Sonos Beam as PC Theatre System

Question

I've a Dell XPS8920 PC with Sound Blaster Z-series audio card (optical output and Dolby Live) linked to a Sonos Beam via TOSlink, then the HDMI converter supplied with the Beam. It took a while to sort out settings but now works well when streaming music, TV or Netflix to my system. The Beam sits neatly under a Dell S2716G monitor. So far, a great set of kit.

However, the rear speakers (x2 Play:1's) don't carry sound from the PC (Sound Blaster optical out/converter then HDMI into the Beam) so I can't use the full Dolby facility and so miss out on the 5.1 potential. In "normal" Sonos mode - using iPhone controller or via Alexa - the rears produce terrific sound since here the PC isn't involved.

Is there any way of getting 5.1 from the PC into the Beam via this setup? Or is any planned in the future?

melvimbe · Accepted Answer

However, the rear speakers (x2 Play:1's) don't carry sound from the PC (Sound Blaster optical out/converter then HDMI into the Beam) so I can't use the full Dolby facility and so miss out on the 5.1 potential.

The reare speakers will 'carry sound' when the Beam is receiving a dolby digital 5.1 signal. I don't have much knowledge on 'dolby live', but from what I briefly read, it should be sending the dolby digital signal. You might want to check your settings and make sure you aren't sending dolby digital plus, atmos, or somehting like that. You can also confirm what signal the Beam is receiving by opening the Sonos app, then more... -> About , and viewing the information for your Beam.

Someone else may have better info to provide, if they've gone through this setting themselves.

ootoph · Answer

Thanks for those suggestions - plenty to work on here and I’ll feed back findings. Cheers

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