It might be the program you’re testing with. Or the settings on the TV set, or whatever is feeding the TV set. Since optical is a one way transmission, the Ray is not capable of sending any information about acceptable formats to the TV set, you have to set them manually…..and then watch a show that has surround information, i.e. in Dolby Digital. Not every show / channel is. 

 Not necessarily. Depending, of course, on whether they’re set up as surround speakers, or just a pair of speakers “grouped” with the Ray.

My discussion was about the first of those options. Your post seems to imply you have it set up in the second way, in which they should play the same content of the Ray, but at least 75ms delayed. 

It’s unfortunate for some users that Sonos doesn’t have a “hard of hearing” setup that allows a single (or more) speaker to duplicate the center channel from a home theater sound bar. 

As I said, if they’re indeed set up as surrounds, then the device feeding the TV as well as the TV need to have the options properly set up, so that what is coming across the optical cable from the TV to the Ray is the correct format. Sonos doesn’t, to my knowledge “fabricate” surround information, if it doesn’t exist in the original stream (Dolby Pro-Logic used to do this, but not very effectively, and has since been dropped as a feature from Dolby). If what is being fed to the Ray has no surround information, then Sonos won’t be playing anything on the surround speakers.

I usually recommend heavy surround movies in Dolby Digital to test with, like Star Wars, or something along those lines. From a movie streamer….YouTube doesn’t broadcast anything in 5.1

Surround sound does not mean the same sound coming out of the fronts should be coming out of the rears.  Quite the opposite.  The rear surrounds are discrete channels separate from the fronts and are used for ambient effects and/or directional cues.

Hi yes I set them up as surrounds they worked brilliantly you can adjust the Speach vs the music . I’ve not adjusted anything on the tv , the system is still on the app as surrounds but nothing is coming out of either surrounds just the ray is working 

Sometimes, TV’s get an update forced out to them by the manufacturers, and that can affect audio output settings. It’s worth making sure the signal format from the TV to the Ray is still correct. 

Since they’re set up as surrounds, I did want to point again at @jgatie ’s post. Surround speakers do not ‘repeat’ the center/voice channel. 

yes the ray is working great but wow it sounds so much better with the surrounds added ,

I’ve since done a reboot I even tried connecting a new pair of ones but nothing only sound from the ray even tho they are connected together and should be working as showing in the app 

tried turning off the booster it’s so annoying I wonder if I’d get the same problem if I buy a beam and try that way as I have this in my other room and never had this problem 

BOOST, WiFi, wired, or not, has nothing to do with this issue. For a Dolby Digital stream the producer has control over the rear channel output. Go to Settings → System → About My System and check Audio In:. This will show the audio format that RAY is receiving. WM: 0 indicates a unit that is wired or using SonosNet, the private SONOS wired/wireless network. WM: 1 indicates a unit that is using WiFi.

It’s a really weird I’ve done nothing and all the surround speakers are working as they should now . For how long who knows. I have no clue what the problem was is 

I am having a different issue with connecting the Ray to my 2 One speakers as surround. 
I tried to connect using Wi-Fi (I am on a mesh network) and the connection failed showing (room +? +?). I read that plugging them into the router, setting them up and then unplugging them and use Wi-Fi would work but it went right back to the same issue. Although the surround sound did work when plugged into the Ethernet, the app/ hardware will not allow me to successfully connect to the Wi-Fi, allowing me to use the three speakers as a home theatre. 

I have restarted everything multiple times and am very close to exchanging for a different brand! 
Would love some assistance. 

What make of mesh WiFi? And is there a separate router?

Some routers have a fault which prevents home theatre surrounds from getting an IP address when the system is in fully “wireless” mode, i.e. on the WiFi.

Is the Wifi on the Ray on? Surrounds connect through the soundbar.

Ratty,

I am able to connect all three of my speakers to Wi-Fi no problem. However, when I put them in theater mode it is unable to recognize the One speakers in the theatre mode. 
Not sure about the make of the mesh. I am In an apartment building that has routers in each apartment and mesh’s that way. 
it’s crazy to think that these small surroundsound speakers would require ethernet cables to work as a surround sound theater. 
 

Have you set the ones as separate rooms or a stereo pair in a room?

Yes, believe so. I was able to successfully set up the surroundsound when the two One speakers were plugged into the router (in the other room). Once I unpluged them from the ethernet cables and power, and put them back into position they totally forgot about the surroundsound system and went back to being solo speakers again. I have no problem using them individually, it’s only when I try to put them in theatre mode under the Ray sound bar. 

They are set as different rooms I believe. 

What’s the make/model of router that’s in your apartment?

i 

Ah, Ruckus is a known problem for Sonos in “wireless” mode.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/5083

I think that may be your problem. As I understand it, if you’ve allocated them to a room they’re not available for adding to your Ray. I’m sure someone can confirm that and advise how to free them up for adding to the Ray - it’s not a sequence I can recall atm. 

That’s only an issue if they’ve been stereo paired. 

Apologies - thanks for correcting me, @ratty ! It’s been a while since I set up my system.

I hard wired the Ray to Ethernet and restarted the Ray and I am up and running. 
hope it stays connected!

Sounds good. As a matter of interest what did you wire the Ray to? You said the access point was on the ceiling.