SONOS 7.1 Surround Sound System


Userlevel 3
Come on SONOS 7.1 and 7.2 Surround Sound is already years old, 9.1 & 9.2 seen as its update,

A SONOS 7.1 system would be very much in demand, loads of questions on here already about producing it, Id buy today if it was available, 7.1 channels with that SUB, awesome, come on SONOS make us even happier,...

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56 replies

Userlevel 3
This may be a stupid question but can you do 7.1 through optical and does standard Dolby digital (not true HD of plus) support 7.1.?
Userlevel 3
Hi Rich, Yes 7.1 can be put through optical, my old Sony system does that, and Dolby DTS supports 7.1 output. SONOS currently only spports 5.1 so an update to Playbar would/should allow the addition of two more channels of output, if 'SONY, Panasonic, Samsung etc all do it, then SONOS needs to catch up,....
Userlevel 3
I've got the 5.1 and if Sonos did add a true 7.1 experience into the mix I'd be tempted to buy 2 more play 1, especially if they finally did what the people wanted and support DTS ..... COME ON SONOS
Userlevel 3
Come on everybody, add your voice to a SONOS 7.1 need,... the more that join the request, the more chance it will become reality,..... COME ON SONOS
Badge +1
In the good news/ bad news department, first the good news: the new Apple TV 4 Specs released this week feature DD 7.1. The bad news is they eliminated the optical out port!
Userlevel 3
Badge +7
Everyone is wasting their breath. It ain't happening. Enjoy your 1970's Dolby 5.1 and forget about it.
Userlevel 3
Badge +7
I will add that I hope I am proved wrong 🙂
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What we can do is open technical tickets which trigger answers... From there they MUST reply... It's gonna cost them more in support than just making it happen... At least they could answer here in public? Respect for your Customers is it too much to ask?
What exactly do you expect, it's been explained a thousand times here that Sonos do NOT give advanced notification of future developments.

Besides if you're that serious about home cinema then you should have bought a proper home cinema system to start with.
What we can do is open technical tickets which trigger answers... From there they MUST reply... It's gonna cost them more in support than just making it happen... At least they could answer here in public? Respect for your Customers is it too much to ask?

So not publishing every aspect of your business plans for all your competitors to see is now considered "disrespect", to the point where some petulant, over-entitled whiners propose overwhelming support with fraudulent tickets to force their will? Me dies! :rolleyes
Userlevel 3
Badge +1
I assume all the rubbish and immature attitudes that get spouted on this community stem from ask.sonos? As it happens, I seldom used it. After experience of this community for over a month, and the loss of the more disciplined and respectful comments of the old forums, now I understand why. As for the constant SONOS-bashing? The company is correct not to publish its roadmap, and not every feature request can be met.

"Me dies! :rolleyes" just about sums up the way us older guys feel.
I would love to add 2 more speakers to my 5.1 TVsetup. I really would love to treat the playbar like a true badass center channel. With the sub and 2 play 3s in the rear, adding a stereo pair up front would be Sick.

I currently have 2 play 5s in the front setup as a second room. I would love to add them all in for true 7.1. COME ON SONOS!!
Userlevel 1
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Is it a hardware or software update sonos needs?
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Is it a hardware or software update sonos needs?

Generally speaking, the bandwidth of an optical connection isn't enough to pass a 7.1 audio signal at all. This would make it extremely difficult to get a 7.1 audio signal to Sonos players as currently the PLAYBAR (our home theater solution) only has an optical input. There may be solutions for this in the future, different ways that this could be done, but currently there are no plans to share.

Thanks for the feedback though and we'll pass the interest on to our development team.
Well, in the meantime can we get an option to add more speakers to add to the 5.1 surround setup? The bigger stereo image would be awesome. I'd settle for that until something is developed, but having 2 zones in 1 room at the moment is a little annoying. And then theres the whole Trueplay room setup to consider when dealing with that option. I'd also love to have some control over sub crossover. 🙂 Happy New Year!
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Well, in the meantime can we get an option to add more speakers to add to the 5.1 surround setup? The bigger stereo image would be awesome. I'd settle for that until something is developed, but having 2 zones in 1 room at the moment is a little annoying. And then theres the whole Trueplay room setup to consider when dealing with that option. I'd also love to have some control over sub crossover. 🙂 Happy New Year!

I'll pass the suggestion on for you. And Happy new year as well!
Userlevel 2
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Another vote here for adding more speakers to expand the sound of the theater setup.

Would love to have additional front side speakers, as well as the ability to add a second sub.
I am also holding out on my home theater re-build until Sonos can match my existing 7.1 system.
I am also holding out on my home theater re-build until Sonos can match my existing 7.1 system.

