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Ya know how we have the option for full stereo or ambient when listening to music in a full 5.1 sonos stet-up?  Can we get that with TV output as well, please?  There is still plenty of content that is stereo output on many internet streams and traditional media.  Having full stereo helps create an enveloping sound field when outputted via the playbar and the surrounds.
Hey @camillo777, I don't have any news on the request to share. The AirPlay 2 option is still they only way to accomplish this.
Would you be so kind as to post which systems you know of that support this kind of feature? I'm looking for some speakers for my hard of hearing father.
Hi glances. I'm happy to pass along a request to the team for you so they know there's still interest in this sort of unconventional setup. Since the topic was first posted, there is one way to get this full stereo working for some systems. If you're playing your TV source from something capable of AirPlay 2, to a Sonos Beam or Playbase, you can instead use AirPlay 2 to send the audio to your Beam/Playbase and the rest of the speakers in that room.



AirPlay 2 signals are played as music and not TV content, so if you have the surround settings to play full audio with music, it'll give you the surround stereo.




I would not call it: "sort of unconventional setup" .

this setup is supported by any home theater setup in the market.

only Sonos does not support it.

Thank you for your time

Camillo
Hi glances. I'm happy to pass along a request to the team for you so they know there's still interest in this sort of unconventional setup. Since the topic was first posted, there is one way to get this full stereo working for some systems. If you're playing your TV source from something capable of AirPlay 2, to a Sonos Beam or Playbase, you can instead use AirPlay 2 to send the audio to your Beam/Playbase and the rest of the speakers in that room.



AirPlay 2 signals are played as music and not TV content, so if you have the surround settings to play full audio with music, it'll give you the surround stereo.




Hi Ryan,

I really need this feature.

Do you have any news?

Thank you.

Camillo
🙄
Hi glances. I'm happy to pass along a request to the team for you so they know there's still interest in this sort of unconventional setup. Since the topic was first posted, there is one way to get this full stereo working for some systems. If you're playing your TV source from something capable of AirPlay 2, to a Sonos Beam or Playbase, you can instead use AirPlay 2 to send the audio to your Beam/Playbase and the rest of the speakers in that room.



AirPlay 2 signals are played as music and not TV content, so if you have the surround settings to play full audio with music, it'll give you the surround stereo.
Bumping this thread: is it possible to get a response from Sonos on this?
Adding my vote to this feature request as well. How come this is overlooked? I'd like to play music from my TV, without those surrounds.
Adding my vote to this feature request.
Hi Any news on this issue?
+1 !!!



Sonos, I cannot believe this is not a feature yet. Just installed 2 Play 1 speakers in addition to my Beam and so disappointed that there’s no option to channel the main sound of my Netflix shows to the rear speakers. Use case is that we have a baby sleeping next door so cannot put up the volume very high, so having dialogues on the rear speakers (which are closer to the couch) would be of great help...



Why has this not been added yet? Seems to be an important customer demand for 3+ years...?
but asking that main controlling device to receive, then send the same two channel stereo to its rear bonded speakers, most likely means that the audio would need to first be buffered and synchronised before playing the output.



Could be true, but I don't see why that would require buffering, but sending different rear surround channel audio to the rear bonded speakers would be less or none at all. Does duplicating a channel require processing?



The reason buffering (enough to cause video lip sync issues) is required for going from Sonos room to room is because of the wireless 2.4 GHZ limitations, not any kind of processing issues, right? You can build a wired whole home system without any buffering, delay issues, or am I wrong about that? Is it an issue between an analog and digital signal?





I’m guessing this has perhaps already been tried and put in the 'too difficult to do' box, as it has been spoken about lots over several years by community members and there is no 'strong hint' at all from Sonos that they may one day introduce this much requested feature.




I would guess that it's not been requested enough to be a priority, or that the control of such a function within the Sonos app is more complicated than it appears from the outside.



I suppose it doesn't really matter. The feature is not there regardless, I'm just discussing for discussion sake.
My personal thoughts here, are that there is currently minimal delay to play a PCM stereo signal to the Beam/PlayBar/PlayBase etc. but asking that main controlling device to receive, then send the same two channel stereo to its rear bonded speakers, most likely means that the audio would need to first be buffered and synchronised before playing the output. If that buffering requirement is true, then perhaps the audio then falls too far out of sync with the video showing on screen, making it not worthwhile to watch and listen in that way. I can’t see this feature being achieved without some sort of audio buffering by the main controlling device.



I’m guessing this has perhaps already been tried and put in the 'too difficult to do' box, as it has been spoken about lots over several years by community members and there is no 'strong hint' at all from Sonos that they may one day introduce this much requested feature.
An option to switch TV sound to stereo would be great. Stereo sound for music sounds much better. Please try to make this happen.
TV is a live broadcast, the audio signal would have to be converted/preprocessed by Beam et al. to (double) stereo during the transmission on the fly and passed on to the rears.



