No ability to change the balance in EQ?

  • 14 November 2020
  • 26 replies
  • 1748 views
G
Userlevel 1

Hi I have 2 Sonos One SL speakers, A Sonos Sub and a Sonos Play Bar set up as a 5.1 surround sound system. I have the two Sonos One SL speakers set up as rear surrounds. In general it's pretty good. But what is driving me a little nuts is that there is a definite bias on the right rear speaker (it's too loud and the left rear speaker is too quiet). What I need to be able to do is to manually adjust the balance, but for the life of me I can't find anywhere in the app, either on my phone, or on my laptop I can do this? I borrowed a neighbours iPhone to do the initial set up with TruePlay. But although the system definitely sounds better after doing this, I still need to be able to make some small manual adjustments, as I doubt TruPlay will be able to get this 100% right. I've repeated the process a few times and each time I get the same results. It seems a fundamental requirement to be able to allow customers the ability to fine tune their own EQ settings. If I disable TruePlay, the system sounds pretty horrible. So that isn't an option either. Please can you advise?

 

I also think it’s really rough that there’s no email support for issues like this. I’m disabled and struggle to use the phone. So yeah, pretty rough really.

26 replies

Rowena B.
Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @George1967, thank you for reaching out to the Sonos community and we appreciate you for describing your concern to us and letting us know what you have done so far. Let me help you with this.

You may change the surround audio settings in the Sonos app.

  1. Open the Sonos app for iOS or Android.
  2. From the Settings tab, tap System.
  3. Under Products, tap your Sonos home theater room.
  4. Under Sound, tap Surround Audio.

Do you experience the issue when playing the TV or even when you stream music on the Sonos app? Please check out these articles from our website for your reference, Low audio from surround speakers when watching TV and Low audio from surround speakers when listening to music.

We’d appreciate it you can also submit a diagnostic report from your Sonos system for us to check what might be causing this issue. Please include the confirmation number in your response. Let us know if you have any questions. We’ll wait for your reply.

Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
G
Userlevel 1

It’s just the balance. The balance on the rear rights is biased towards the right rear speaker. There is no error to provide you with an error log of. I just need to manually be able to control the balance, without disabling TruPlay, as doing this makes my system sound horrible. There is no option to change the balance in surround settings when TruPlay is enabled.

 

This seems to just be a generic response where no attempt has been made to address my issue?

 

So once again I will ask, how do I change the balance of my rear surround speakers so that both left and right surround appear to play with equal volume?

 

Thanks.

Rowena B.
Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @George1967, thank you for your response and we appreciate your feedback on this concern. I understand that you want to know how you can adjust the balance of your surround speakers and I want to help you out with this. Performing the TruePlay fine-tunes your Sonos speaker to make sure it sounds great. The steps that we provided at the basic troubleshooting that you can perform if it will work for you. We may need to check your Sonos system to find out what’s happening.

I’d like to ask some questions from you to isolate the issue and to guide us for the next troubleshooting steps that need to perform:

  1. Does this only happen during TV playback? How about music services?
  2. How about swapping out the position of the speaker?
  3. How about the distance of your left and right surrounds?
  4. Have you tried redoing the surrounds setup (remove and re-add surround)? Does the issue carry over or following the affected speaker?

Please submit a diagnostic from your Sonos system. Submitting a diagnostic through the Sonos app provides us with a snapshot of your system so we can help identify what is causing your issue. Just include the confirmation number in your response so that we can look up the information. If you need help with any other information, please be sure to let us know. We're here to answer any further questions you have.
 

Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
G
Userlevel 1

It happens

  1. Does this only happen during TV playback? How about music services?

It happens during all audio playback from any source.

      2: How about swapping out the position of the speaker?

I cannot swap or change the position of the speakers. They are placed in the only reasonable and sensible position they can be placed in in this room. They are an equal distance apart and are mounted on a wall, hence it is not possible or practical to just casually move them.

