Beam + 2Threes as side speakers - sound balance

Provided you set the Threes up as surrounds using the correct process, just go to:

Settings - [Room containing Beam] - Surround Audio

and turn down the surround speakers’ TV level and/or Music level accordingly.

And if using an iPhone, run Trueplay too. 

Yeah, I already did that by adjusting how far the side speakers are from centre.

Thanks but there needs to be another answer.

How do you adjust that? What speakers are you using for the three front channels? Sonos only offers soundbars, so the distance is set physically by your choice of Arc, Beam or Ray. 

Huh? I’m talking about turning down the volume of your Threes using the surround level slider. I’m not talking about adjusting speaker distance (either physically or using the speaker distance slider…)

Are you using your Play:3s as front or rear speakers? You should be using them as rear, right?

If so, what @Rhonny told you to adjust are these TV and Music level, moving them to the minus sign to your taste:

furacaopr wrote:

Are you using your Play:3s as front or rear speakers? You should be using them as rear, right?

If so, what @Rhonny told you to adjust are these TV and Music level, moving them to the minus sign to your taste:

 

There’s no tv input, I’m only using it as a music surround, so the tv level didn’t work, but reducing the music level from the rear threes did.

In addition, I had a friend with an iphone over for wine, so also used trueplay.

As I move around the breakfast bar in the window where the speakers are set up, the balance changes, so this is a useful trick.

Thank you.

Depending on your music source, I suspect that you’ve not got a “music surround” system. The Beam is playing music in stereo, and the attached speakers (whether you use your Play:3’s or your Ones) are playing the same music, also in stereo. What format is reported in the app?  

Yup, @WickedDNA, you’ve set up the speakers as a 5.0 surround system. But if the Beam only receives the music in stereo, you’ll get stereo from the Beam and the same stereo from the Play:3’s. The Beam can’t magically change a stereo source into 5.0 surround. All it can do is play what’s sent to it, be that stereo or 5.0 sound. 

Try this, @WickedDNA :

iOS or Android

1. Open the System view by selecting your system’s name at the top of the screen.
2. Select your Beam to bring up the Now Playing screen.
3. The audio format is displayed

The audio format is also listed in Settings > Manage > About My System under your home theater product next to Audio In.

Web app

1. Open the Sonos Web app.
2. Select your home theater speaker from the list on the right side of the window.
3. The audio format is displayed on the Now Playing bar at the bottom of the window

furacaopr wrote:

In reality, it kind magically does that if Music Playback is set as Ambient:

https://support.sonos.com/en-ca/article/change-surround-audio-settings

 

Not so. All that Full and Ambient changes is the volume. That has nothing to do with changing the format of the music, which the Beam cannot do. 

nik9669a wrote:

furacaopr wrote:

In reality, it kind magically does that if Music Playback is set as Ambient:

https://support.sonos.com/en-ca/article/change-surround-audio-settings

 

Not so. All that Full and Ambient changes is the volume. That has nothing to do with changing the format of the music, which the Beam cannot do. 

Not just the volume, but it also limits the frequency range. It does mimic surrounds pretty well.

I’ve tried Ambient and Full in a couple different rooms and I’m not really fond of the Full mode aside from trying to fill a noisy room with sound.

Ambient with the levels set properly does seem to open up the sound stage a bit if you are sitting in the Stereo image sweet spot of the front speaker.

furacaopr wrote:

In reality, it kind magically does that if Music Playback is set as Ambient:

https://support.sonos.com/en-ca/article/change-surround-audio-settings

 

I’ll give this a try.
The sound is immersive, even just in stereo.

I’m not unhappy.