TV group volume via remote TV controller issue

Why would you have two Ones grouped with the Arc + Sub Gen 3 and 2 Era 300 for TV?  The repeating of channels, never mind the fact the Ones echoing due to the lag would drive me crazy.  I hope you didn’t see the YouTube video of the person who said that would work, because his whole spiel is incorrect.  The Arc already gives you the front Left-Center-Right, there is no need for extra channels.  More speakers does not mean better sound.

I will still prefer to control the whole group via one remote TV controller and No Echo here. People have different preferences and I like my setup how it is. When sonos cannot provide additional two front channels this works well for me. It is just annoying that you have to use phone even when they are in the same group which does not make sense as the volume should increase in the whole group when grouped together even via remote control that is the purpose of GROUP speakers ale linked together. 

It’s been asked for before, with nothing coming.  Sonos doesn’t tend to support configurations which are not optimum, or for which the sound would be compromised.  I think this request falls within those categories. 

What a shame on Sonos not really SMART speakers when you have a lot of limitations. Well I hope that someone else will do it (other brand) that I can change and move to them. I really liked Sonos on beginning now they are just very expensive speakers without any improvements done what people keep asking for and it is not great if Sonos is not listening at all. They have a lots of recently issues or requests by people and nothing has been done about any of those. Improving hardware is great but smart functions keeps disappearing and the speakers are not SMART anymore. What a Shame really as this has been big advantage for Sonos vs others but now they falling to the category of others but more expensive. I will keep my eye in this case for other brands which hopefully will join this smart functions soon that I can move. What a shame really Sonos needs to wake up and listen to their customers and not what they want. I have seen the videos from them on youtube but not impressed at all. Basically saying We and experts have reviewed this and we will not listen to you what you want 🤦 great approach instead to face daily the same questions what I can see on the forum and elsewhere. Well thank you guys like I said maybe is tome to move on Sonos was a great company not anymore. 

This isn’t a new request, but it’s really not a common one.  In fact, I would say that the  majority of the few who request this don’t have to Sonos rooms in one physical room like you do, and just want to use a TV remote for music playback for grouped speakers.   It’s a mischaracterization to claim that Sonos isn’t listening to customer because they don’t have this single feature.  

I also think there would be a lot of issues you probably haven’t thought of.  If the two rooms are not at the same volume currently, would using the remote adjust volume proportionally, or would you expect the two volumes to sync up to the same value, either high or low?  If your TV is showing a volume indiciator, which volume do you expect it to display?  If you were add Bedroom to your group, do you want that volume controlled by remote too, or are you really just wanting all the speakers in your physical living room/TV room to be treated as a single room in the Sonos app?  How would Sonos trueplay this setup, or are you willing to accept that you just can’t use trueplay here?

FWIW: if you group two (or more) Sonos ‘rooms’ together, such as an Arc/Surrounds/Sub and a say a stereo pair of Fives and ask either ‘Alexa’ or ‘SVC’ to change the volume level, the whole group will change to that level … now that’s what I call ‘smart’. No remote needed.

"Alexa set the volume to 40%” (just as an example) is all I have to say to the assistant on my Arc for this to work for me.

When you find a company which allows the TV remote to control volume in multiple rooms, let us know. 

