Multi Channel Stereo

If I understand your setup correctly, and how you’re currently doing things, you have the Play:1’s permanently set up as surrounds? But you’ll unplug Left surround and take it onto the patio? There you plug it in, but still configured as a surround speaker?

If that’s what you’re doing, you’ll only be getting the left side of a stereo signal on the patio. Anything directed to the right speaker is playing on “Right Play 1” speaker located elsewhere. 

Hello nik9669a,

Thank you for stoping by. Yes you are understanding my current setup correctly.

If Sonos had a mode to output music, the same way on each speaker, my goal would be met. In other words, a non surround mode, where each speaker is an individual speaker, I’d be set.

My Denon Deck calls that Multi Channel Stereo. Where the output is the same for every speakers except the Sub. The type of setup you want when piping sound across an entire house. There is no left right, front back etc. They all act as an equal output. 

Now I think I may be able to achieve the same result using the Sonos App, by creating a new room with each speakers but the minute I include the Arc PlayBar, everything falls under a Surround like dynamic, led by the Arc PlayBar as the Front Main vocal for example.

So my question is, is their a world where I can output the exact same sound on each speaker separately? As if each speaker is a standalone, but grouped as one kit… Say the “House” Room. 

-J

The only way of playing both channels to each of the Play:1’s is to “remove surrounds” from your Arc, and set them as two rooms, and then group them to share the same audio source. Then you’ll need to rebind them as surrounds when you want 5.1 home theatre again. 
There’s no easier way of doing this. Many have asked. 

Ok, this seems to be where I landed as well.

I’m surprised its not in there by default given the wireless nature of the system. I feel the first thing any user would do is move the speakers around to spread the music across the house, but are stuck under this left ambient, or vocals only output… 

I wish the App had a flick switch called “Multi Stereo” or what ever. Seems easy enough to code… 

Not sure I understand what’s the hold up. Thanks for your input.

-J

I don’t think multi channel stereo means same L+R sound on all speakers. It means L channel is outputted on all left speakers (front, back, rear …) and R channel is outputted on all right speakers (front, back, rear …). Maybe only the center speaker gets both L+R.

Hello Erikkk,

Thank you for stopping by and surfacing the nuances.

Then I suppose my goal would be; how do I output L+R on all speakers?

Would that referred as Mono? 
 

-J

The Play:1 on its own, set as a Room, is mono. When it’s Left Surround it plays only the left channel of a stereo source when playing music. 
 

To have a system including easy-move-about speakers, leave the 5.1 home theatre system in situ and add a Roam2 or Move2 which are designed to be portable devices. 

I completely understand your need, but I’m skeptical Sonos would implement it since they sell a “Move” speaker, plus you can find exactly the same feature request like 6 years ago …

Have you tried switching your surrounds to Full mode instead of Ambient?

I do that for family gatherings where we want background music.

I do think a "Party Mode" where everything switched to mono would be handy.

There’s two factors you’re not considering.  The first is that when a speaker is setup for surround duty, it is specifically bonded to the soundbar in the home theatre setup over 5Ghz wireless.  That means that you can’t just unplug it and move it to another room in the house that’s outside the range of your soundbar. For speakers that are setup as their own room, they connect over 2.4 Ghz, or sometime 5 Ghz connected to your router or wireless access point.  They are not tied your soundbar, but to the limits of your home wireless setup essentially.

The other factor is that Sonos speakers are designed to work with trueplay tuning to the room their in.  If you are unplugging and moving them around, they will not sound correct in the new room.  Even when you bring them back to the original location, if they’ve move to a different angle, they could sound off.

I get why you would think all Sonos speakers should be moved around, but that’s not really what they are designed for.  They are wireless so you don’t have to hide wires, not for portability.

As already mentioned, Sonos has made the Move  and Roam to better fit the functionality you’re talking about.  Besides having internal batteries for storage, they also have Auto trueplay tuning, so that they can recognize they are placed in a new location and use the internal mics to retune.  They cannot be used as surround speakers, partially because of the 5 Ghz issue I mentioned earlier, and partially because they speakers are designed to fill a room not surround sound duty.

As Stanley said though, a mono mode would be interesting.  This already exists with the Sonos amp.

Not so. Era 100 and 300, Move 2 and Five are all single-enclosure stereo speakers that can be stereo-paired with a second matching speaker for a wider stereo soundstage. 

With full mode as suggested by Stanley, maybe you could move both your speakers  instead of just one, so you will get the full stereo sound.

Must admit it’s less handy and also must keep,track which speaker is left and which is right.

The system could automatically detect when the source is PCM stereo 2.0 (like most music videos on YouTube) and use the same option for the full mode/ambient mode set in the app. When the source is Atmos or Dolby Digital higher than 2.0, then it would output unchanged. This way we could use the TV to watch music videos in a more immersive way. Maybe there is an impossibility that I am not aware of.