Adjust the volume of a GROUP through Soundbar

DrewKrs27 · 2023-01-31T09:11:12+00:00

I bought my Sonos system specifically to make a home theater setup and almost never listen to music in the room they are set up.The ONLY way to link more than just 2 speakers to the Sonos Soundbar is by linking them together wirelessly as a GROUP instead of connecting them as an external sterio-pair. (You COULD have 1 connected as a stereo-pair & 1 on its own & link them as a group but since you would have to forfeit individual influence over the volume of the attached set & they are not completely centered anyway, that seemed counterproductive in my particular situation)Once I manage to get the tuning & volume lined up how I like, they actually work well. TRUEPLAY doesn’t work in any sense, the speakers I could successfully turn it on on actually ended up sounding terrible. Overall, Once I got it how I liked, it worked well.The ISSUE I am facing is that I can’t keep them in sync. The remote/ir only influences the speaker that’s attached to the TV directly & I’m over the limit that I’m able to do unless I use the method as detailed. The only way to keep things in sync is to use the sliding bar on the app, which adjusts all the bars proportionally. I can’t even access it from my Lock Screen. It said that was possible but I followed the steps & it didn’t work. PLEASE tell me there is a way to control the full group without the hassle of pulling up the full volume bar on the app. I would REALLY like a way to control it with a remote that I can keep with my theater setup. It would also be great to hear that the limit on linking only 1 pair of speakers to a soundbar is being eliminated. Any news would be greatly appreciated!! (As far as the limits on linking devices together to form a “Room” being so limited, I am wondering why? I assume they link as Rooms and/or Groups via the same form of connection but Groups have far less restrictions. If the Group is merely a Room that is broken up by a generic limit & being reformed each time, then is there a benefit to the limit existing like this in the first place??)

J

(As far as the limits on linking devices together to form a “Room” being so limited, I am wondering why? I assume they link as Rooms and/or Groups via the same form of connection b

Hi. You assume wrongly. The nature of the connection is totally different. To use the soundbar and Ones as a single room you must add the Ones as surround speakers. The system is then able to play multichannel 5.0 (5.1 with a Sub) formats. The soundbar plays FL, Centre and FR channels and sends the rear left and right channels to the Ones. They act as a single unit and so only need one volume control. For music you can choose to have ‘dual stereo from the soundbar and rear speakers if you choose.

If you have two rooms and group them, that will be fine for music. For movie there will be a slight audio lag on the Ones. If the Ones are in the same physical room as the soundbar and you want to use them for movie sound it only makes sense to use them as surrounds, not group them.

D

That doesn’t really answer my question

D

(As far as the limits on linking devices together to form a “Room” being so limited, I am wondering why? I assume they link as Rooms and/or Groups via the same form of connection b

Hi. You assume wrongly. The nature of the connection is totally different. To use the soundbar and Ones as a single room you must add the Ones as surround speakers. The system is then able to play multichannel 5.0 (5.1 with a Sub) formats. The soundbar plays FL, Centre and FR channels and sends the rear left and right channels to the Ones. They act as a single unit and so only need one volume control. For music you can choose to have ‘dual stereo from the soundbar and rear speakers if you choose.

If you have two rooms and group them, that will be fine for music. For movie there will be a slight audio lag on the Ones. If the Ones are in the same physical room as the soundbar and you want to use them for movie sound it only makes sense to use them as surrounds, not group them.

That doesn’t really answer my question. I have a set of fives & ones right now. I’m moving in July & I’ll have to rebuild my theater then but presently, with each speaker in unusual spots so they fit, I have no idea which to even pair to the Arc.
Moreover; even if I pair a set, I STILL need a way to adjust the volume of the GROUP since there is another pair that I am unable to link.

N

Userlevel 7

+18

nik9669a
Virtuoso
3859 replies
1 year ago
31 January 2023

(As far as the limits on linking devices together to form a “Room” being so limited, I am wondering why? I assume they link as Rooms and/or Groups via the same form of connection b

Hi. You assume wrongly. The nature of the connection is totally different. To use the soundbar and Ones as a single room you must add the Ones as surround speakers. The system is then able to play multichannel 5.0 (5.1 with a Sub) formats. The soundbar plays FL, Centre and FR channels and sends the rear left and right channels to the Ones. They act as a single unit and so only need one volume control. For music you can choose to have ‘dual stereo from the soundbar and rear speakers if you choose.

