Troubleshooting No Audio Heard from Your Sonos Surrounds and/or Sub(s)

Having a Sonos home theatre setup with surrounds and a Sub (or two!) delivers an incredible, immersive audio experience. If you're finding that your surround speakers or Sub(s) aren't producing sound, don't worry – this guide will walk you through common troubleshooting steps to get your full Sonos Home Theatre solution working as it should once more.

Important: If you receive no TV audio from your Sonos soundbar (or Amp) either, please see my related article:

1. Verify System Configuration and Content Compatibility

Before diving into reboots, let's ensure your system is correctly configured and the content you're playing is designed to utilize all your speakers.

Check that Home Theatre Primary device is playing: if it turns out that the TV’s own speakers are playing but not the HT Primary device, go to
Check Surround Speaker Status in Sonos App:
- Open the Sonos app.
- Go to Settings (gear icon) > System.
- Select your home theatre room (e.g., "Living Room").
- Under "Products," confirm that your surround speakers are listed and appear as "Paired as Surrounds." If they're not, or show as individual rooms, you'll need to re-add them as surrounds (see Section 4).
- If your surround speakers are grouped with your Home Theatre Primary, then they will play TV audio, despite not being properly configured as surrounds. You will hear all the TV audio, however, rather than just the surround audio as intended.
- Check the "Sub" section to ensure your Sub(s) are listed and "Paired."
Confirm Audio Format of Source Content: Not all content contains surround sound information.
- Stereo Content: If you're playing standard stereo music or TV shows, your surrounds might be playing ambient or "full" audio (depending on your settings), or very little at all. The Sub will still be active for bass frequencies. Stereo TV content is up-mixed by the Sonos soundbar, so you should generally hear sound from your surrounds when playing TV audio (unless the surround settings have been specifically adjusted or disabled). For stereo music, the presence and level of sound from surrounds will depend on your 'Music Playback' setting (Ambient vs. Full).
- Surround Sound Content (Dolby Digital, Atmos, DTS, etc.): To fully test your surrounds, play content known to have a surround sound track (e.g., a movie or show from a streaming service known for 5.1 audio, or a Blu-ray).
- Checking the Incoming Audio Format:
  - While playing content from your TV, open the Sonos app.
  - Go to the Now Playing screen by tapping the bar at the bottom of the screen.
  - Check the format reported there to the right, under where album art would show.
Adjust Surround Audio Settings:
- In the Sonos app, go to Settings (gear icon) > System.
- Select your home theatre room.
- Tap on Surround Audio.
- Ensure Surrounds is activated (switch should be in the rightmost position). Surround speakers will not play without this option enabled.
- Ensure the "TV Level" and "Music Level" sliders are not set to their minimum. Experiment with increasing these levels.
- For music, you can toggle "Music Playback" between "Ambient" (subtler, for background) and "Full" (plays full stereo from surrounds). "Full" is generally better for troubleshooting.
- For music recorded as spatial audio, ensure Spatial Music is enabled in the room’s settings (Settings (gear icon) > System > [related room] > Spatial Music > On)

Ensure Wi-Fi is Enabled on Your Primary Home Theatre Device:
- For Sonos home theatre systems, the primary soundbar (Arc Ultra, Arc, Beam, Ray) typically relies on its Wi-Fi connection to communicate with surrounds and Subs, even if your soundbar is connected to your router via Ethernet. Disabling Wi-Fi on the soundbar can break this communication.
- Check Wi-Fi Status:
  - Open the Sonos app.
  - Go to Settings (gear icon) > System.
  - Select your home theatre room (your soundbar).
  - Tap on Wi-Fi (or sometimes "Network").
  - Ensure that "Enable Wi-Fi" is toggled ON. If it was off, enable it, and then retest your system.
- Some systems may not rely on direct 5Ghz communications - in these (rare) circumstances, all speakers in the Home Theatre setup should be ethernet-wired. Using an Amp for surrounds that is located in a different room (but with the speakers in the same room) is the most common example of this.
Try an alternate source:
- If you hear no audio from surrounds/Sub when playing music, try TV audio, and vice versa, though be aware of the settings specific to each type of source (streamed or TV), as mentioned in the previous point. If you hear surround audio from one source but not another, your surrounds are working correctly and something else is at fault - likely the source.

2. Rebooting Your Sonos Devices

A simple reboot can often resolve temporary software glitches that prevent communication between your Sonos devices.

Reboot Surrounds First:
- Unplug: Disconnect the power cable from each of your Sonos surround speakers (e.g., Era 100s, One SLs, Sonos Fives).
- Wait: Allow 20-30 seconds for the speakers to fully discharge.
- Reconnect: Plug the power cables back in. Wait for the status lights to turn solid white.
Reboot Sub(s):
- Unplug: Disconnect the power cable from your Sonos Sub(s).
- Wait: Allow 20-30 seconds.
- Reconnect: Plug the power cable back in. Wait for the status light to turn solid white.
Reboot Primary Home Theatre Device (Soundbar):
- Unplug: Disconnect the power cable from your Sonos soundbar (Arc Ultra, Arc, Beam, Ray).
- Wait: Allow 20-30 seconds.
- Reconnect: Plug the power cable back in. Wait for the status light to turn solid white.
After rebooting all devices, play some surround sound content and check for audio from your surrounds and Sub.
Remember: the Primary device tells the others what to play - if there is no audio from the satellites, it may be in more need of a reboot than the satellites themselves.

