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Hello everyone. I am looking for some advice on setting up my Sonos Amp in-ceiling speakers and Sonos Beam to effectively have a 5.1 surround sound configuration.

 

The current sound is definitely not optimal. The beam is too soft during one on one conversations/dialog scenes and the ceiling speakers are too loud during action scenes with background audio to hear anything else. I’ve tried adjusting the Surround “TV Volume” but I just can not seem to find an optimal setting for both the Beam and Ceiling speakers to work together.

 

The Sonos amp is connected to four in-ceiling Sonance speakers (two L and two R), and all four are located behind the optimal viewer seating area. I then have a Sonos Beam under the TV with HDMI and may plan is to add a Sonos Sub at a later time. Nothing is wired to Ethernet, and nothing is wired together, just managing it all on the Sonos app. I obviously setup the surrounds one I plugged in the Beam, because that option became available. I’ve also done the Trueplay numerous times where you walk around the room and Sonos tries to fine tune the sound based on feedback.

 

Any recommendations? Do I need to wire the beam and Amp together and then connect to Ethernet? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!! 

 

 

If the Amp/Speakers are definitely bonded and not grouped (I think they are bonded from what you describe), then TruePlay takes you through two steps the first is to balance the speaker surround sound - so if you’ve tried this sat on your sofa for example, then try instead with the mobile controller set higher nearer to the ceiling speakers to improve and provide the balance you are looking for - or with Trueplay switched ‘off’, set your Left/Right rear surrounds to a distance of ‘less than 2 feet’ in the App surround settings 

You are right too, to play with the ‘TV Level’ slider bar in the Beams room settings ‘surround audio’ just to fine tune the front/rear balance once you get things nearby to what you are hoping to hear.

I am wondering if having two pairs of in-ceiling speakers is producing too much surround sound, even with the “Surround Sound TV volume” slider set at a lower level. Perhaps it would be worth disconnecting one pair and see how it sounds.

I don’t think that wiring via Ethernet will make any difference as from what you describe the Beam is communicating with the Amp over wi-fi without any issues.

It might also be worth checking that you have all the in-ceiling speakers in phase, as if they aren’t this could also cause some strange effects, particularly at higher volume levels.

 

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