Sonos Beam low volume

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Got my Beam today (16th) and am pleased with it so far, but I'm having to boost the TV volume much higher that it was with the TV speakers. Without the Beam the TV was at about the right volume at a setting of 30 whereas via the Beam it needs to be in the 70's to 80's (and thats nearly maxed out) to get the same perceived volume

It's a Sony Bravia TV with the Beam connected via the HDMI ARC and a pair of Play:1s as surrounds.

Anybody got any suggestions as to either TV or Sonos settings. I've played TV Level slider from the app. but it doesn't seem to make much impact?

I'll continue playing about in the meantime
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58 replies

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I have the same low volume issue with my Vizio TV and Beam. TV speakers alone at volume 20 souds as loud as Beam at volume 50. CEC is on. Dolby Digital is the TV sound output. Streaming music from Beam (Alexa) is about the same volume level as the TV, maybe a bit louder. However XBOX game sound connected to the TV, then to Beam, is really loud. Have to turn the volume down to less than 20 when playing XBOX, but around 50 or louder when watching TV. I'll fiddle with the TV and Sonos config some more, but if I can't fix this, I may have to return the Beam.
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Eureka! I have a Sonos Beam, a Vizio from 2011 and I play all of my video content through Xbox One. I, like many here have had an issue with low volume outputs when using my tv vs the excellent performance and clarity I hear when I'm streaming music. I had tried messing with all the volume setting from my tv itself...

My fix:
Go to Xbox One's -> Display & Sound -> Audio Output -> Select HDMI audio and select "Bitstream out" (This had been set to stereo uncompressed originally). Optical Audio set to Bitstream Out. Bistream Format set to Dolby Digital.

It started finally working for me. The volume levels finally are consistent across all uses of the beam
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I wonder if this issue is to do with dd5.1 sources? I’m finding if I watch a movie on sky in 5.1 or via the blu day played on my Xbox that the volume needs to get to a certain point before all channels sound balanced. Once you get there it sounds great but is just too loud for the little one asleep upstairs.

At lower volumes parts of the mix such as quiet voices or music are just way too low. But using might mode or speech enhancement doesn’t entirely fix it as both introduce significant downsides. Tiny voices or in the case of night mode removal of all noticeable bass.

I find that with 5.1 sources the sound bar just isn’t balanced especially at low volumes. Anyone else experienced this?
B
I agree. DD 5.1 sounds fantastic at medium + sound setting. I have a 6 year old JVC TV using beam via optical (no ARC on TV). At lower settings doesn’t do Beam justice.
G
I wonder if this issue is to do with dd5.1 sources? I’m finding if I watch a movie on sky in 5.1 or via the blu day played on my Xbox that the volume needs to get to a certain point before all channels sound balanced. Once you get there it sounds great but is just too loud for the little one asleep upstairs.

At lower volumes parts of the mix such as quiet voices or music are just way too low. But using might mode or speech enhancement doesn’t entirely fix it as both introduce significant downsides. Tiny voices or in the case of night mode removal of all noticeable bass.

I find that with 5.1 sources the sound bar just isn’t balanced especially at low volumes. Anyone else experienced this?
G
I have same issue with LG TV. There is no way to adjust the centre channel or left and rights to balance them. This is an issue for 5.1 audio. Some TVs and sound bars have a dynamic sound setting which balances the the quiet and loud effects so there is not such a contrast. This should be in the App but is not I'm forever turning sound up and down while watching a action movie. ?
N
hi all, I had a similar issue with my sound bar, the volume level seemed to be getting quieter, when I first installed my sound bar the tv volume was on about 12 but every day it was going up, eventually I had the sound bar on 65, I couldn’t find an answer but then I decided to turn the sound bar down to 0 then turn off sky q and the tv, turned it back on and the sound bar was back to normal having the sound around 12 again!! Hope this helps
T

I have the same problem with my Samsung smart TV.

I recently purchased the Beam during black Friday sale and was very disappointed when I plugged it in.

The initial sound test (Trueplay) and start up tones were impressive but the this as a sound bar was very disappointing. The sound output with TV as soundbar is lot lower than TV speakers. With TV I usually have it around 10-20 depending when and what I am watching, but with beam I have to turn it up all the way to 70-80 to feel like its a soundbar otherwise it sounds very small and quite, quieter than my TV speakers.

I did check the the audio settings of the TV and the Beam shows up as receiver and audio output is set to Dolby Digital (on Sonos App it shows Dolby Digital 2.0 or 5.1 depending on the content). Beam can turn on and turn off the TV so CEC is working. I don’t usually play music a lot but I did test and it sounded better through Sonos app.

Another problem I have is that with Beam when my TV is turned off, the power led light keeps on blinking, this usually stayed off when in use and turned on when not in use.

Need help please. 

 

Edit: I have submitted diagnostics and here is the number #1051886115

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