3. Reboot Your Home Network Router

Your Sonos system relies heavily on your home Wi-Fi network for communication between devices. A router reboot can refresh network connections and resolve IP address conflicts or other network-related issues.

Perform a Router Power Cycle:
- Unplug Router: Disconnect the power cable from your Wi-Fi router.
- Wait: Wait for at least 60 seconds (a full minute). This ensures the router completely powers down and clears its cache.
- Plug In Router: Reconnect the power cable to your router.
- Wait for Network Restart: Allow several minutes for your router to fully boot up and for all network lights to stabilize (this can vary by router model).
- Test Sonos: Once your network is fully operational, open the Sonos app and test your home theatre system.
Although your satellite speakers will connect directly to the HT Primary device when playing, they still obtain an IP address from the router and connect to the router directly when not playing.

4. Removing and Re-adding Surrounds and/or Sub(s)

If the above steps don't work, there might be a corrupted pairing or an issue with the speaker's configuration within your system. Removing and re-adding them can often resolve this.

Remove Surround Speakers:
- Open the Sonos app.
- Go to Settings (gear icon) > System.
- Select your home theatre room.
- Tap on Remove Surrounds. Confirm your choice. This will unpair the speakers, and they will reappear as individual, temporary "rooms" in your system.
Remove Sub(s):
- Open the Sonos app.
- Go to Settings (gear icon) > System.
- Select your home theatre room.
- Tap on Remove Sub. Confirm your choice. Your Sub(s) will no longer be paired.
Add Surrounds/Sub(s) Again:
- Go back to Settings (gear icon) > System.
- Select your home theatre room.
- Tap on Set Up Surrounds or Add Sub.
- Follow the on-screen instructions in the Sonos app to pair your surrounds or Sub(s) again. This process will guide you through the optimal setup for sound calibration.

Understanding Sonos Home Theatre Compatibility and Limitations

It's important to be aware of which Sonos speakers can be used as surrounds and the specific configurations allowed. You can use the following information as a guide if you are having trouble adding surrounds and/or Sub(s) to your Sonos Home Theatre setup.

These lists are not exhaustive. For example, IKEA products are not listed. Please see our Surround sound guidelines and limitations page for more details on supported speakers for each Home Theatre Primary model.

Note: If your surround speakers ever worked in their current configuration, this is not likely to be your issue.

Compatible Surround Speakers:
- With Arc Ultra:
  - Pair of Sonos Era 300: Specifically designed for Spatial Audio / Dolby Atmos content, providing up-firing and side-firing drivers for a truly immersive experience.
  - Pair of Sonos Era 100: Fantastic, versatile surrounds with excellent sound quality. Two tweeters expand the sound compared to older models.
  - Pair of Sonos Five speaker: Often considered over-kill for most surround applications, but they are compatible.
  - Note: Play:1, Play:3, and Play:5 models are not supported as surrounds with Arc Ultra.
- With Arc, Beam (Gen 2):
  - Pair of Sonos Era 300
  - Pair of Sonos Era 100
  - Pair of Sonos One / One SL
  - Pair of Sonos Play:1 / Play:3
  - Pair of Sonos Five / Play:5 (Gen 2)
  - Amp (when connected to passive speakers)
- With Beam (Gen 1), Ray:
  - Pair of Sonos Era 100
  - Pair of Sonos One / One SL
  - Pair of Sonos Play:1
  - Pair of Sonos Five / Play:5 (Gen 2)
  - Amp (when connected to passive speakers)
- Important Notes:
  - You must use a matched pair of speakers for surrounds (e.g., two One SLs, two Era 100s). You cannot use a single speaker as a surround, nor can you mix different models (e.g., one One SL and one Play:1).
Subwoofer Compatibility:
- Single Subwoofer: Any single Sonos Sub (Gen 1, Gen 2, Gen 3, or Sub 4) or Sub Mini can be used in any Home Theatre setup, assuming software compatibility (Sub Mini, Sub (Gen 3) and Sub 4 require S2 systems).
- Dual Subwoofer Compatibility:
  - S2 software is required for Dual Subs.
  - A single Sub Mini can be added to a Home Theatre setup; dual Sub Mini is not possible.
  - Compatible combinations for dual Subs: Two Sub 4s, two Sub (Gen 3)s, or one Sub 4 and one Sub (Gen 3).
  - A Sub (Gen 3) can be paired with another Sub (Gen 3), a Sub (Gen 2), or a Sub (Gen 1) for dual Sub.
  - Amp supports Dual Subs when connected via HDMI and being used as the Home Theatre primary. It does not support Dual Subs when not connected to a HDMI-ARC device like a TV.
- Playbar and Playbase Dual Sub Compatibility:
  - Compatible with a dual Sub setup if at least one of the Subs is a Sub (Gen 3).
  - Not compatible with Sub 4 for dual Sub setups.
Maximum Speakers: A single Sonos home theatre setup can consist of:
- One soundbar (Arc Ultra, Arc, Beam, Ray, Playbase, Playbar, Amp)
- Two matched surround speakers (e.g., 2 x One SL, 2 x Era 100) or one Amp (connected to passive surround speakers).
- Up to two Sonos Subs (details above).
- You cannot add more than two surrounds or more than two Subs in any Sonos Home Theatre configuration. Additional front speakers are not currently an option.

If you've followed these steps and are still experiencing issues with your surrounds or Sub(s), please reach out to Sonos Support directly or post a detailed description of your setup and the troubleshooting you've attempted on the Sonos Community forum. Providing information about your TV model, the content you're playing, and any error messages will help us assist you further.

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