Sonos Beam DD5.1 problem

Have just the beam, no other speakers butwatching 5.1 sources isn’t so good. Stereo is great. But 5.1 seems to have ridiculously low volume for some frequencies or channels.

The example I give is watching Dunkirk in 4K HDR via Rakuten. In 5.1 the start of the movie is silent until you put your ear right next to the beam. You can’t hear the paper rustling in the wind at all. Or the background music a bit later. It’s in the mix but so low you can’t hear without turning the volume way too high.

Same with amazing Spider-Man via UHD player and some films on sky hd. Some parts of the mix are so loud but others so quiet they essentially aren’t even there.

Stereo seems ok generally. But obviously I’d far prefer DD 5.1 even though it is downmixed. My old soundbar had no issue with dd5.1 from these sources.

By the way I should add that the sound is awesome when the loud channels kick in but too quiet the rest of the time. General TV and music both superb, so I think this is a software issue more than anything, but I’m no expert.

Hi iwb100,

That is strange. Can you reproduce the issue then send in a diagnostic report? Reply with the confirmation number and I'll take a look.

i have the same behaviour for beam and bar, for some playback with DD i have volume issue, not in general but since Version 9.
For me Version 9 is causing it:

Fact one:
If I only choose stereo sound format for my TV, the sound is balanced. Same result as when switching to the TV speakers.
When Dolby is activated, the problem is back.
diagnosis, maybe the problem is now visible?
899874408

Fact two:
Sonos and Beam are connected to different TVs and both have the same sporadic problem

Fact three:
Without output to the playbar / beam the sound is balanced

Fact four:
The same problem exists when connecting the Playbar to a media player.

Fact five:
Sonos, Bar, Controller have been reset and all components have been de-energized, problem persists.

Fact six:
Up to version 9 I had no volume problems or other phenomena for 1 year

Cheers,
Tom

in addition, movies sonos could check if volume is balanced or same issue:

music/action extreme loud
kings man 2
Tomb Raider 2018

music/action loud
westworld season 2

i have the same behaviour for beam and bar, for some playback with DD i have volume issue, not in general but since Version 9.
For me Version 9 is causing it:

Fact one:
If I only choose stereo sound format for my TV, the sound is balanced. Same result as when switching to the TV speakers.
When Dolby is activated, the problem is back.
diagnosis, maybe the problem is now visible?
899874408

Fact two:
Sonos and Beam are connected to different TVs and both have the same sporadic problem

Fact three:
Without output to the playbar / beam the sound is balanced

Fact four:
The same problem exists when connecting the Playbar to a media player.

Fact five:
Sonos, Bar, Controller have been reset and all components have been de-energized, problem persists.

Fact six:
Up to version 9 I had no volume problems or other phenomena for 1 year

Cheers,
Tom

Hi Tom,

It's not clear from your report why this is happening. It would be best to have our phone team check things out from here. You can find our phone number and hours here.

Have just the beam, no other speakers butwatching 5.1 sources isn’t so good. Stereo is great. But 5.1 seems to have ridiculously low volume for some frequencies or channels.

The example I give is watching Dunkirk in 4K HDR via Rakuten. In 5.1 the start of the movie is silent until you put your ear right next to the beam. You can’t hear the paper rustling in the wind at all. Or the background music a bit later. It’s in the mix but so low you can’t hear without turning the volume way too high.

Same with amazing Spider-Man via UHD player and some films on sky hd. Some parts of the mix are so loud but others so quiet they essentially aren’t even there.

Stereo seems ok generally. But obviously I’d far prefer DD 5.1 even though it is downmixed. My old soundbar had no issue with dd5.1 from these sources.

By the way I should add that the sound is awesome when the loud channels kick in but too quiet the rest of the time. General TV and music both superb, so I think this is a software issue more than anything, but I’m no expert.

Hi iwb100,

That is strange. Can you reproduce the issue then send in a diagnostic report? Reply with the confirmation number and I'll take a look.

Thanks for this.

Diagnostic here. 542009490

Beam sees a dd 5.1 signal.

Have just the beam, no other speakers butwatching 5.1 sources isn’t so good. Stereo is great. But 5.1 seems to have ridiculously low volume for some frequencies or channels.

The example I give is watching Dunkirk in 4K HDR via Rakuten. In 5.1 the start of the movie is silent until you put your ear right next to the beam. You can’t hear the paper rustling in the wind at all. Or the background music a bit later. It’s in the mix but so low you can’t hear without turning the volume way too high.

Same with amazing Spider-Man via UHD player and some films on sky hd. Some parts of the mix are so loud but others so quiet they essentially aren’t even there.

Stereo seems ok generally. But obviously I’d far prefer DD 5.1 even though it is downmixed. My old soundbar had no issue with dd5.1 from these sources.

By the way I should add that the sound is awesome when the loud channels kick in but too quiet the rest of the time. General TV and music both superb, so I think this is a software issue more than anything, but I’m no expert.

Hi iwb100,

That is strange. Can you reproduce the issue then send in a diagnostic report? Reply with the confirmation number and I'll take a look.

Thanks for this.

Diagnostic here. 542009490

Beam sees a dd 5.1 signal.