      3:How about the distance of your left and right surrounds?

They are an equal distance apart and I am located in a seating position in the middle of these. It is a large couch in a not so large room, so moving the couch just to adjust the balance isn’t practical.

  1. Have you tried redoing the surrounds setup (remove and re-add surround)? Does the issue carry over or following the affected speaker?

Yes I have tried redoing this. As I said, I think this is hugely overcomplicating things. I just need the simple ability to slightly adjust the balance between my right and left rear speakers (and preferably my other speakers too) without forcing me to disable TruPlay in order to do this. The system sounds horrible without TruPlay. So I clearly don’t wish to do this.

 

Yes I have tried redoing TruPlay set up. It has made no difference.

 

I just need a balance slider so I can adjust the balance between my rear surround (and other) stereo speakers. Hopefully I could adjust the balance of my left and right rear and my front left and right speakers (Sonos Play Bar) independently. Your TruPlay software may help things sound (quite a bit) better, but it does not account for how different people may hear music.

 

As someone who is 50+, maybe my right ear is more sensitive than my left, hence maybe I hear music more loudly coming from the right rather than the left? Who knows? But the point is, everyone is different and your TruPlay software can never fully account for this!

The only thing that could fix it is a balance slider bar for both left and right rear speakers - and hopefully a separate balance slider bar for any front speakers also.

 

this cannot be fixed simply by somehow retuning the software, or looking for some error! There is no error. I just want to change the balance of my speakers so that I can experience music coming at equal volumes from each speaker, depending on where I am sitting in the room.

 

I submitted a diagnostic. The confirmation number is 259279836. But you won’t find anything I think. There is no error. I just want to adjust the balance of my speakers!

Rowena B.
Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @George1967,  thank you for your detailed response and for submitting the diagnostic. Let me check if for you.

Based on the report, your home theater setup is an unsupported configuration, the surrounds speakers, or satellites operating as the first ethernet wired Sonos component to your router. This may work but it may cause issues like can’t connect to Sonos, missing rooms, sluggish performance, and audio issues. The correct configuration is wiring your Sonos Playbar (or Sonos Boost if available) to your router.

Once you have wired your Playbar to your router, re-tune your Sonos via TruePlay and see if it addresses the surround audio balance. After you tune your speaker, you can change the surround audio settings in the Sonos app and select Ambient under Music Playback.

If you’re still experiencing the same audio issue with your surround speakers, I recommend contacting our Sonos Customer Care support team for more in-depth troubleshooting steps. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have further questions or concerns. We are always happy to help out.

Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
G
Userlevel 1

I only wired up one speaker yesterday only to change WiFi. I bought a new wireless router. I have now gone back to wireless. I had the same issue before I changed my wireless router, after I changed my wireless router, after I first used TruePlay to tune my speakers and the several times I tried resetting my speakers and using TruPlay again after this.

 

I don’t get why this is so tough for you to get? I am not experiencing an error. I am not experiencing ‘sluggish performance’. I just want the ability to change the balance between my left rear and right speakers to match my own personal tastes and my own individual hearing characteristics.

 

I don’t wish to be rude, but you don’t appear to understand what stereo balance is? This is very perplexing for a company that promotes its products as an example of audio excellence!

 

I also don’t feel that your approach is correct. You seem to be adopting a position that if you are unable to offer a solution, then simply blame the customer!

 

Can you just tell me in plain language if I do as you suggest (which is no problem, as I have tried retuning my speakers several times already) and if I then still encounter the same issue (as again I have several times already), is there some facility I am missing I can use anywhere in your software, to change the balance of my speakers manually, without forcing me to disable TruePlay to achieve this?

G
Userlevel 1

Hi, again irrespective of any other topic at all, can you please just inform me if it’s possible to change the balance of these speakers without being required to disable TruePlay?

