*** Official SONOS Thread ***

[Kohaashi]

Have you got other Sonos gear? Samsung do decent Sounbars with wireless rears that are worth a look unless you want to stay in the Sonos ecosystem.

No, we have a HomePod Mini and I was considering getting a HomePod or two for round the house to achieve something similar to Sonos multiroom as we are an Apple household - but as you can use the Sonos rears from a surround sound setup as separate speakers and achieve similar results to what Apple does I was debating entering Sonos and not bothering with the HomePods. The Sonos could then be on double duty and put back into the surround sound setup when watching a film.

Is this advisable or would a Samsung setup work better?

Thanks.

 

[ChrisD.]

Used to have a Yamaha AV with a 5.1 set of QAcoustic 2000 speakers but need something wireless and less visible to get approval from the other half

I went from proper AV kit with Monitor Audio Gold speakers to a Sonos Arc, Sub, and Play:1 rears. Zero regrets tbh, it sounds really good and is much neater.

I have the gold floor standers in the kitchen now however.

 

[MrRockliffe]

No, we have a HomePod Mini and I was considering getting a HomePod or two for round the house to achieve something similar to Sonos multiroom as we are an Apple household - but as you can use the Sonos rears from a surround sound setup as separate speakers and achieve similar results to what Apple does I was debating entering Sonos and not bothering with the HomePods. The Sonos could then be on double duty and put back into the surround sound setup when watching a film.

Is this advisable or would a Samsung setup work better?

Thanks.

Not sure I’d want the faff of moving the Sonos speakers every time you wanted to watch a movie with surround sound. Especially since the main benefit of the Sonos system is trueplay, which does the auto time alignment and subtle correction for you. Makes a massive difference for me.


Sonos does sound like the right system for you though. Not really many competitors in the space with proper ecosystem. Maybe Loewe, or Bose. Denon used to have decent stuff but they’ve been going downhill a little recently with options.

 

[Uriel]

Added a pair of Symfonisk bookshelves (Gen 1) to my Beam Gen 2. It may be a little cheaty but we don't have much space around the sofa, and after finding the surrounds rather harsh at first I eventually settled on placing them a bit above head height but facing the ceiling. The sofa is right against the rear wall with not much side room. I'm now pretty happy with the way this sounds. Orienting the rear speakers to face upwards goes some way to creating a more convincing height presentation for atmos without sounding off for non-atmos soundtracks than just the Beam's virtualisation.

Don't currently have access to an IOS device for Trueplay, but set the surround speakers volume lower, height volume increased, and location to within 2 feet.

It's a much more subtle presentation than when I had the symfonisks horizontally oriented (without the adjustments) and gets something of that 'surround sound bubble' I was looking for. At first the symfonisks sounded too localised, and one was right in the corner of the room - inevitably suffering from near first reflections.

I am a bit of a sucker for surround sound. Although it had a wide soundstage, I never particularly found the Beam Gen 2 to give a convincing 3d presentation without surround speakers. Much improved with them, after some fiddling with the setup.

 

[BMox81]

I’m very intrigued as to how this streaming box Sonos are developing fares later on in the year. Kinda feel that unless the chip inside it is on par with the ATV and all the features (match frame rate/dynamic range) and codecs to go with it, it won’t see much interest.

It will obviously be using Android as a base but will it incorporate Airplay ala their current products and the Rokus of this world and have an Apple Music app…?

For me they’d need at minimum all the UK catch-up apps which could be difficult if Channel 4 and Android/Google TV are to go by.

No doubt it will be Alexa and their own voice assistant they use in line with the Eras.

Such a difficult space to get into but if can be a hub to your Sonos gear and then have all the apps then maybe it has a chance?

Guess we’ll wait and see.

 

[Mariusz]

I’m very intrigued as to how this streaming box Sonos are developing fares later on in the year. Kinda feel that unless the chip inside it is on par with the ATV and all the features (match frame rate/dynamic range) and codecs to go with it, it won’t see much interest.

It will obviously be using Android as a base but will it incorporate Airplay ala their current products and the Rokus of this world and have an Apple Music app…?

For me they’d need at minimum all the UK catch-up apps which could be difficult if Channel 4 and Android/Google TV are to go by.

No doubt it will be Alexa and their own voice assistant they use in line with the Eras.

Such a difficult space to get into but if can be a hub to your Sonos gear and then have all the apps then maybe it has a chance?

Guess we’ll wait and see.

Well Apple have just messed up the software on the ATV, haven't read one positive thing about the latest update online so if Sonos wanted an opening now's the time. The Nvidia Shield is also long overdue an upgrade, the Tegra chip came out in 2015. If Sonos supports passthrough of audio it could be a competitor to the Shield, take Nvidia's customer's.

