. once I actually held one in hand, I really hoped Sonos would make Roam part of a theatre setup, the compact size make them perfect for my small living room, and I assume the sound quality won’t be too bad either.

Just in case you are wondering. Yes, there is a SL version of the Roam, probably only for the Chinese market, since both Alexa and Google Assistance are not officially available in China, and surprisingly Sonos didn’t add any Chinese local voice assistant like Xiao Ai from Xiaomi which will do wonders for their sales in China. You do lose the TruePlay auto tuning with the SL version, which seems to be another missed oppotunity, Sonos can simply get rid of the Voice Assistants SW feature and Mic button but keep the microphones inside for the auto Trueplay. Btw, the SL Roam are retailed at 1699CNY in China which is 267USD…. maybe the SL stands for speechless for the pricing… :D

The ROAM speakers have a great form factor for a surround rear speaker. Wish Sonos consider releasing a set of affordable rear surround speakers that are mainly there to just be rear surrounds. That way, the speakers could be made a lot cheaper and may help boost sales of the arc and beam gen 2 when sold as a set or a pair that could be bought independently.
 

This is because the One SLs and the others in the SONOS arsenal, in my opinion, are just too big for tight spaces and designed to be primarily used as independent speakers but can ALSO function as surrounds and for someone who’s just looking to add a couple of speakers to complete their setup, it’s an expensive addition and one that’s difficult to justify at that price point.