 

None of the other things you asked about are very relevant. It has nothing to do with any errors, or recalibration, or any other topic at all. I just want to know if it’s possible to adjust the stereo balance of my speakers, to match my own personal hearing characteristics. (Which is clearly something TruePlay will always be incapable of doing on it’s own.)

 

These are good speakers, but it’s a little bit nuts if users can’t adjust the balance  of them?

 

I tried contacting support via Twitter. But they simply didn’t respond at all.

Rowena B.
Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @George1967, thank you for your response and for updating us. My apologies for getting back to you just now. Let me help you with this.

During the setup of your surrounds speaker, it should give you a balanced audio quality. You can only change the surround audio settings in the Sonos app and select Ambient under Music Playback.

To further help you with this and perform real-time troubleshooting to check the audio quality on your surround speakers, I recommend contacting our Sonos Customer Care support team. I really appreciate the time and effort you've spent doing all the troubleshooting steps, and it would be best for you to continue working with us over the phone to expedite the process. 

Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have further questions or concerns. The Sonos Community is always here to help.

Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
G
Userlevel 1

Why don’t you just say that it is not currently possible to manually balance Sonos speakers in a Home Theatre configuration with TruePlay turned on? I think a lot of effort has been expended trying really very hard not to say this.

It’s fine you say your software should provide a balanced listening experience. Only that evidently it doesn’t. It can’t balance my ears, or take account of my seating position. A simple balance left and right slider in the software is all that’s required for this. But evidently Sonos have opted to forgo this, because they have assumed that everyone hears things the same way and that everyone has the same set of ears.

It’s a conundrum. Your TruePlay software does improve things significantly, but robbing users of the ability to make small adjustments to match their own individual hearing profile is beyond crass.

Anyway I guess I am out of options other than to speak to your telephone guys. If they just repeat the same stuff and go on about non-existent errors, or try to blame me for some misconfiguration issues (that just aren’t true anyway), or pretend at length not to understand the concept of stereo balance - and why their software can never fully account for this, then I think to be fair I will lose my ****!

But sigh, OK ...

 

Thanks for whatever this was I guess.

C

Hello everyone. Exact same issue here! I’ve been talking to customer service several times and it seems they have no idea of what I’m talkink about. After sending an email to dev dept, I had an answer from Brandon who told me that he would send a request to add a surround balance adjustment to the sonos app. As for now here, trueplay is off and I can’t use it even if it gives a better EQ sound. Either Sonos add a true surround balance control OR gives access to speaker distance when on trueplay. I just can’t understand why surround speakers <distance> is not accessible when on trueplay.    

D
Userlevel 4
Badge +2

I have the same issue as well. My right rear surround is closer to the wall and gets an artificial boost that it seems TruePlay doesn’t account for. Either let us manually adjust the rear L+R balance or at the very least let us still adjust the speaker distance with TruePlay enabled.

C

After trying everything, I found out that switching from ambiance to full in the surround menu kinda fixed it. Seems like sonos needs to address it. "Full" gives a false spacial dimension to movies surround.

N
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

My hearing is better in one ear than the other so it would be good if the Trueplay settings could be used as a starting point, and then adjusted manually. At the moment, when setting the listening position I hold my phone well to the side of my actual listening position to bias the the sound balance. 

J

After trying everything, I found out that switching from ambiance to full in the surround menu kinda fixed it. Seems like sonos needs to address it. "Full" gives a false spacial dimension to movies surround.

The Full/Ambient setting has no impact whatsoever on movie surround sound. It relates only to music sources.

T

Same issue here. In a traditional two speaker setup with trueplay, it allows you to adjust the balance. But I find it maddening I cannot fine tune balance of my surrounds when I use trueplay with arc + surrounds. It also is favoring my right surroundspeaker. Come on Sonos! 

T

Same issue here. I have thus returned the two speakers which were supposed to be used as rear speakers. I have tested with Sonos One, Sonos One SL, IKEA Symfonisk Picture Frame. The issue is definitely in the Sonos Software / the TruePlay algorithm. 

