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How would two rear surrounds function when not streaming surround sound content?

  • 31 December 2020
  • 6 replies
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tonsure
Userlevel 2
Badge +4

Naive question; my apologies. But: if two Ones or Symfonisks were set-up as the rear speakers in a Sonos surround system, how would they function when playing simple stereo content? Would they automatically switch-over to being a stereo pair? (And thus play the stereo signal in tandem with my Beam sound bar)? Or do they effectively get switched-off when you’re not playing streams that have specific surround-sound content? (Or: is this a naive question, in the sense that most content has some bare minimum of a surround signal?).  Many thanks..

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Best answer by Ken_Griffiths 31 December 2020, 18:23

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6 replies

G
Userlevel 7

I have the Sonos Arc with surrounds and when I play stereo 2.0 content, the combined audio is played at a low volume  through each surround speaker.

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
N
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

I have the Sonos Arc with surrounds and when I play stereo 2.0 content, the combined audio is played at a low volume  through each surround speaker.

There is also a “volume” control, so you can set the level of music coming from the rear speakers relative to the Arc. It’s quite well hidden under Settings,System, Roomname (the room with the Arc), then scroll down to Surround Audio and use the Music Audio slider as you want. You’ll also probably want the Music Playback set to Full. 

K
Userlevel 7
Badge +16

On our Playbar, they are redundant when playing stereo TV. 

"Full Music" setting they play along with the Playbar with streamed music.

Would be nice if you could have the option for them to fill in with Stereo TV rather than just sat there doing nowt..

tonsure
Userlevel 2
Badge +4

So, if I’m reading these comments correctly: it’s fair to say that adding a pair of surround speakers will also improve the quality of streamed (stereo) music in the room (i.e. when they’re not actively functioning as the rears in a surround set-up)?

N
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

In my opinion: yes. Since my rears are nearer to my seating position than my Playbase, I hear stereo from behind me rather than in front. That takes a bit of getting used to. Maybe one day I’ll get a pair of Fives and put them in “conventional” positions, and use just them for stereo music listening. But for now I’m happy enough. 

Ken_Griffiths

So, if I’m reading these comments correctly: it’s fair to say that adding a pair of surround speakers will also improve the quality of streamed (stereo) music in the room (i.e. when they’re not actively functioning as the rears in a surround set-up)?

The surrounds bond with the HT main player (they all form part of one room). When playing music to that room, you can set the rear surrounds to ‘full’ or ‘ambient’ for music playback. See this support page:

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/4804

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