There's nothing that has to be converted or processed. All you're doing is sending channels you already have to the rears in addition to the front. Unless there is some sort of hardwiring going on that physical prevents the Beam from sending the LF signal to the LR speaker, I don't see why this is an issue. It can't be more intensive that having the beam recognize that it's receiving a DD 5.1 signal and deciding to send the LR channel to the LR speaker.



I'm open to the possibility that I'm missing some important detail, but I'm not hearing anything that makes me think this is not possible.
TV is a live broadcast, the audio signal would have to be converted/preprocessed by Beam et al. to (double) stereo during the transmission on the fly and passed on to the rears. As long as it remains impossible to switch the rears ad hoc between surround configuration and stereo pair this request will remain not feasible.
I'm normally hesitant to say that a code change is easy, but in this case, Sonos has already implemented this feature for the music source use case.

There's no buffering in TV mode, meaning that in addition to introducing serious lip syncing issues, you won't never ever get the rears to play in perfect sync with Playbase/Beam/Playbar.




The playbase/beam/playbar/amp would trasmit to the rears over 5.0 GHZ, same as it does when sending surround sound channels. I wouldn't think there would be a signal processing caused delay either since you aren't processing a new channel or anything. I don't see how you're concluding that sync issue would occur.
I'm normally hesitant to say that a code change is easy, but in this case, Sonos has already implemented this feature for the music source use case.

There's no buffering in TV mode, meaning that in addition to introducing serious lip syncing issues, you won't never ever get the rears to play in perfect sync with Playbase/Beam/Playbar/Amp whilst in 'stereo mode'.


Don't hold your breath, can't understand why they won't code this option in. Far more useful than some of the stuff they've been up to recently..




While usefulness is going to vary from customer to customer, I'd have to agree that this certainly seems like a rather easy change with a big pay off. If the audio coming in is only 2 channel, I don't see why they can't treat it as if it's music source. Even if it meant a 5 second delay before the change kicked in, it would still be a big positive.



I'm normally hesitant to say that a code change is easy, but in this case, Sonos has already implemented this feature for the music source use case.
Wow I'm in the market for a sonos playbar etc and if I can't do a simple function like toggling to 2ch then I guess I need to look elsewhere. 4 years people have been asking sonos for this basic function if you search this forum. Not great support



Don't hold your breath, can't understand why they won't code this option in. Far more useful than some of the stuff they've been up to recently..
Me too but mainly when watching or listening to music channels on TV or music based smart TV content. There should be a 'music' button between 'speech enhancement' and 'night mode' that uses the 'full' or 'ambient' setting of the app



Please Sonos this is my number one complaint. At least I know I am not the only one.
Wow I'm in the market for a sonos playbar etc and if I can't do a simple function like toggling to 2ch then I guess I need to look elsewhere. 4 years people have been asking sonos for this basic function if you search this forum. Not great support
This needs to be a feature. It should not be hard to implement. Rear speakers Sonos One speakers paired in 5.1 mode with a Playbase have minimal output when listening to audio that does not take advantage of 5.1 encoding. I would REALLY like to be able toggle on a mode that would allow simple stereo sound to be broadcast to the rear paired Sonos One speakers. This would really be helpful when watching sports games, concerts on the tv, or many other situations where I just want "full" sound coming from behind instead of ambient 5.1 sounds.



Currently the only option is to completely unpair the Sonos Ones from the Playbase, regroup them as a stereo pair, and then group the playback with playbase tv audio. This is not a bit only cumbersome to do, it is really cumbersome to then re-add them back to the playbase as a 5.1 speakers. Also, unpairing them from the 5.1 set-up and regrouping them to the playbase as a stereo pair does not take advantage of the 5Ghz directing pairing and instead uses the standard 2.4Ghz wireless--which increases the latency a bit and is noticeable in the lip-syncing.



Sonos, PLEASE add this feature. A simple toggle to change to "full sound" when watching tv. This can be just like the option to change from ambient to full sound when listening to music. Make this happen. I promise, many people would rejoice. I don't think you understand how many people who pay good money for a nice surround set-up get disappointed and resentful when they don't hear sound coming out their rear speakers during many of their television programs.
Please add this sonos!!! I see people have requested this for 2 yeses in this tread. I just bougt a a beam, two sonos one's and a sub, but when watching tv it is often only the beam thats active. It is realy bad that i cant use my "one's" when watching music shows and music channels.



When i bougt this i never even thought that Sonos did not have a setting to turn all speakers om when watching tv. Realy disapointing when buying a sound system at this price range..

Sorry for my bad english :)


You could try going to the Beams Room Settings/Advanced Audio/Surround Settings and then sliding the 'TV Level' for audio slider bar all the way over to the right hand side. See if that improves things for you when playing PCM stereo audio based TV channels.
Please add this sonos!!! I see people have requested this for 2 yeses in this tread. I just bougt a a beam, two sonos one's and a sub, but when watching tv it is often only the beam thats active. It is realy bad that i cant use my "one's" when watching music shows and music channels.



When i bougt this i never even thought that Sonos did not have a setting to turn all speakers om when watching tv. Realy disapointing when buying a sound system at this price range..

Sorry for my bad english 🙂