Swapping the speakers does not make any difference, the result is the same. Also tested with different iPhones to ensure it is not caused by the microphone used for TruePlay measuring. 

We need a balance slider to adjust manually!

As long as this does not exist, respectively the issue will be addressed otherwise, the system totally doesn’t work for this use case.

N
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

We need a balance slider to adjust manually!

As long as this does not exist, respectively the issue will be addressed otherwise, the system totally doesn’t work for this use case.


In other threads, a Centre Channel volume control is requested/demanded (and an equaliser). 
 

What it seems is really needed - to please everyone - is the ability to control all speaker/channel volumes independently, whether or not Trueplay has been run. And a multi-band equaliser, too. But with a default option. 

Not everyone likes the same EQ setting; some music genres wants/needs different frequencies boosted; not everyone has perfect hearing in both ears. Please, Sonos, give us the ability to control our speakers. Your default is close to what I want, most of the time. But I don’t hear so well in one ear and want to boost the sound level on that side. 

G
Userlevel 3
Badge

users have been requesting Center channel adjustment for years.

it is shocking the sonos gave us Atmos adjustment and not center. 

night sound and speech enhancement work but they are not enough.

we need to have more control over center/each channel.

T

We need a balance slider to adjust manually!

As long as this does not exist, respectively the issue will be addressed otherwise, the system totally doesn’t work for this use case.


In other threads, a Centre Channel volume control is requested/demanded (and an equaliser). 
 

What it seems is really needed - to please everyone - is the ability to control all speaker/channel volumes independently, whether or not Trueplay has been run. And a multi-band equaliser, too. But with a default option. 

Not everyone likes the same EQ setting; some music genres wants/needs different frequencies boosted; not everyone has perfect hearing in both ears. Please, Sonos, give us the ability to control our speakers. Your default is close to what I want, most of the time. But I don’t hear so well in one ear and want to boost the sound level on that side. 

Whilst I agree, this could still be done step by step. 

The missing balance slider completely blocks me from using the product for its main use case. So having that is a must! Everything else is good, but Sonos needs to start somewhere.

S

Same here. Got the arc+sub+2xone SL config done last week. I'm pretty sure that I hear ok in both ears. But i still feel the sound from the right rear being higher than the left. My room is a normal rectangle in shape, with no odd corners/walls.

This imbalance is ruining the experience for me. Can we do something here sonos? 

Airgetlam

I would recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it.

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution. There’s much more that Sonos can do with “hard data” than they can with “I hear” comments. 

When you speak directly to the phone folks, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and network.

Bruce
B
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

This really could have been answered in a single reply - 'Unfortunately there is at present no balance control for a stereo pair'.

Whilst that may not be the answer the original poster wants to hear it's certainly less maddening than pointless requests for diagnostics that deliberately avoid the issue.

Just awful.

 

G
Userlevel 7

This really could have been answered in a single reply - 'Unfortunately there is at present no balance control for a stereo pair'.

Whilst that may not be the answer the original poster wants to hear it's certainly less maddening than pointless requests for diagnostics that deliberately avoid the issue.

Just awful.

 

There is balance control for a stereo pair of Sonos speakers. There is no balance control for a pair of speakers set up as surrounds. Big difference.

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
B
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

This really could have been answered in a single reply - 'Unfortunately there is at present no balance control for a stereo pair'.

Whilst that may not be the answer the original poster wants to hear it's certainly less maddening than pointless requests for diagnostics that deliberately avoid the issue.

Just awful.

 

There is balance control for a stereo pair of Sonos speakers. There is no balance control for a pair of speakers set up as surrounds. Big difference.

Yes I take your point and you're right of course, I was referring to the rear surround pair in context of the original question but my exasperation reading the support response got the better of me!

buzz

Something to try: Mess with Trueplay by re-defining your listening position to be closer to the Right surround.

Reply


Terms & ConditionsCookie settings