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playbar works but surround play 3 speakers don't

  • 29 September 2013
  • 223 replies
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my sonos play bar and surround sound play 3's work perfectly when i play music or apple tv but when on tv nothing comes out of surround sound speakers. all my components are connected into the tv and then the playbar has optical out. so it clearly works as music and apple tv work but normal tv channels only play through the bar. please help
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Best answer by Ryan S 23 December 2013, 20:53

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223 replies

Userlevel 4
Badge +3
Same problem, no sound from Play 3s during tv

Diagnostic: 6448191

The diagnostics looks fine, try adjusting the volume of the surround speakers. Since we are receiving 5.1 DD on the PLAYBAR, the surrounds will only produce effect sounds when receiving such a signal.
Hi, I have the same problem whereby don't have any sound playing from the Play 3s when watching TV

Diagnostic: 6475462

Thank you
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Hi, I have the same problem whereby don't have any sound playing from the Play 3s when watching TV

Diagnostic: 6475462

Thank you


Assuming your Play 3s are correctly bonded - Under room setting Room Name(+LS+RS) will be visible for the room with the Playbar, then the chances are the audio signal you are sending to the Playbar via the optical cable is only stereo in which case there will often be very little coming out of the Play 3 surrounds.

Check in your controller when the TV is on and you are watching something under "About my Sonos System" and scroll the Playbar - It lists the audio format being received.
Userlevel 3
Badge +2
...

Diagnostic: 6475462

Thank you


I reviewed your diagnostic. However, at that time the PLAYBAR wasn't streaming TV sound, could you submit a new diagnostic while playing the TV, thanks.
Same problem. I'm having the same issues with my two play 1s. The playbar and Sub work fine.

Diagnostic: 6543818.

Is there a solution for this issue?
Are you sure you are getting a 5.1 signal? 95% of TV's can only output stereo through the optical cable when the source is attached via HDMI (such as Blu-Ray player, PS4, DVD player etc), that's one of the main criticisms of the Playbar, it has no HDMI so no 5.1 without workarounds.

If you have netflix on your TV, using that should give you 5.1. Or you can buy and use an optical switcher.

Go to 'about sonos' and it should tell you if you are being fed 5.1 sound.
Interestingly it says "stereo." I have the optical cable connected to my television, but should I connect it directly to my Apple TV? (Note: I've been using my current setup for over a month now and it all worked just fine. The issue arose this week, for some reason. I haven't changed my behavior at all.)
Interestingly it says "stereo." I have the optical cable connected to my television, but should I connect it directly to my Apple TV? (Note: I've been using my current setup for over a month now and it all worked just fine. The issue arose this week, for some reason. I haven't changed my behavior at all.)


If you have your apple TV plugged into your TV via HDMI it's very unlikely that it will pass 5.1 to the Sonos - most will just pass stereo over optical.

What you'd need to do is plug the optical cable into the Apple TV (though I believe some new ones have dropped optical out). This may affect your TV sound though unless you have an optical switch.

The playbar was never really designed for 5.1 in my opinion.
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Even if you're getting a stereo signal to the PLAYBAR over optical, the surrounds will still normally be active. They play ambient audio and an upmixed surround sound created by the PLAYBAR. During some programs this may not be very noticeable as a lot of TV content is "talking heads" which is supposed to come out of the front speakers. The PLAYBAR even does this upmixing when it's on it's own. The unit has speakers that are able to push audio up and behind the listener even on its own. The unit doesn't discard audio that it's capable of playing.

There are a lot of TVs out there that can pass Dolby Digital from HDMI to Optical, so if you'd like to post your TVs model number here I'd be happy to check that for you. Most of the new popular or mainstream TVs these days can do it.

On that diagnostic it looks like something came up and actually stopped the surround speakers from playing. We'll want to take a closer look into that. I see a lot of wireless interference on your system on both the 2.4 GHz and the 5GHz. The 5GHz is what the PLAYBAR uses to send audio to your satellites and it looks like there are a lot of communication issues there. I'd recommend rebooting the PLAYBAR which should trigger it to run an auto channel scan and pick a new one.

If it doesn't select a new channel, you'll want to log into your Arris router and set the 5GHz network to one of the lower channels.

Also, the 2.4GHz isn't likely the issue with the surrounds, but it's definitely something you'll want to work with. I see a lot of wireless networks in the area that are pretty strong, so it may be difficult to find a perfect arrangement. It looks like you've already done some channel changes on Sonos. Have you had trouble with other rooms dropping off? If so, you might want to try changing your router's channel and putting Sonos on the opposite side. I believe the router is on channel 1 right now, so putting Sonos on 11 might help, but the neighbors are also using channel 11. It's something to play with to see if you find a good balance.

