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Playing music through arc from tv apps

I have a arc system with sub and two ones as rear speakers. When playing music from smart tv apps, such as Spotify and watching music videos, I don’t get the best sound quality, like I do when listening to music through the Sonos app. I have found out that the arc system has two modes. One for watching tv, and one for playing music. When listening to music through tv apps, It will only play in tv mode, and you don’t get that good music sound quality the system is capable of producing. So I wonder why Sonos don’t have a manual “switch” for this? 
 

I would love to have great music sound quality also when listening to tv apps and watching music videos.

10 replies

Zeek78
Userlevel 3
Badge +4

Strang to make a speaker for the tv, and don´t take into account that 99% of modern tvs have inbuilt apps that play music. I have a solution, but it should be easier. Now I have to connect my roam to the tv sound via Bluetooth, and then group it with the arc to get the arc in music mode. Strange that not more people are aware of this problem. I thought Sonos users wanted the best sound.

S

You go through life thinking you have a great sound system. S1 & S2, and then this POS. Cant play TV, Music from a smart app, or even my Vinyl. Shame on the engineers - you erased the S2 and put up this pos app. Then it takes more than 60 minutes to even get someone on the phone - **** it I’m dumping SONOS. 

 

MODERATED TO COMPLY WITH FORUM RULES.

 

AjTrek1

Not quite understanding your issue. Here’s something you might try…

Open the Sonos App

Click the cog wheel in upper right corner

Select the room with the Arc

Scroll down to Surround Audio

Select Music playback

Select Full for output

Play music to test to see if it meets your likening. 

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.
R
Userlevel 1
Badge +1

Not quite understanding your issue. Here’s something you might try…

Open the Sonos App

Click the cog wheel in upper right corner

Select the room with the Arc

Scroll down to Surround Audio

Select Music playback

Select Full for output

Play music to test to see if it meets your likening. 

Also I hate Sonos "Spotify"... So I open Spotify on my phone, choose arc as output and Spotify app seems to show the same thing as playing directly from spotify... I'm on ps5 so I guess for me is also not all that smooth sailing in getting the best quality out. 

AjTrek1

Not quite understanding your issue. Here’s something you might try…

Open the Sonos App

Click the cog wheel in upper right corner

Select the room with the Arc

Scroll down to Surround Audio

Select Music playback

Select Full for output

Play music to test to see if it meets your likening. 

Also I hate Sonos "Spotify"... So I open Spotify on my phone, choose arc as output and Spotify app seems to show the same thing as playing directly from spotify... I'm on ps5 so I guess for me is also not all that smooth sailing in getting the best quality out. 

@Rimaarts

Look… this is ridiculous. Why should I care that you hate Spotify on Sonos??? I was suggesting a possible solution to what the original poster submitted. If you are having an issue start your own post with details. That’s all I have to say and I will not be responding to any of your comments going forward. 😖

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.
Zeek78
Userlevel 3
Badge +4

Not quite understanding your issue. Here’s something you might try…

Open the Sonos App

Click the cog wheel in upper right corner

Select the room with the Arc

Scroll down to Surround Audio

Select Music playback

Select Full for output

Play music to test to see if it meets your likening. 

Thank you for trying to help me. Seems like most people isn´t aware of the main problem. The thing is, the arc has 2 sound modes. One is used when the sound comes from tv through hdmi. the other is set when you play from sonos app. The thing is that the arc “thinks” it is sound for movies when the sound comes from the tv, so the rear speakers is most used for surround sounds. the front is trying to get speak in center. When you then use the tv to play music, you will get the sound like it is a tv show, with speak in the middle, and no real stereo separation in front. The surround speakers will be something similar to ambient, but even lower sound.

I would like to be able to set the music mode manually. It´s a shame that sonos hasn't thought of a solution for this. And it´s strange that not more people are noticing the “bad” sound when playing music from tv apps. All of my friends who is interested in music and sound quality notice this, and some of them will not use sonos because of this. I can´t blame them.

UKMedia
Userlevel 7
Badge +20

Not quite understanding your issue. Here’s something you might try…

Open the Sonos App

Click the cog wheel in upper right corner

Select the room with the Arc

Scroll down to Surround Audio

Select Music playback

Select Full for output

Play music to test to see if it meets your likening. 

Thank you for trying to help me. Seems like most people isn´t aware of the main problem. The thing is, the arc has 2 sound modes. One is used when the sound comes from tv through hdmi. the other is set when you play from sonos app. The thing is that the arc “thinks” it is sound for movies when the sound comes from the tv, so the rear speakers is most used for surround sounds. the front is trying to get speak in center. When you then use the tv to play music, you will get the sound like it is a tv show, with speak in the middle, and no real stereo separation in front. The surround speakers will be something similar to ambient, but even lower sound.

I would like to be able to set the music mode manually. It´s a shame that sonos hasn't thought of a solution for this. And it´s strange that not more people are noticing the “bad” sound when playing music from tv apps. All of my friends who is interested in music and sound quality notice this, and some of them will not use sonos because of this. I can´t blame them.

My Arc doesn’t have this issue.  Did you follow the steps that @AjTrek1 suggested?

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
Zeek78
Userlevel 3
Badge +4

Not quite understanding your issue. Here’s something you might try…

Open the Sonos App

Click the cog wheel in upper right corner

Select the room with the Arc

Scroll down to Surround Audio

Select Music playback

Select Full for output

Play music to test to see if it meets your likening. 

