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Hi there.

If I install my Sonos Ones on the celing for surround will they automatically come on with the TV then turn off when streaming music only ?

I don't want my guests having to turn the Ones on for TV then off for music  as they won't have the app on their phones

 If I understand your question, no. When you set up your Sonos Ones, the become part of the Home Theater ‘room’, and would play any time you’re playing music on the sound bar. There are options that you can set to adjust the relative volume between them and the sound bar, as well as the ability to have them do ‘support’, known as ‘Ambient’, or strictly stereo, know as ‘Full’ in the settings. 

But in order to have the Sonos Ones not play, you need to remove them from the ‘room’ and then later re-add them. It’s not impossible to do, but it’s a serious pain, I don’t know of anyone who chooses to do that set up process for a room every time they switch between TV use and streaming music use. 


You can go to your App settings and turn the surrounds on and off, but not automatically.

There are separate volume settings for TV and Music, you could experiment with setting the Music levels to zero.

I rather like having the surrounds playing when listening to music, for normal use I prefer the Ambient setting but when I have a room full of people I prefer the Full mode. I’d suggest you try both before you try to disable the surrounds for guests.


Hi there.

If I install my Sonos Ones on the celing for surround will they automatically come on with the TV then turn off when streaming music only ?

I don't want my guests having to turn the Ones on for TV then off for music  as they won't have the app on their phones

Sonos speakers are designed to be “always on”.  The enter a low-power state when not actually playing music but do not need to be physically turned on after a period of inactivity. 


Hi Thank you for that.  I understand the system now with your help. I have the music on fairly loud mostly. The arc  and sub are  facing my music listening area. The Ones if I hang them will not be. They of course will facing the TV. I am worried it wont sound right. In my old systems I would hear the rears and would have to turn off surround at the receiver.

Hope that explains better my concerns. 


There are two volume controls: one to set how loud the surround speakers play as surrounds with tv input, and one for how loud they play music. Although labelled volume, it’s more like a balance setting to bias towards front speakers or rear, and only for the sound levels for that room. There is of course a volume setting too.


It can sound odd having stereo sound coming from behind you; some get used to it, some don’t.