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I have an existing Sonos network with 6 players of various types. I’m thinking of buying a Beam. But I need to understand how it will interact with my Sonos players. I can’t find much info on the subject. The closest I get is some rather terse statements in the Sonos User Guide under “home theatre settings”. The “TV Autoplay” and “Ungroup on Autoplay” settings could do with a bit more explanation…

Can somebody please comment on following assumptions / questions:

  1. I can add Beam to one of my existing groups.
  2. As long as the TV is off, Beam behaves like just another player in the group.
  3. When I turn on the TV, there are several possibilities:
    1. TV Autoplay = on, Ungroup on Autoplay = on (default)
      • Beam switches to TV audio
      • Beam drops from the group
      • The other players in the group continue playing whatever they were playing
    2. TV Autoplay = on, Ungroup on Autoplay = off
      • Beam and all other members of the group switch to TV audio
    3. TV Autoplay = off
      • Beam and all other members of the group continue playing whatever they were playing
      • The TV is muted
      • or does the TV play from its own speakers?? Does it depend on the TV?
  4. In case 3.3 (Autoplay off), how do I switch Beam to TV audio?
  5. Case 3.1 (default) will be my preferred setup. But sometimes I will want to stream TV audio to the entire group. What will I have to do? I hope there is a better answer than change the settings.
  6. When Beam has dropped out of the group due to Autoplay, will it go back in when the TV is turned off?

Some of the above assumptions are beyond doubt because the User Guide is clear on 1 or 2 things. But the user guide doesn’t walk all the branches of the flowchart and glosses over details and contingencies.

Thanks for any comments...

1, 2, 3 are correct. The answer to the question on 3.3 is the TV audio will not play as the TV speakers will be disabled because it’s connected to a soundbar.

4. If you have TV Autoplay turned off, if you want to switch the Beam to TV audio while playing music, you need to go to Browse in the Sonos app and select the TV option.

5. If you want to stream TV audio to an entire group while the TV audio is playing out of the Beam, you simply group the speakers as you do with your current Sonos speakers. The easiest way to group all speakers is to tap the “Everywhere” option. Or you can create your own preset groups. NOTE: You will experience a slight audio delay from the grouped speakers when listening to TV audio.

6. No, you will have to re-group the Beam with the other speakers playing music.

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