Thank you for trying to help me. Seems like most people isn´t aware of the main problem. The thing is, the arc has 2 sound modes. One is used when the sound comes from tv through hdmi. the other is set when you play from sonos app. The thing is that the arc “thinks” it is sound for movies when the sound comes from the tv, so the rear speakers is most used for surround sounds. the front is trying to get speak in center. When you then use the tv to play music, you will get the sound like it is a tv show, with speak in the middle, and no real stereo separation in front. The surround speakers will be something similar to ambient, but even lower sound.

I would like to be able to set the music mode manually. It´s a shame that sonos hasn't thought of a solution for this. And it´s strange that not more people are noticing the “bad” sound when playing music from tv apps. All of my friends who is interested in music and sound quality notice this, and some of them will not use sonos because of this. I can´t blame them.

My Arc doesn’t have this issue.  Did you follow the steps that @AjTrek1 suggested?

Yes, every arc is like this. I know. I have been in contact with sonos and it´s a known “problem”. Sonos solution is to not listen to music through tv apps, or accept the sound difference. If your arc doesn't go into tv mode when playing things from the tv, you probably have a faulty unit or wrong settings. If you see in the settings (the one listed here), you will see there are one setting for music playback (which is suggested to set to full). But this setting only applies when the arc is in music mode, and will not have any effect when using the tv as source.   

AjTrek1

Not quite understanding your issue. Here’s something you might try…

Open the Sonos App

Click the cog wheel in upper right corner

Select the room with the Arc

Scroll down to Surround Audio

Select Music playback

Select Full for output

Play music to test to see if it meets your likening. 

Thank you for trying to help me. Seems like most people isn´t aware of the main problem. The thing is, the arc has 2 sound modes. One is used when the sound comes from tv through hdmi. the other is set when you play from sonos app. The thing is that the arc “thinks” it is sound for movies when the sound comes from the tv, so the rear speakers is most used for surround sounds. the front is trying to get speak in center. When you then use the tv to play music, you will get the sound like it is a tv show, with speak in the middle, and no real stereo separation in front. The surround speakers will be something similar to ambient, but even lower sound.

I would like to be able to set the music mode manually. It´s a shame that sonos hasn't thought of a solution for this. And it´s strange that not more people are noticing the “bad” sound when playing music from tv apps. All of my friends who is interested in music and sound quality notice this, and some of them will not use sonos because of this. I can´t blame them.

My Arc doesn’t have this issue.  Did you follow the steps that @AjTrek1 suggested?

Yes, every arc is like this. I know. I have been in contact with sonos and it´s a known “problem”. Sonos solution is to not listen to music through tv apps, or accept the sound difference. If your arc doesn't go into tv mode when playing things from the tv, you probably have a faulty unit or wrong settings. If you see in the settings (the one listed here), you will see there are one setting for music playback (which is suggested to set to full). But this setting only applies when the arc is in music mode, and will not have any effect when using the tv as source.   

Point taken😊 l’ll have to experiment with what you are saying to get a better understanding as I don’t use smart TV apps for music.

Note: I assume you do mean apps that are provided by the TV manufacturer as built-in to which you may still have to have a subscription.

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.
Zeek78
Userlevel 3
Badge +4

Not quite understanding your issue. Here’s something you might try…

Open the Sonos App

Click the cog wheel in upper right corner

Select the room with the Arc

Scroll down to Surround Audio

Select Music playback

Select Full for output

Play music to test to see if it meets your likening. 

Thank you for trying to help me. Seems like most people isn´t aware of the main problem. The thing is, the arc has 2 sound modes. One is used when the sound comes from tv through hdmi. the other is set when you play from sonos app. The thing is that the arc “thinks” it is sound for movies when the sound comes from the tv, so the rear speakers is most used for surround sounds. the front is trying to get speak in center. When you then use the tv to play music, you will get the sound like it is a tv show, with speak in the middle, and no real stereo separation in front. The surround speakers will be something similar to ambient, but even lower sound.

I would like to be able to set the music mode manually. It´s a shame that sonos hasn't thought of a solution for this. And it´s strange that not more people are noticing the “bad” sound when playing music from tv apps. All of my friends who is interested in music and sound quality notice this, and some of them will not use sonos because of this. I can´t blame them.

My Arc doesn’t have this issue.  Did you follow the steps that @AjTrek1 suggested?

Yes, every arc is like this. I know. I have been in contact with sonos and it´s a known “problem”. Sonos solution is to not listen to music through tv apps, or accept the sound difference. If your arc doesn't go into tv mode when playing things from the tv, you probably have a faulty unit or wrong settings. If you see in the settings (the one listed here), you will see there are one setting for music playback (which is suggested to set to full). But this setting only applies when the arc is in music mode, and will not have any effect when using the tv as source.   

Point taken😊 l’ll have to experiment with what you are saying to get a better understanding as I don’t use smart TV apps for music.

Note: I assume you do mean apps that are provided by the TV manufacturer as built-in to which you may still have to have a subscription.

You are 100% correct. I have tried to connect my cd-player as well to the tv, which can be done with a cheap avi to hdmi ($20) adapter. Now we need the port which costs around $450. Maybe 🤔 that is the reason,  sonos will sell more ports… Hmm haven’t thought about that before.

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