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J Hodges
Contributor II
April 14, 2020
Question

no surround sound

We have a Sony tv with a sonos beam and 2x play 1s we use as surround sound.  The play 1s and the beam sound great with music through the app but for some reason the play 1s are now not playing any sound when watching tv. We have the tv volume up so loud to be able to hear through the play bar.  It was working fine but I got the Ikea symfonik lamp speaker at Christmas set up in another room and sometimes I group them all to play same music, but that's the only thing thats changed so why is it now not working??

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    4 replies

    Airgetlam
    Airgetlam
    April 14, 2020

    It could be that for some reason, your TV is no longer sending a Dolby Digital signal to the Beam. While you’re watching a show that you think should have surround sound, open up the controller, go to Settings, and select Syste,m, them About My System. There will be an area for reporting about the Beam, and one of the lines near the bottom will be Audio In:  Does it say Stereo after that, or Dolby Digital 5.1?

    Bruce
    J HodgesAuthor
    Contributor II
    April 17, 2020

    Hi Bruce

    It says stereo.…

    Joanna

    John B
    April 17, 2020

    Hi.  What source are you listening to?  OTA TV broadcasts?  Netflix? DVDs?  Unless the source is formatted as Dolby Digital 5.1 you won’t hear much or anything from the surround speakers.  OTA channels are rarely in DD5.1.

    Airgetlam
    Airgetlam
    April 17, 2020

    If it says stereo, then that is what the TV is sending to Sonos, and the Sonos can’t create a surround signal.

    How do you have the Beam connected? Is it by HDMI-ARC, or with an optical cable? John B is certainly correct inasmuch as you need to be watching a recent movie while doing this sort of testing, as many ‘talking heads’ shows only transmit a stereo signal, and Sonos can’t create surround information out of a stereo signal. 

    While we’re at it, can you confirm that when you go into Settings > System, the room name for your Beam is followed by a (+RS +LS)?

    Bruce
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