Sonos 5.1 - 'Full' TV sound

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Short:
Looking to enhance the sound in my back (L/R) speakers more specifically the dialog. Sort of, like you can with the Music under 'Room Settings>[Room]>Advanced Audio>Surround Settings>Music Playback'.

Long:
Sonos 5.1 - Playbar, Sub, and x2 Play:1.
TV: Samsung UN55KU6290 (6 series 4K; yes its a 'black Friday tv'..)
TV Audio Format: 'Dolby Digital'
Sonos App Audio In: 'Dolby Digital 5.1'
Sonos 'TV Level': 3/4 to max

Decided to go wireless so I got rid of my older Pioneer system (which was great) and went with Sonos. Mainly got Sonos because they connected to my Smart Home and secondly I heard the speakers individually prior to purchasing and they were great. **One of the things I noticed immediately after setting up my new system, was that when I watched something on Netflix (TV app) the dialog only comes through the Playbar and very little sound comes through the back speakers (music and some ambient noises). When I first installed my Pioneer system it did the same thing but my receiver had a ton of settings so all I needed to do was set it to Surround Sound with Ext[reme] Power and it would enhance the dialog and allow some of it to pass to the rear speakers all while keeping the Surround Sound experience.

So this when I began searching online for answers. Some people said change the 'Music Playback' to 'Full' but that doesn't change anything for the TV. I also disconnected the speakers, reconnected them, and re tuned them. I adjusted the 'TV Level' which does enhance it a little but the dialog remains only from the Playbar.

***Is there some setting I'm missing? If not, could this be something Sonos is looking to add (more HT settings)?

Many thanks.
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I have more questions about HDMI/Audio switches for my Xbox One X setup but I will do more research before I dive into that...

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D33p5t3rAnswer

Collaborator II

The whole point of a 5.1 setup is to disperse the sound in discrete channels, otherwise it is "pseudo" surround sound and not (in my eyes) fit for purpose. What your Pioneer system was doing, was taking all the audio streams, mixing them down, and then re-encoding them all out to your speakers. I think what you should have done in that instance is just have it as standard 5.1 and raise the centre speaker levels so that the dialogue is clearer for you.

If you're insistent on getting dialogue from all speakers you can unbind from the 5.1 setup and just group them all together. But you'll get the entire soundtrack being blasted out from all speakers at the same time, and that is most certainly not surround sound.

Sony 55XE9305 4K TV | Sonos Beam | Sonos Amp | Apple TV (2nd Gen) | Monitor Audio CT-165 Ceiling Speakers

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C

camillo777

Headliner I

Hi there all, I'm also new hear (a newcomer) I had the same problems with the Home Theater setup.
for over 2 years I have a Playbar and finally decided to buy 2 Play1's.
After a lot of playing arround I decided to install it without Trueplay and the sound was much better.
Then I remove the 2 Play1's from my Playbase and install them as a stereopair and then add them in a group.
This improves the sound quality to a Home Theater as I used to.
Never the less my old 5.1 system what broke down was better than what I expected from Sonos.
For all the other rooms in our house I really like Sonos systems and it Sound quality, but the Home Theater is to improve really. I really hope that future updates add more sound settings and make the Sonos 5.1 a top Home Theater option.
For example a possibility to control the background speaker volume. Like you can in a group.
Good luck with this improvement.

I tried to remove surround and group, but delay is too much.
Also for my wife.
The solution already exists in other home theater systems, it is called full channel stereo.
I would like it here as well.

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