I know and happy to answer your questions from beginning. Yes it has been asked a lot and other features as well. Now start from your point of :   If the two rooms are not at the same volume currently, would using the remote adjust volume proportionally, or would you expect the two volumes to sync up to the same value, either high or low?  This is easy fix and it could work exactly how it works on app. The volumes can be different and once you increase overall volume they both increase the same way how it performs in app. This could be easily implemented via algorithm in the firmware if the button on remote TV controller is pressed in group = perform action increase volume in the whole group. This is only excuse of Sonos they do not want to do it. There is NO sync issues and if so there is option in app to sort this issue out if this will appear but it never appeared in my case. If the app can perform to increase overall volume control of the Whole group when I am watching TV and there is No issue with sync or delay or echo or what SONOS is claiming. I understand the terminology but also it does not make sense because again it is GROUP and the whole group will receive signal and only part of the group will perform the action sorry but that is wrong. I am referring to watching TV and grouped other speakers in the same group and setup. Generally it does not matter what speaker you will add in TV room when the app can perform this action on his own for the whole group. Now like I said this is not OK because you have to grab the phone to perform simple action. Did you ever tried this? Because to me it looks like you are talking only theoretically and not from the experience. Because if you have tried it by your self you will understand what I am referring. True-play does not matter and make sense in here as no-one is taking True-play in count and I have not even mention it. But to answer that part yes perform True Play for Tv room and perform separately true-play for Stereo setup and group them in Group probably best option but I am not fan of true-play as I like my own setup and settings. Also if you have high enough bandwidth you will not have any issues at all. And like I said the app can perform this already but not via remote controller which should be the same as when you increase volume for the group in app and the whole volume in general will increase or decrease. ☺️👍

No disrespect but via remote I can do this quicker 😂☺️ and do not worry I have like 15 alexa devices at home ☺️ and this solution is not convenient for me especially during watching movies when the volume will drop during the voice command. This should be possible via remote tv control as well and it is just algorithm which Sonos needs to implement and that is it.

The TV volume drops for a second or two for the assistant to hear the instruction in my case - it’s quicker than picking up a remote (I have dozens of Alexa devices too in every area of the home) I use Alexa for auto-grouping/ungrouping Sonos rooms in fact - but I guess you can’t please all the people, all the time. I was just pointing out that you have the voice option available to you.

There are certainly people that would not want this option with their TV remote, as more often than not, the ‘grouped’ speakers are located in different physical rooms, especially due to the 75ms ‘group audio delay’ that Sonos products have in place for coping with home network packet jitter.

Hi Ken, you are correct some people will prefer other things I am using alexa for other purposes mainly switch sockets on or off or music. Regards to the Remote control function you are correct maybe some people will not like it but when you look in Sonos forum there is few which have requested it and many people does even not know that Sonos forum exist. Here is the reason behind is that Sonos should listen to customers and give them the possibility and option. Now if you do not want to use it ok they can make algorithms where you can switch it off simple. Now people these days are just like to say ooo this is not possible or there is no way and that is how companies going away because there is a way is about the approach and have people which can do very good programming and coding. Well if there is more then 1 person asking for it and in this scenario and many other different scenarios there are many sonos will just respond like in last video we do not like it and this is how it is. Now this is is very wrong approach to customers and I understand that they may not like it or referring to studies or experts but here is the point that it is possible to do it and they can and the possibility can be switched off easy if you do not want to use it but say NO is just very bad as approach. Now if you think about that some other brands will start implementing this Sonos will loose a lot I will personally sell everything and move to company which wants to improve more then hardware. Sonos for me after years is only new hardware with too many limits or limitations and that is it how I see it and not to mention the build quality slipping down the road. Their customer service is great but this will not hold me here to stay with sonos with this approach to customers and new features sorry.

Bottom line, Sonos is not going to encourage people to use setups which sound terrible, whether you feel it sounds terrible or not.  The front soundstage of speakers grouped with a soundbar is a dispersed, muddy mess, and whether you hear the echo or not (I suspect you do and are in denial), most people will find it completely unacceptable.  The whole notion is a road Sonos doesn’t want to go down, with good reason. 

A far more viable request is for Sonos to enable individual front left/right speakers with the soundbar as a center.  That at least will sound good.  I doubt that request would be fulfilled either as it has been requested far more times than the volume thing and has never been realized, but at least the request makes sense. 

Once again I curse that silly YouTube video, regardless of how the pros and cons were spelled out. 

Oh and dude?  Three words - Please use PARAGRAPHS!

Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.

Hi @JuriJuri 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

Thank you - I've marked this thread as a feature request and it will be seen by the relevant teams for consideration. Keep the ideas coming!

Please note, however, that nothing is broken - the current behaviour is intended.