Contributor II

Question

Why don't the surround audio options appear in the S2 app?

16 replies
754 views

Hi,

I’ve just replaced a couple of old Sonos devices in our house which means I can now use the S2 app. I also have a Beam connected to two Play:1s as surrounds.

I’ve managed to get them all set up OK on the S2 app, but when I go into the “surround audio” options, all I see is a “Surround distance” with a “reset” button. So I can’t set the music audio to “full” for the Play1:s.

Any ideas why I can’t see the usual surround audio options?

Thanks!

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

Show previous replies

R

Rhonny

Prodigy III

I have seen several times when the app said 5.1 but there was no sound from the surrounds, switching to a test gave the expected sound there. I tend to suspect the source was broadcasting 5.1 but hadn't bothered to actually put audio on them, just the front stereo ones.

The next time I run across this I plan to also check the Sub and Center channels to see if they are getting any sound.

Eh? Broadcasting in 5.1 but “hadn’t bothered to actually put any audio on” the surrounds? It’s not something a sound engineer is or isn’t bothered to do. If audio isn’t mixed in 5.1, it can’t be broadcast in 5.1. As mentioned, the surrounds only kick in when that channel has ambient/relevant audio to contribute. It’s not like when you play music with the surrounds set to on ‘Full’.

P

paulrw

Prodigy II

I have seen several times when the app said 5.1 but there was no sound from the surrounds, switching to a test gave the expected sound there. I tend to suspect the source was broadcasting 5.1 but hadn't bothered to actually put audio on them, just the front stereo ones.

The next time I run across this I plan to also check the Sub and Center channels to see if they are getting any sound.

Eh? Broadcasting in 5.1 but “hadn’t bothered to actually put any audio on” the surrounds? It’s not something a sound engineer is or isn’t bothered to do. If audio isn’t mixed in 5.1, it can’t be broadcast in 5.1. As mentioned, the surrounds only kick in when that channel has ambient/relevant audio to contribute. It’s not like when you play music with the surrounds set to on ‘Full’.

i have only just got my first used playbar and sub, and it’s very disappointing how little 5.1 content there is, especially on the bbc iplayer, i always check sonos app to establish why surrounds are quiet, but sub works more often, maybe 2.1 ….

R

Rhonny

Prodigy III

I have seen several times when the app said 5.1 but there was no sound from the surrounds, switching to a test gave the expected sound there. I tend to suspect the source was broadcasting 5.1 but hadn't bothered to actually put audio on them, just the front stereo ones.

The next time I run across this I plan to also check the Sub and Center channels to see if they are getting any sound.

Eh? Broadcasting in 5.1 but “hadn’t bothered to actually put any audio on” the surrounds? It’s not something a sound engineer is or isn’t bothered to do. If audio isn’t mixed in 5.1, it can’t be broadcast in 5.1. As mentioned, the surrounds only kick in when that channel has ambient/relevant audio to contribute. It’s not like when you play music with the surrounds set to on ‘Full’.

i have only just got my first used playbar and sub, and it’s very disappointing how little 5.1 content there is, especially on the bbc iplayer, i always check sonos app to establish why surrounds are quiet, but sub works more often, maybe 2.1 ….

Yes, most terrestrial broadcasts are stereo (although importantly there is more 5.1 content to be found on the HD channels). The terrestrial streamers (BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4 etc) are not really the places to experience surround sound unfortunately - presumably there is a cost or bandwidth consideration to recording, mixing and streaming ‘normal’ TV in 5.1. Sonos’ home theatre is always best experienced with the subscription streamers, especially Apple TV, Disney+, Netflix, and Amazon Prime…

NB: I believe the sub is always in play, regardless of whether there is a .1 in the audio as it takes on the bass end of all content to allow the soundbar to deliver to its best potential across the other frequencies. But happy to be contradicted on this!

Stanley_4

Grand Maestro

I have seen several times when the app said 5.1 but there was no sound from the surrounds, switching to a test gave the expected sound there. I tend to suspect the source was broadcasting 5.1 but hadn't bothered to actually put audio on them, just the front stereo ones.

The next time I run across this I plan to also check the Sub and Center channels to see if they are getting any sound.

Eh? Broadcasting in 5.1 but “hadn’t bothered to actually put any audio on” the surrounds? It’s not something a sound engineer is or isn’t bothered to do. If audio isn’t mixed in 5.1, it can’t be broadcast in 5.1. As mentioned, the surrounds only kick in when that channel has ambient/relevant audio to contribute. It’s not like when you play music with the surrounds set to on ‘Full’.

The sound engineer has full control of the content of each 5.1 channel and has no requirement to put sound on a channel just because it is present.

The times I noticed it may have been an error but it was clearly showing 5.1 while neither Surround was producing any sound. Flipping to a different program had the Surrounds working as expected so it is unlikely it was a Sonos issue.

Stanley_4

Grand Maestro

I have never dug into the workings of the Sub with different signals but my impression is that it is sent the low frequencies for Stereo music sources and the .1 / LFE channel if present as in 2.1 and better sources. I haven't paid attention to Stereo TV signal sound enough to have noticed how that is treated.

A

Adza

Lyricist I

Sometimes all I get in the Sonos app is the ability to reset surround sound distance. Other times I get the full volume controls for TV and music.

sometimes switching content and then switching back to what you want to watch gets them to show up, but it seems very random in nature.

my best guess is that Sonos is trying to be “smart” by enabling and disabling this option when it thinks we should have it available, but bugs cause it to hide incorrectly. It would be nice if it was available the whole time that surround speakers are configured regardless of whether there is surround sound available or not because at the moment it just creates issues when it’s not working properly.

Sign up

Login to the community