I have an Arc/Sub/One/One SL setup. Because their is no bluetooth function in Sonos Arc to stream, I use my laptop to play music and stream to my Roku which is the only way to connect. I want full stereo coming from the speakers I paid for and not ambient. Since the signal is coming from Roku/TV and not some Apple/Google device, Sonos thinks it’s a tv signal when it really is a music signal and I want full stereo in my two One’s which are my rear surrounds. It’s been quite difficult to play my flac files and such, but this is the perfect work around with a Roku until I purchase a NAS.
If you know how to force a music or tv playback let me know! This should be an option. What about live music shows for a party and you are stuck with a weak ambient signal coming out of your surrounds when you really need full playback in stereo? I know Sonos just wants you to buy more speakers but I’m not putting multiple sets of speakers in the same room, except maybe another sub! Don’t get me started on the fact that you can’t use the same speaker for two separate room configurations without going through an entire hassle of setups. Why they have selectively just begun to incorporate bluetooth. The data collection has been too good for them.
How to make Sonos recognize Live Music coming from TV to utilize full music playback from surrounds?
Best answer by GuitarSuperstar
If you are streaming music through the Roku, you will never be able to get full stereo playback from the surround speakers. You need to either set up your music library stored on your laptop in the Sonos app or get a NAS (as you mentioned) so you can play your music directly from the Sonos app as music instead of TV audio.
Surround speakers are usually designed for 5.1 audio. So surround speakers play the audio that is generally behind or to the side of you. They are not designed to play the same audio as the front channels. So when playing live music from a concert, the surround speakers will generally play audience sounds so it feels like you are actually at the concert surrounded by the crowd.
If the music is stored on your laptop, why not set up a Music Library. Then your home theatre set of speakers (Arc and surrounds) will all play the streamed source. Make sure your surrounds are set to full rather than ambient and ( if I understand your rant correctly) that resolves your concern.
If you are streaming music through the Roku, you will never be able to get full stereo playback from the surround speakers. You need to either set up your music library stored on your laptop in the Sonos app or get a NAS (as you mentioned) so you can play your music directly from the Sonos app as music instead of TV audio.
Surround speakers are usually designed for 5.1 audio. So surround speakers play the audio that is generally behind or to the side of you. They are not designed to play the same audio as the front channels. So when playing live music from a concert, the surround speakers will generally play audience sounds so it feels like you are actually at the concert surrounded by the crowd.
Apologize for the winded rant. I just wish there were a bluetooth function on the Arc so I can use my audio player. Will try the sonos music library, I had attempted in the past but did not connect. I also tried to stream Foobar but that did not work either. The Sonos Ones are great speakers and will work as a stereo pair or as surrounds. Unfortunately ungrouping one of them to make them multi-use is certainly not convenient. Thank you for the responses. Appreciated.
Hi I saw a similar post from 3 years ago asking this question as many people play youtube videos through their TV and want full music sound. I am playing music from my DJ consul through the TV connected to my Sonos Beam, Bass, and Sonos 1 speakers and I want full sound through my TV. Is this not possible? (It would seem after 3 years and many requests ive seen in threads this would be possible)
You’d need to get YouTube to ‘broadcast’ the music in a multichannel format, not just stereo.
Enter your E-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.