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I recently upgraded with another Sonos speaker in my house. A Beam for my TV. I haven’t bought extra surround speakers or sub yet. I will try and se how the Beam will do on its own. 
 

I do have a big problem with this new speaker. The sound effects vs the speech is way to different in volume. I have tried to read about this here. But I haven’t find any solution. Someone said they put the night mode + clearer speech. But that can’t be the solution?

I recently upgraded with another Sonos speaker in my house. A Beam for my TV. I haven’t bought extra surround speakers or sub yet. I will try and se how the Beam will do on its own. 
 

I do have a big problem with this new speaker. The sound effects vs the speech is way to different in volume. I have tried to read about this here. But I haven’t find any solution. Someone said they put the night mode + clearer speech. But that can’t be the solution?

You’re not the first, and are unlikely to be the last, with this complaint. Until Sonos gives us independent volume controls we’re totally reliant on their choice of balance levels. 
 

Please, Sonos: give us our independence! 


Seems like this has been a problem a long time. I’m reading posts here written 6 years ago. And I guess the night mode and speech enhancement is Sonos solution for it. But I also guess it’s the way they want Dolby Atmos to sound. I haven’t tried to set it to Stereo Mix because I want the Beam to work with Atmos. 


I wouldn’t expect too much in terms of Atmos from it.

As it has no upfiring speakers is uses virtual Atmos, with only the 3 forward facing LCR speakers, as far as I know, in the middle using psychoacoustics to try and add a little height to the sound.

There will be a sweet spot where the outer sideway firing surround speakers and the 3 front facing speakers manage to gel and there is a better effect, depending on room size.

While Virtual Dolby Atmos is a marketing success for Dolby, it means their name and Atmos gets added to even more products, it is going to be very hit and miss when devices don’t have the physical speakers Atmos was designed for. Even expensive AVRs with virtual atmos and far larger speakers are hit and miss with the virtual height channels.


I wouldn’t expect too much in terms of Atmos from it.

As it has no upfiring speakers is uses virtual Atmos, with only the 3 forward facing LCR speakers, as far as I know, in the middle using psychoacoustics to try and add a little height to the sound.

There will be a sweet spot where the outer sideway firing surround speakers and the 3 front facing speakers manage to gel and there is a better effect, depending on room size.

While Virtual Dolby Atmos is a marketing success for Dolby, it means their name and Atmos gets added to even more products, it is going to be very hit and miss when devices don’t have the physical speakers Atmos was designed for. Even expensive AVRs with virtual atmos and far larger speakers are hit and miss with the virtual height channels.


Ok I see. Do you think I should turn off the Atmos and spatial 3D sound and only use a stereo mix then because I only have the Beam?



Do you think I should turn off the Atmos and spatial 3D sound and only use a stereo mix then because I only have the Beam?

 

Use the settings that sound best to you. 



Do you think I should turn off the Atmos and spatial 3D sound and only use a stereo mix then because I only have the Beam?

 

Use the settings that sound best to you. 

For the levels the option “Reduce Loud Sounds“ in the Sound settings on my Apple TV worked pretty well. Setting the app in “Night Mode” did almost the same job, but not as good. 
 

But, watching movies in 5.1 sound will get the Beam in very low volume compared to Stereo mixed movies. With och without the “Reduce Loud Sounds“ turned on. Shouldn’t the Beam handle a 5.1 movie?


I wouldn’t say volume differences between 5.1 and Stereo are Beam specific. I’ve always found stereo is louder than multichannel regardless of what I’m playing through for the same volume setting.

I just turn the volume up or down based on what I’m watching.

Different devices have different names to adjust volumes for different reasons, voice uplift, voice clarity, dynamic range control, reduce loud sounds, night mode etc.

There is no right setting imo, just what sounds best/right to you.

With Sonos I would run Trueplay, if you have or can borrow an iPhone/iPad, then make any adjustments you want that get the sound the way you like and enjoy.


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