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Contributor I
May 1, 2021

Low output on Beam

I have just setup the Sonos Beam and am very disappointed with the output from the TV. Volume has to be set 5 times higher than normal but Alexa and Google are nice and loud. Does anyone have a solution for this? 

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13 replies

Ken_Griffiths
May 1, 2021

Perhaps first try running a sound check on the Beam to see if your Sonos speaker channels are all working correctly. Perhaps try "Stereo Check (Loudspeaker Test) by Bunker Analog" from one of the popular streaming music services. If that works/sounds okay, then I would look towards the Beam’s cable connection, and/or the TV output from the connected port, as the Sonos speaker will only play the audio sent to it and if it’s not loud enough, it may pay to speak to the TV Manufacturers support desk.

I have several Sonos Beams connected over HDMI-Arc or Optical to LG/Samsung TV’s and all sound just fine here and loud... we often use a volume-level somewhere around the 30% mark, on average, in the Sonos App.

Hope that helps.

Stanley_4
Grand Maestro
May 1, 2021

How are you connected HDMI or optical?

Can you set it to a good listening level and submit a diagnostic, then post the number here for support to look at.

Any chance you are hooked to a variable level output on your TV and you need to turn it up to make the Beam happy?

jgatie
May 2, 2021

I agree with Stanley, check in the TV settings and make sure the audio output is fixed and not variable.

Contributor I
May 2, 2021

The connection is HDMI.

Diagnostic no. 1098911974.

I couldn't find anything regarding a variable or fixed option. I have a Panasonic TV. 

Previously had home theater set up which I disconnected before I set up the Beam, found out this morning that it is louder to just listen from TV speakers! 

Contributor I
May 2, 2021

Music played through the Beam is sooo loud, think I just woke my neighbour up 😲

So it must be something to do with the TV. I have checked the connections and sound settings and can't find what is wrong. 

Contributor I
May 11, 2021

If I have a freesat box do I need to connect it to the soundbar?  I still can't solve the problem of low sound output when watching TV. 

Corry P
Sonos Staff
May 11, 2021

Hi @Divebunnie 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

I don’t see anything out of the ordinary in the diagnostics, so I would look to the TV instead. You could try rebooting it - unplug it from power for 30 seconds.

The best way to know for sure would be to connect the Beam to another TV, if there’s one available.

Your Freesat box should connect to your TV. If your TV only has one HDMI socket, then I recommend connecting the Beam to the TV using the optical adaptor. This is actually worth trying even if you have plenty of HDMI sockets, just to see if it sounds louder than with HDMI connected.

 

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
Contributor I
May 11, 2021

Hi Corry,

I have tried all of that apart from another TV, as I don't have another one. I have tried changing settings on the TV too but nothing seems to work. 

Corry P
Sonos Staff
May 12, 2021

Hi @Divebunnie 

Thanks for trying those steps.

Could you try the optical adaptor please? If it’s still quiet using that, please try plugging the optical connection directly to the FreeSat box - unlike with HDMI, this will work. If that is louder than with the TV connected, then the fault lies with the TV. 

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
Contributor I
May 13, 2021

Hi Corry,

I have tried the optical adapter with the TV and it didn't make any difference. The freesat box doesn't have an optical port it is an SPDIF. I will have to buy the adapter for it.