If you have two rooms and group them, that will be fine for music. For movie there will be a slight audio lag on the Ones. If the Ones are in the same physical room as the soundbar and you want to use them for movie sound it only makes sense to use them as surrounds, not group them.

That doesn’t really answer my question. I have a set of fives & ones right now. I’m moving in July & I’ll have to rebuild my theater then but presently, with each speaker in unusual spots so they fit, I have no idea which to even pair to the Arc.
Moreover; even if I pair a set, I STILL need a way to adjust the volume of the GROUP since there is another pair that I am unable to link.

You need to use an app (on phone, Mac or PC) to control a group’s volume. The slider controls the volume to the whole group, or tap on it to bring up individual room volume sliders. If that’s the question you’re asking?

D

(As far as the limits on linking devices together to form a “Room” being so limited, I am wondering why? I assume they link as Rooms and/or Groups via the same form of connection b

Hi. You assume wrongly. The nature of the connection is totally different. To use the soundbar and Ones as a single room you must add the Ones as surround speakers. The system is then able to play multichannel 5.0 (5.1 with a Sub) formats. The soundbar plays FL, Centre and FR channels and sends the rear left and right channels to the Ones. They act as a single unit and so only need one volume control. For music you can choose to have ‘dual stereo from the soundbar and rear speakers if you choose.

If you have two rooms and group them, that will be fine for music. For movie there will be a slight audio lag on the Ones. If the Ones are in the same physical room as the soundbar and you want to use them for movie sound it only makes sense to use them as surrounds, not group them.

That doesn’t really answer my question. I have a set of fives & ones right now. I’m moving in July & I’ll have to rebuild my theater then but presently, with each speaker in unusual spots so they fit, I have no idea which to even pair to the Arc.
Moreover; even if I pair a set, I STILL need a way to adjust the volume of the GROUP since there is another pair that I am unable to link.

You need to use an app (on phone, Mac or PC) to control a group’s volume. The slider controls the volume to the whole group, or tap on it to bring up individual room volume sliders. If that’s the question you’re asking?

As I said, the only way I am able to control it at the present time IS with the Sonos app. I’m looking for a better solution. Like programming a remote or something.

@DrewKrs27, The Sonos app is a WiFi remote control. In order to control group volume you’d need a physical WiFi remote -- something like this.

Sonos does not make a separate remote, so obviously a 3rd party is your only option. I have both the lutron and ikea remotes that can be connected to Sonos. The lutron remote works very well, but you have to tie to the remote to specific room, not a named group.

The ikea remote is not as reliable, and I don’t know if you can tie it to a group or not. I can’t access settings remotely and I’m not at home. ikea is also upgrading their smart home stuff and I’m not exactly sure what’s available or what will be available soon.

I don’t use the Harmony remote anymore, and not sure if that was a capability.

Bottom line, you aren’t using your Sonos system as it was intended to be used, so it’s not surprising that there isn’t an elegant remote solution for your unique setup. There maybe a way to get it done through a remote I’m not aware of, or some custom programming solution someone else has done, but I’m not aware of it.

That doesn’t really answer my question

Yes, it does. Grouping is ad-hoc, on the fly, and meant to be temporary. It also is buffered by about 75ms to account for the higher latency of the 2.4 GHz band needed to penetrate walls, floors, etc. Bonding, which is the term used for surrounds or a Sub, is a one-way, direct link, private 5 GHz low latency (~30ms) connection meant to be used in the same room synched with a TV source. It requires reconfiguring the radios and a series of handshakes to set up correctly, which is why adding/removing surrounds and/or sub takes a little time. The difference in latency is why the lag is present when you group the low latency TV source with the high latency connection of the other room.