Let us know how it goes, and feel free to post more diagnostics here if you'd like me to take a look. Just make sure to leave the system alone for 5 minutes after any wireless change before sending one to let everything settle.
hello,

when watching tv my play 3 speakers don't work either, only the playbar does.
surrounds speakers are on and I've also changed the volume but there is still no sound.
diagnostic: 6672744

thanks in advance
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
hello,

when watching tv my play 3 speakers don't work either, only the playbar does.
surrounds speakers are on and I've also changed the volume but there is still no sound.
diagnostic: 6672744

thanks in advance


What does Input say under "About My Sonos" when watching TV - I suspect it is Stereo in which case depending on what you are watching you won't hear much/anything from rears.
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Hi wierie, the diagnostic is showing Stereo, so as Stuart suggested, you might want to take a closer listen to see if the speakers aren't just only active at certain times depending on what sort of audio is playing. Most dialogue comes from the center channels.

That said, there's a lot of 5GHz interference around the PLAYBAR which could also cause the surrounds to drop out from time to time. To resolve that, a restart on the PLAYBAR would help a lot. Do you have any wireless devices sitting around the PLAYBAR? A cordless phone perhaps?
I'm experiencing the same issue. My confirmation number is: 6742152
Same problem here. Diagnostics are submitted; 6791685
Same problem diagnostic # 6817882
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
I'm experiencing the same issue. My confirmation number is: 6742152I'm experiencing the same issue. My confirmation number is: 6742152

Hi LunaGirl,

Your PLAYBAR is reporting that it's receiving a stereo signal from the optical cable. This could be due to a setting on your TV. Please make sure you're watching something that has surround sounds, then check the Sonos app's settings menu for the about my Sonos system option. Under the PLAYBAR you should see the audio type. If it still says stereo, please check your TV"s audio output settings. If you reply with the make and model of your TV we can help you look up the settings.
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
Same problem here. Diagnostics are submitted; 6791685

Hi mrgalbers,

There appears to be some 5 ghz wireless interference showing up which is likely the reason your surrounds aren't playing. Please check around your surround setup for any third party wireless devices which could be causing interference. Common sources of interference include cordless phones, third party wireless speakers, wireless cameras, wireless baby monitors and the like.
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
Same problem diagnostic # 6817882

Hi Rob7,

There's some interference showing up in your diagnostic report on the 5 ghz band. Please take a look around your Sonos units for any third party wireless devices you may have and try moving them away from the Sonos speakers and see if things improve.
Like every one else here, my Play 3 surround speakers do not work with my television. Sonos needs to find a fix for this as I
Have spent a great deal of time trying to trouble shoot the problem. Diagnostic # 6884115
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
Like every one else here, my Play 3 surround speakers do not work with my television. Sonos needs to find a fix for this as I
Have spent a great deal of time trying to trouble shoot the problem. Diagnostic # 6884115


Hi Flanstein,

Your PLAYBAR is only receiving a stereo signal from the optical cable. Please check your TV's settings and make sure it's set to output Dolby Digital through its optical output. You might head over the the Home Theater Megathread for more help.
Like every one else here, my Play 3 surround speakers do not work with my television. Sonos needs to find a fix for this as I
Have spent a great deal of time trying to trouble shoot the problem. Diagnostic # 6884115


Hi Flanstein,

Your PLAYBAR is only receiving a stereo signal from the optical cable. Please check your TV's settings and make sure it's set to output Dolby Digital through its optical output. You might head over the the Home Theater Megathread for more help.


Sadly, after discussing this with Samsung, my brand new Series Six UTV television is not compatible with Sonos. It would have been nice to have known this BEFORE I bought your product, which is now completely and totally useless to me. thanks.
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
Like every one else here, my Play 3 surround speakers do not work with my television. Sonos needs to find a fix for this as I
Have spent a great deal of time trying to trouble shoot the problem. Diagnostic # 6884115


Hi Flanstein,

Your PLAYBAR is only receiving a stereo signal from the optical cable. Please check your TV's settings and make sure it's set to output Dolby Digital through its optical output. You might head over the the Home Theater Megathread for more help.


Sadly, after discussing this with Samsung, my brand new Series Six UTV television is not compatible with Sonos. It would have been nice to have known this BEFORE I bought your product, which is now completely and totally useless to me. thanks.


In cases like this you can use an HDMI switch to get full audio. You would connect your various inputs, cable box, game systems and the like, to the inputs on the HDMI switch, then the video output from the switch can go to your TV and the audio output can go to the PLAYBAR.
Same problem! No sound from play3 whili watching tv. Diagnostic 6927586
Userlevel 6
Badge +3
Same problem! No sound from play3 whili watching tv. Diagnostic 6927586

Hi GuyGillen, welcome to the community.
I had a look at your diagnostic. The format of the audio the PLAYBAR was receiving when you submitted this diagnostic was DD 2.0 (stereo format). Not all TV movies/shows will use a DD 5.1 codec.

Just for test, would it be possible to wire the PLAYBAR to the cable box and try again?

Let us know how it goes.
I have the same problems. I have the playbar and 2 play 3s. Not words coming from the play 3s only play bar...
Diagnostics number 7013019
Thanks