Playbar positioning


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Hi all, after just mounting the playbar on the wall under the tv I noticed the sonos book that says "to preserve audio quality, ensure the connector panel faces away from the tv". Does this have to do with the sonos from part being either at the top or the bottom as long as the cords are leaving at the back of the playbar into the wall?

Right now I have the cords coming out of the top (optical, ethernet etc) of the playbar which because it is under the tv would mean it is facing TOWARDS the tv (ie the silver part of the unit is at the top ). I did this because it looked better because you could see the cords more when they came from the bottom (AWAY) from the tv.

Does this matter much or is it overstated? Don't see how it would make a difference even though it says it on the playbar booklet

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17 replies

Chirosono,

Otherwise, how would PLAYBAR assign Left and Right?
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I've never known anyone to do it that way, but if it sounds good to you then I'm sure it's fine.

My cables cannot be seen even though they are coming out of the bottom, and this seems to be the same for everyone else as well.
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What difference does left or right make on surrounds? Isn't it arbitrary? If a left rear and right rear is switched what's the difference?

So am I to understand that the play?0bar silbpver sonos logo and the cords should be coming out the bottom and if so what difference does it make for the audio quality? Here has to be a reason it says to do it that way...
Chirosono,

If PLAYBAR is mounted upside down per the recommended orientation, Left and Right front will be reversed. This can be a little awkward if the visual action flows one way and the sound flows the other way.
Chirosono,

If PLAYBAR is mounted upside down per the recommended orientation, Left and Right front will be reversed.


Is that true? The wall mount instructions for the Playbar indicate the nameplate faces away from the screen when it's mounted above or below the screen, which means one of those installs swaps R & L.

I think the issue is more with sound dispersion. Looking at the 'unwrapped' photo, the Playbar drivers are at an angle, firing away from the nameplate. That means the sound will radiate somewhat 'up' from below the screen or somewhat 'down' from above, which makes sense, as you wouldn't want to bounce the sound off the ceiling when top-mounted. I thought there was an internal accelerometer that will trigger the swap of the R/L orientation as necessary.
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Good point about the nameplate being upside down depending on if it is above or below the tv. Which would contradict the left/right arguement.

Secondly when you go through adding surrounds and it asks you to press the volume and mute to choose both the left and the right in theory you could just reverse them if that was indeed the case (which I'm still not convinced IS the case)
I thought about it some more and my left-right swap comment about the front speakers (PLAYBAR) is off base. NoBoB is correct.

Sorry.
Good point about the nameplate being upside down depending on if it is above or below the tv. Which would contradict the left/right arguement.

Secondly when you go through adding surrounds and it asks you to press the volume and mute to choose both the left and the right in theory you could just reverse them if that was indeed the case (which I'm still not convinced IS the case)

Playbar knows which way up it is. It has no clue which surround is which until it's told.
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You guys have this all wrong. Nobob has it correct. The Playbar has an accelerometer and knows which way it is installed. Left/right channels will align accordingly.

The problem with the OP's install is that the speakers inside the Playbar are tilted for sound dispersion. When the unit is installed "above" the TV then the speakers should point downwards toward the audience. When the unit is installed "below" the TV then the speakers should be pointing upwards towards the audience.

It is for this reason that the intallation manual says that the cables should be "away" from the tv. This way, the correct speaker tilt is achieved whether you install the Playbar above or below your tv unit.

Google Sonos Playbar and you will find a schematic drawing showing the tilt of the speakers inside the unit.
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I don't know about your tv setup but my tv is mounted above the fireplace (as is the playbar) and even with the playbar below the tv it is still at but mostly above the sitting positions of everyone in the tv room.....so how would it make sense that the playbar would be "pointing up towards the audience"? That would be even higher than our viewing/listening position!?!
With that installation, where you're looking up at the TV, I think I'd mount the Playbar either above the TV correctly, or below but upside-down (nameplate closest to the screen). The install instructions assume a more traditional screen elevation.
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Here is the schematic drawing I was referring to. You can see that the speakers are installed at an angle, hence the importance of proper placement.

http://prylkoll.se/wp-content/uploads//2013/02/sonos-playbar-schematics.jpg
@Qunitus You are truly a lifesaver. I've been dealing with the most annoying audio issue for 2 years now rendering my Sonos kit totally useless on my home movie theater. The Sound Effects were way too loud and the the voices were muffled 60% of the time! All the advice was to turn on the speech enhancement and change my cabling configuration for Chromecast or Plex Media Server or Netflix. Nothing worked, I tried everything.. Until we had another terrible movie experience last night where 60% of the speech was too low too soft or non-legible. Then I thought, "I wonder if this playbar has to be below the movie screen?" Then I searched "Sonos Playbar Positioning" low and behold, after your simple explanation about what the instructions say, I double checked my theater installers work. The lousy, no good SOB, put it in upside down!!! If the cables are not away from your screen or the "silver bar" (both will be the same) AWAY from the screen, your audio experience gets destroyed. It took less than 5 minutes of random scene watching to feel as excited as a fat kid in a candy store or a leprechaun in a whore house, I was sooo happy! Thank you for fixing my audio issue. Again if your sound FX are louder than the voice, first and foremost ensure your playbar is installed in the right direction. That does not mean "angling" it, it means rightside up or upside down, it is critical. Where the cables go must be away from your screen or for my playbar the "silver bar" part must be away from the screen. Thank you 1 million times Quintus!! 😃 😃 :D

Tags: Sonos FX Louder Than Voice, Sonos Sound Effects too Loud, Sonos voice too low, Sonos Speech too Low, Plex Media Server Audio Problem with Sonos, Chromecast Audio Problem with Sonos
Here is the schematic drawing I was referring to. You can see that the speakers are installed at an angle, hence the importance of proper placement.

http://prylkoll.se/wp-content/uploads//2013/02/sonos-playbar-schematics.jpg


This image looks wrong to me...shouldn't the controls on the right cheek be at the front, not the back?
[img]bdf843ff-c8a7-4748-a8b8-a6792ab0d9c6.jpg
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Schematic looks correct (controls on back of rhs panel), this is how mine is positioned in front of TV.
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Any answer?