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NotThePainter
Contributor I
July 19, 2024
Question

No rear channel sound with stereo input

Hello, I have what seems to be a common complaint, no rear channel sound when playing stereo (not Spatial Audio or Dolby Atmos audio)

 

Here’s two previous questions.

 

 

My system is:

 

  • Apple TV
  • LG OLED screen
  • Sonos ARC
  • Sonos Sub3
  • 2 Sonos Era 100 for the rear channel

The system works wonderfully for movies and Spatial Audio from the Apple TV. When I AirPlay from my iPhone to the Sonos it also works wonderfully, giving me “fake” surround sound on the rear channels.

What we want is rear channel sound when playing stereo music from the Apple TV.

The surround setting is “Full” not Ambient, turning this on and off doesn’t affect the sound all.

Note, following the tip in the first question I can get rear channel music by turning the “TV Level” slider to max. This really isn’t a solution since spatial audio is now wrong, it is just plain stereo sound.

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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15 replies

melvimbe
melvimbe
July 19, 2024

The ‘Full’ setting is for non-TV sources only, it has no impact on TV sources.  Sonos does not have an option for simulated surround sound, or to duplicate the front surround channels on the rear channels for TV sources.  Unless your Apple TV or other source has the option to send audio to rear channels for stereo sources, there isn’t anyway around this.

This is a fairly common feature request, and there hasn’t been any hint that it’s a feature Sonos is looking into.  Sonos rarely gives out hints to what they are working on, so that doesn’t really say much I suppose.

Danny
    Rhonny
    Prodigy III
    July 19, 2024

    If you want music in your surrounds, you need to play music ‘Full’ from the Sonos app. 

    Your TV treats music (e.g. Apple Music played on the Apple TV box) as a TV source (unless it is Spacial/Atmos), so just as stereo TV is primarily in the soundbar, the same applies to ‘TV’ music. 

     

    NotThePainterAuthor
    Contributor I
    July 19, 2024

     Unless your Apple TV or other source has the option to send audio to rear channels for stereo sources, there isn’t anyway around this.

    It doesn’t.

     

    Sadly. We purchased from Crutchfield which has 60 day returns so that’s one option.

    NotThePainterAuthor
    Contributor I
    July 19, 2024

    If you want music in your surrounds, you need to play music ‘Full’ from the Sonos app. 

     

    That doesn’t seem to have any affect, which makes sense since it is just a “TV” source.

    Rhonny
    Prodigy III
    July 19, 2024

    I don’t get what the issue is. If you want music in all speakers, play music via the app in ‘Full’.

    Your system isn’t broken, it works as it is meant to. Your soundbar, sub and surrounds are a home theatre setup. It reproduces TV and movie content with sound going to the correct speaker channels.

    Surround speakers are not intended to replicate stereo sound, no matter how much you wish that were the case.

    Rhonny
    Prodigy III
    July 19, 2024

    If you want music in your surrounds, you need to play music ‘Full’ from the Sonos app. 

     

    That doesn’t seem to have any affect, which makes sense since it is just a “TV” source.

    It does if you play music via the app! 

    NotThePainterAuthor
    Contributor I
    July 19, 2024

    I don’t get what the issue is. If you want music in all speakers, play music via the app in ‘Full’.

    Then you lose album cover art, and lyrics, on the TV screen.

    Rhonny
    Prodigy III
    July 19, 2024

    I don’t know if this is clearer:

    Apple Music on the TV:

    • Playing stereo songs - the soundbar sees it as a stereo TV signal. So it plays in the soundbar and sub, and faintly in the surrounds. Treated exactly like a stereo TV signal.
    • Playing Spacial songs - the soundbar sees it as a Dolby Atmos signal. So it plays in the soundbar, sub and surrounds. Treated exactly like a Dolby Atmos TV signal.

    Apple Music as a music service in the Sonos app:

    • Playing stereo songs - Sonos has a look at your settings:
      • If you have selected ‘Full’ in your surround settings for music, it will play the stereo song in soundbar, sub, and surrounds, with the surrounds replicating the soundbar’s stereo.
      • If you have selected ‘Ambient’, it will play stereo primarily in the soundbar, with a little ambient sound in the surrounds.

     

    That is how it works. Through the TV, you can have the album art and lyrics, but you cannot make it operate in a way that it is not intended to. If you want all speakers, it must be through your app.

    NotThePainterAuthor
    Contributor I
    July 19, 2024

     

     

    That is how it works. Through the TV, you can have the album art and lyrics, but you cannot make it operate in a way that it is not intended to. If you want all speakers, it must be through your app.

     

    So that’s it. It is working as designed but not what I want. I’m looking into other options but returning the system is possible. 

    Rhonny
    Prodigy III
    July 19, 2024

    I hope you can find something that does what you want. It feels extreme to take a brilliant piece of kit back because you want the lyrics on screen at the same time as sound from the rears but yours is a very specific and idiosyncratic use case.

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