D

That doesn’t really answer my question

Yes, it does. Grouping is ad-hoc, on the fly, and meant to be temporary. It also is buffered by about 75ms to account for the higher latency of the 2.4 GHz band needed to penetrate walls, floors, etc. Bonding, which is the term used for surrounds or a Sub, is a one-way, direct link, private 5 GHz low latency (~30ms) connection meant to be used in the same room synched with a TV source. It requires reconfiguring the radios and a series of handshakes to set up correctly, which is why adding/removing surrounds and/or sub takes a little time. The difference in latency is why the lag is present when you group the low latency TV source with the high latency connection of the other room.

What an AMAZING explanation of how to adjust volume. My question has been solved. NOT. I would LOVE to link all of my speakers to my Arc but I still have too many for that.

I appreciate the explanation, I had assumed that it had to be different in some way or it wouldn’t exist at all. I still haven’t heard a reason as to why they put a limit of only one set of background speakers, though, either.

You can be as condescending as you want but unless you are able to ACTUALLY answer the question in some capacity, you are still not being helpful.

D

That doesn’t really answer my question

Yes, it does. Grouping is ad-hoc, on the fly, and meant to be temporary. It also is buffered by about 75ms to account for the higher latency of the 2.4 GHz band needed to penetrate walls, floors, etc. Bonding, which is the term used for surrounds or a Sub, is a one-way, direct link, private 5 GHz low latency (~30ms) connection meant to be used in the same room synched with a TV source. It requires reconfiguring the radios and a series of handshakes to set up correctly, which is why adding/removing surrounds and/or sub takes a little time. The difference in latency is why the lag is present when you group the low latency TV source with the high latency connection of the other room.

What an AMAZING explanation of how to adjust volume. My question has been solved. NOT. I would LOVE to link all of my speakers to my Arc but I still have too many for that.

I appreciate the explanation, I had assumed that it had to be different in some way or it wouldn’t exist at all. I still haven’t heard a reason as to why they put a limit of only one set of background speakers, though, either.

You can be as condescending as you want but unless you are able to ACTUALLY answer the question in some capacity, you are still not being helpful.

You haven’t even given me a suggestion as to whether I should link the Fives or the Ones to the Arc. All you’ve done is sound arrogant.

D

Sonos does not make a separate remote, so obviously a 3rd party is your only option. I have both the lutron and ikea remotes that can be connected to Sonos. The lutron remote works very well, but you have to tie to the remote to specific room, not a named group.

The ikea remote is not as reliable, and I don’t know if you can tie it to a group or not. I can’t access settings remotely and I’m not at home. ikea is also upgrading their smart home stuff and I’m not exactly sure what’s available or what will be available soon.

I don’t use the Harmony remote anymore, and not sure if that was a capability.

Bottom line, you aren’t using your Sonos system as it was intended to be used, so it’s not surprising that there isn’t an elegant remote solution for your unique setup. There maybe a way to get it done through a remote I’m not aware of, or some custom programming solution someone else has done, but I’m not aware of it.

It’s not intended to be grouped together? They practically shove that in your face on the app at every turn. I’m just playing video through the group

N

Userlevel 7

+18

nik9669a
Virtuoso
3859 replies
1 year ago
31 January 2023

We’ve answered your question. You’ve heard it from several Sonos product owners. The fact that it’s not the answer you want to hear seems to be the problem. It’s not arrogance. This is a user community, trying to provide help to other users.

J

@DrewKrs27 . You contnue to use vague words like “linked”, which results from fuzzy understanding. “Bonding” speakers as surrounds is a totally different configuration from “grouping” speakers. Grouped speakers maintain a separate identity and each one plays the whole stream. Bonded surrounds become part of a single unit playing different parts of a single stream.

TV remotes only have one volume button so they are unsuitable for a multiroom system. The Sonos app is designed to be a controller for multiple rooms. Just use the tool designed for the job.

Edit: and amen to @nik9669a’s comment.

I’ll not be helping someone who treats people whom they want help from with such scorn and condescension. To the OP, there are ways of doing what you wish (though why someone would put up with the delay on the grouped room just proves the old adage “There is no accounting for taste.”). However, your piss poor treatment of the folks trying to help you means you are on your own. Hope you value giving attitude over getting answers, because in the end, that’s all you’ve got.