The codec information looks to be correct. The issue is likely between the source, player, or TV. Can you try bypassing the TV and connecting your Beam directly to your player? Does this fix the issue?

Have just the beam, no other speakers butwatching 5.1 sources isn’t so good. Stereo is great. But 5.1 seems to have ridiculously low volume for some frequencies or channels.

The example I give is watching Dunkirk in 4K HDR via Rakuten. In 5.1 the start of the movie is silent until you put your ear right next to the beam. You can’t hear the paper rustling in the wind at all. Or the background music a bit later. It’s in the mix but so low you can’t hear without turning the volume way too high.

Same with amazing Spider-Man via UHD player and some films on sky hd. Some parts of the mix are so loud but others so quiet they essentially aren’t even there.

Stereo seems ok generally. But obviously I’d far prefer DD 5.1 even though it is downmixed. My old soundbar had no issue with dd5.1 from these sources.

By the way I should add that the sound is awesome when the loud channels kick in but too quiet the rest of the time. General TV and music both superb, so I think this is a software issue more than anything, but I’m no expert.

Hi iwb100,

That is strange. Can you reproduce the issue then send in a diagnostic report? Reply with the confirmation number and I'll take a look.

Thanks for this.

Diagnostic here. 542009490

Beam sees a dd 5.1 signal.

The codec information looks to be correct. The issue is likely between the source, player, or TV. Can you try bypassing the TV and connecting your Beam directly to your player? Does this fix the issue?

The source is the TV....

Have just the beam, no other speakers butwatching 5.1 sources isn’t so good. Stereo is great. But 5.1 seems to have ridiculously low volume for some frequencies or channels.

The example I give is watching Dunkirk in 4K HDR via Rakuten. In 5.1 the start of the movie is silent until you put your ear right next to the beam. You can’t hear the paper rustling in the wind at all. Or the background music a bit later. It’s in the mix but so low you can’t hear without turning the volume way too high.

Same with amazing Spider-Man via UHD player and some films on sky hd. Some parts of the mix are so loud but others so quiet they essentially aren’t even there.

Stereo seems ok generally. But obviously I’d far prefer DD 5.1 even though it is downmixed. My old soundbar had no issue with dd5.1 from these sources.

By the way I should add that the sound is awesome when the loud channels kick in but too quiet the rest of the time. General TV and music both superb, so I think this is a software issue more than anything, but I’m no expert.

Hi iwb100,

That is strange. Can you reproduce the issue then send in a diagnostic report? Reply with the confirmation number and I'll take a look.

Thanks for this.

Diagnostic here. 542009490

Beam sees a dd 5.1 signal.

The codec information looks to be correct. The issue is likely between the source, player, or TV. Can you try bypassing the TV and connecting your Beam directly to your player? Does this fix the issue?

The source is the TV....

Are you using a smart TV app? What make and model TV are you using? What is the UHD player and what's Rakuten?

My final conclusion and troubleshooting, so Sonos should be able to reproduce the broken DD playback:

1. watch Kings Man 2 / Tomb Raider 2018 on beam/bar with Software Version 9:
volume until minute 11 is very loud and after minute 11 its lower

2.watch Kings Man 2 on beam/bar with Software Version 8.6 :
volume until minute 11 and after minute 11 has the same balance

For some videos the balance is not as extreme like for Kings Man 2 and Tomb Raider
Troubleshooting:

Sources: MKV, Netflix, Amazon, Mediaplayer Box

Fact one:
If I only choose stereo sound format for my TV, the sound is balanced. Same result as when switching to the TV speakers.
When Dolby is activated, the problem is back.
diagnostic created
899874408

Fact two:
Sonos and Beam are connected to different TVs and both have the same problem (MKV, Netflix, Amazon, Mediaplayer Box)

Fact three:
Using TV Speakers, Volume is balanced

Fact four:
Playbar connected to Media Player box has the same Volume issue.

Fact five:
Until Version 9 no Volume issues


Please check, reproduce the issue and fix it, its very annyoing.
A better troubeshooting cant be expected, so its Sonos turn now.

Thank you.

Tom.

Are you using a smart TV app? What make and model TV are you using? What is the UHD player and what's Rakuten?

I'm using the LG C6 OLED TV and yes the smart apps on it. I have this issue with Amazon video/Netflix and Rakuten (Rakuten is a movie streaming app).

When you select DD 5.1 in these apps the dialogue is so quiet and the action noises so loud it is impossible. So have to switch to stereo. It isn't equal across all content within the apps either. Some are fine at 5.1. However, dunkirk via Rakuten sounded fine on my old soundbar in 5.1. So the only change is the Sonos it seems.

I find that using the apps via my Xbox improves things somewhat. The dialogue is louder but still there is an issue of balance between the centre channel and everything else.

The UHD player is my Xbox One X and again I find some movies have the issue of very quiet dialogue in DD5.1 but incredibly loud effects. Its so off that it simply cannot be right. On Xbox I can mitigate this slightly by using the dynamic range control on the Xbox One itself however.

I realise you will say this isn't a Sonos issue - its clearly not a faulty product. But I'm confused why this happens with the Beam and not my old sound bar. Given in both cases I was using ARC to pass sound.

Probably nothing can be done, other than maybe Sonos investigating if there is some sort of issue their end, given many on these forums are also having similar complaints.