And what happens if they never do? I don't mean to be rude (on this occasion) but that's a daft position to take. A Playbar system is NEVER going to be as good as a dedicated home cinema setup.
I am also holding out on my home theater re-build until Sonos can match my existing 7.1 system.

And what happens if they never do? I don't mean to be rude (on this occasion) but that's a daft position to take. A Playbar system is NEVER going to be as good as a dedicated home cinema setup.


I figured it was clear what would happen if they never expand to 7 channels vs. the 5 they have today: I would simply stick with my current wired 7.1 setup. I would prefer a 7.1 *wireless* setup so I could clean up some wires without losing those channels. The location of the front three channels (in a sound bar vs. three separate speakers) isn't a substantive distinction for my own purposes.
Hi all, could not agree more with what is said here.
Below mail sent to Sonos CEO as suggested on sonos web ...

---------------------------------------------------------

Dear intelligent CEO
After a long waiting time, I decided to join the Sonos bandwagon.
As classical music maniac and software engineer,
the quality of restitution of mediums is to me the critical point for music listening and this was my major hesitation to buy Sonos.
Finally, I decided to install the following in my 5m x 5m living room which gladly brings me a lot of satisfaction:
-> 3 pairs of Sonos One for stereo Front, stereo center & stereo back
-> 1 sonos Five (new model) for "Front center" channel (for home cinema)
I have spent around 2000 USD up to now... you must be happy :-)

BUT BUT BUT...YOU WANT TO REMAIN LEADER ?

1. Make Multichannel listening a reality
My dear Sonos, we are today in the 21st century and sound restitution as moved from stereo to multichannel even in the Hifi world.
It is possible today, with sound processors etc., to recreate "Concert Hall" or "Outdoor Concert" listening experiences.
Therefore you should invest heavily in software development to bring an application that can drive 7.1 or 9.1 configurations of sonos speakers.
Build something in cooperation with Yamaha, Pioneer or Denon etc. to bring to the market a standard allowing any Streaming of Dolby ATMOS or DTS to wireless speakers... A STANDARD not a proprietary thing...

2. OPEN-UP Sonos
Build APIs allowing 3rd party applications to stream music to sonos speakers !!!
Is it so difficult to understand this need ??? Everybody screams for it on your forum/blog.
Monopoly is stupid, think of Microsoft, Apple, ... They all pay at the end lack of openness.
For ex. I stopped buying iphone and moved to Android... Apple lost 750 USD every 2 years.

And, No, it is not ok to pay 350 USD just to have a line in adapter.
I would love to see "player" applications like KODI being able to stream to Sonos speakers.

3. FIX
Fix this annoying loss of music playback by the speaker acting as Sonos controller.
Being software engineer I am 100 % confident that when getting the tracks to play you can buffer them and avoid these cuts while listening.
FYI my WIFI is very good an I use the sonos boost.

MOST IMPORTANTLY to stay the best, apply this rule of thumb:
NEVER BELIEVE THAT YOU KNOW WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO STAY THE BEST.
LISTEN CONSTANTLY TO YOUR CUSTOMER.
ONLY HIM KNOWS WHAT IS GOOD FOR YOUR BUSINESS !

A customer is faithful because he is listened more than anything else... like in a couple.
Oh yeah, that's really going to make him listen, "Dear intelligent CEO"...
If Sonos implemented everything that every customer has ever wanted on this site, they would be; making Sonos brand routers, NAS drives, and rippers, using illegal anti-DRM software, selling out to Apple, manufacturing both $10,000 high end streamers and a low cost version of the Connect, not to mention other ever increasingly silly propositions. And this was from just ONE customer!

One thing I've learned in business from both a retail and corporate view: The customer is always right, unless he is costing you profits, and then he is 100% WRONG!
Hi LHC,
If the CEO is intelligent, he will understand the irony behind "Dear", if not then I was wrong saying so.
I presume he is, because he is CEO.

Jgatie, I don't see your point.
It's not about me, who said it's about one customer ? It's about Sonos customer base, which means all of us having bought Sonos.
I am just adding my voice to all of us requesting the same features to Sonos, like surround sound support, read the blog ...
Sonos is certainly prioritizing the issues/requests, analyzing and 'hopefully' acting appropriately.

Sometimes, I have this impression of people writing to the blog more to get into arguments rather than truly contributing to the debate, it's pointless.
Hi LHC,
If the CEO is intelligent, he will understand the irony behind "Dear", if not then I was wrong saying so.
I presume he is, because he is CEO.


It was the irony behind "intelligent" that I was commenting on.