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Ondrej
Contributor I
July 8, 2021

Sonos Beam - Center speaker is mute (AirPlay only)

I just bought the Sonos Beam, still dont have the TV so I was planning to use it only as AirPlay speaker for now.

From the first sound check it seemed like the sound is really lacking for some reason, and after some more testing I figured it out - the center of the Beam is just mute, all that is playing are the back facing side speakers and woofers.

Is it just because of the AirPlay, because I am technically sending "just" stereo, therefore the third (center) channel is off completely? Or is it defect? Can you please try AirPlay any music to the Beam from iPhone and let me know if the center speaker is playing or not? Thanks!

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OndrejAuthor
Contributor I
July 9, 2021

@Airgetlam  Still not sure what “controller” do you mean, sorry :)

 

I am checking the case I will be using the Beam for mostly (I watch YT A LOT). If the sound system for cca 480 EUR (in my country) cannot handle such basics as YT videos then I have no use for it.

 

Anyway thank you again for the help, I will look for the TV sound system somewhere else. 

106rallye
106rallye
July 9, 2021

@Ondrej The “controller” is the Sonos app on your phone.

I'm a bit puzzled about your remark:  “If the sound system for cca 480 EUR (in my country) cannot handle such basics as YT videos then I have no use for it.” As @Airgetlam explained getting stereo from Youtube is expected behavior: YT does not do surround. The Beam handles the sound just fine, thogh maybe not in the way you expected it to. What did you expect from the Beam?

OndrejAuthor
Contributor I
July 9, 2021

@106rallye  Just to be clear, I dont mind stereo and I completely understand. The thing I dont get is that when the content is in stereo only (and from my testing so far most of the content is) then it just plays from the small side speakers facing the wall (that really do not sound good), while the whole centre of the soundbar (with 3 speakers from what I saw on the photos) is completely mute. That means that not only it is very difficult to understand if someone is speaking in the video, but for music it sounds even worse. I just dont get the idea behind this decision, if this is truly the way it is intended (and my device is not faulty). 

106rallye
106rallye
July 9, 2021

I will try what my systenm (Beam plus surrounds, so maybe not comparable tot your Beam only) does with YT sound. I will post back.

    OndrejAuthor
    Contributor I
    July 9, 2021

    For anyone interested, I tried to explain a little bit more here:
    https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/comments/ogdsya/beam_center_speaker_is_mute_airplay_only/h4kw24n?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

    As I wrote on Reddit, I am returning my Beam and will try the Denon. Thank you both.

    106rallye
    106rallye
    July 9, 2021

    Sorry to hear you decided this so soon, because there might be a possibilty that Airplay from  Youtube will give a different result than from a TV.

    OndrejAuthor
    Contributor I
    July 9, 2021

    @106rallye I though of this too, that is why I tried it with my company devices that I use for testing (Apple TV + LG TV) and I tried Youtube both on LG (webOS app) and on Apple TV box. The results are exactly the same as if I stream it from iPhone unfortunately.

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