J

It’s not intended to be grouped together? They practically shove that in your face on the app at every turn. I’m just playing video through the group

Grouping is intended for multiroom music, not for TV sound. Are you being deliberately obtuse?

Sonos does not make a separate remote, so obviously a 3rd party is your only option. I have both the lutron and ikea remotes that can be connected to Sonos. The lutron remote works very well, but you have to tie to the remote to specific room, not a named group.

The ikea remote is not as reliable, and I don’t know if you can tie it to a group or not. I can’t access settings remotely and I’m not at home. ikea is also upgrading their smart home stuff and I’m not exactly sure what’s available or what will be available soon.

I don’t use the Harmony remote anymore, and not sure if that was a capability.

Bottom line, you aren’t using your Sonos system as it was intended to be used, so it’s not surprising that there isn’t an elegant remote solution for your unique setup. There maybe a way to get it done through a remote I’m not aware of, or some custom programming solution someone else has done, but I’m not aware of it.

It’s not intended to be grouped together? They practically shove that in your face on the app at every turn. I’m just playing video through the group

Let’s not twist this around. You clearly understand that Sonos allows you to BOND a sub and 2 surround speakers to a soundbar to create a single Sonos ROOM It’s a semi -permanent bond where all the speakers are the same source and same volume. You can trueplay tune a single room Naturally, your TV remote, and other 3rd party remotes are designed to control this Sonos room.

You can use the GROUP function to temporarily, not permanently, have 2 or more ROOMs together to the same source but different volumes.

Clearly, speakers bonded together and rooms grouped together are not the same thing. Using the group function as if were like a bond to create your own version custom version of a home theatre, not like Sonos designed them to operation, is clearly not what Sonos intended.

Sonos rooms are supposed to be setup in different physical rooms in your home...which is of course why they are called rooms. You can obviously place more than one Sonos room in a room of your house, but obviously, Sonos is still going treat them as separate rooms with different sources and volume control.

J

I think we have collectively explained as much as we can. @DrewKrs27 can now like it or lump it.

I believe SVC acts on ‘group volume’ and it has a degree of granularity eg. “Hey Sonos, set the volume to 33%”, (just as an example). It should adjust the volume of all players in the group, that’s assuming the device your speaking to forms part of the group, otherwise simply add the group name to the instruction.

Just to say I very rarely use grouped rooms with ‘TV audio’ when the speakers being grouped are in the same physical room as the main HT device, unless I’m perhaps listening to TV in-built Music Apps (Amazon Music/Deezer etc.) in which case TV lip-sync is not an issue and often the music is in stereo, so I use the HT ‘TV Dialog Sync’ slider control in that instance (in the Sonos App HT room settings) to buffer and bring all speakers into sync.

I don’t use such a setup for watching movies/shows though, as the lip-sync with video on screen is often noticeable. All said and done, it’s really better to just stick to playing music audio from the Sonos App to the same group, rather than bothering with the TV audio.

I only use the TV Music Apps rarely, just now and then, when we have guests/party for example, as the TV displays the album Art and sometimes the lyrics to the playing tracks aswell. Other ‘grouped’ speakers in situ in other physical rooms are usually out of earshot to the main viewing room, so even if I ignored the ‘TV Dialog Sync’ slider control, the mere fact they’re slightly out of sync would not really matter, guests don’t usually notice the sync issue between the different physical rooms.

(Edit: the Sonos App is usually how I control ‘group’ or ‘room’ volume, but SVC is there if I need it).

V

vpn67
Lyricist I
1 reply
2 months ago
25 February 2024

I believe SVC acts on ‘group volume’ and it has a degree of granularity eg. “Hey Sonos, set the volume to 33%”, (just as an example). It should adjust the volume of all players in the group, that’s assuming the device your speaking to forms part of the group, otherwise simply add the group name to the instruction.

This is a FANTASTIC explanation!!! Just picked up an Era 100 speaker & grouped it with my existing Sonos player… voice command changes BOTH speaker volumes in the group equally, without even touching the remote. Thx💪🏻🔥👍

Adjust the volume of a GROUP through Soundbar

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