 

[ChrisD.]

Well Apple have just messed up the software on the ATV, haven't read one positive thing about the latest update online so if Sonos wanted an opening now's the time. The Nvidia Shield is also long overdue an upgrade, the Tegra chip came out in 2015. If Sonos supports passthrough of audio it could be a competitor to the Shield, take Nvidia's customer's.

What’s wrong with the latest TVOS?

 

[Broken Hope]

What’s wrong with the latest TVOS?

Some people don’t like the TV app replacing the movie and TV stores and the new side menu, hardly ruined and still the best streaming box by far.

 

[Mariusz]

What’s wrong with the latest TVOS?

Some people don’t like the TV app replacing the movie and TV stores and the new side menu, hardly ruined and still the best streaming box by far.

The TV app is terrible, the iTunes movie app was better. I could see my library get the synopsis and audio and video info. The new sidebar that has a quick link to a football app whether you use it or not.

 

[ChrisD.]

Ah, I barely use Apple TV or iTunes apps so I haven’t noticed it.

 

[Mariusz]

Ah, I barely use Apple TV or iTunes apps so I haven’t noticed it.

I use them all the time, I'm forever buying films in the Monday sales. I love my Apple boxes I think they are brilliant, but I really don't like what Apple have done, I'm hopeful the next update "fixes" the issues.

As you say the ATV is still a great streaming box (As long as you aren't playing your own media backups, Nvidia Shield FTW due to audio passthrough). I don't even bother with my TV apps anymore, I just use my ATV's

 

[ChrisD.]

I tried the Shield for my own media and I found it infuriating. I’d rather deal with PCM than deal with the random issues.

 

[Mariusz]

It's been years since I used my Shield for media, I didn't have any issues I remember. I was only playing back Blu-ray moves, so no issues trying to get Dolby Vision to work. I just couldn't be bothered to rip my media and buy a NAS, jumped into the iTunes pool with both feet.

 

[BMox81]

Well Apple have just messed up the software on the ATV, haven't read one positive thing about the latest update online so if Sonos wanted an opening now's the time. The Nvidia Shield is also long overdue an upgrade, the Tegra chip came out in 2015. If Sonos supports passthrough of audio it could be a competitor to the Shield, take Nvidia's customer's.

Removing the Movie and TV apps was certainly a choice but given they want everyone in their TV app I can understand why they did it.

But you make a good point regarding the Shield customers and their love for the true audio passthrough.

Also kinda feel that if Sonos give people an uncluttered UI (which the Fire TV and Android/Google TV owners hate) that could tempt some people to move over.

But again, this is really only going to apply to those in the Sonos ecosystem and doubt the STB would be enough for people to chuck all their gear away and invest in Sonos.

 

[Uriel]

Apple TV on Windows is utterly awful.

Recently bought LoTR extended editions (which I own on DVD) on Apple TV mainly for the Atmos soundtracks. At least on my PC, it's incapable of showing full-screen video without weird artefacts at the top of the screen, and aspect ratio distortion. I sort of came to an acceptable experience running a window over a black background but shouldn't have to do that.

Atmos working fine via HDFury Arcana into Beam Gen 2 though (no eARC on my TV).

 

[platypus]

Can someone help with a technical question as I've beaten my head against the wall for so long.

I have 5 various Sonos speakers, and they are all on the same wifi network, network A. I'm trying to move all of my Sonos speakers to network B. I have gone through the app, added network B and gone through the wizard process to move them to the new network. The app seems happy with this, however, the speakers.... stay on network A. I have done it so many times and gotten to the point where I have, in time, hard reset every single speaker, uninstalled the app from my phone (iphone), "forgotten" the existing Sonos installation. Forgotten, then hard reset, and I cannot get all of the devices on to Network B functioning properly, I've had to add them back to Network A. What on earth do I need to do?

 

[ChrisD.]

Can someone help with a technical question as I've beaten my head against the wall for so long.

I have 5 various Sonos speakers, and they are all on the same wifi network, network A. I'm trying to move all of my Sonos speakers to network B. I have gone through the app, added network B and gone through the wizard process to move them to the new network. The app seems happy with this, however, the speakers.... stay on network A. I have done it so many times and gotten to the point where I have, in time, hard reset every single speaker, uninstalled the app from my phone (iphone), "forgotten" the existing Sonos installation. Forgotten, then hard reset, and I cannot get all of the devices on to Network B functioning properly, I've had to add them back to Network A. What on earth do I need to do?

I moved mine over and from memory it was pretty straight forward. Have you tried their support? They are usually very good.

 

[platypus]

I moved mine over and from memory it was pretty straight forward. Have you tried their support? They are usually very good.

I haven't yet, I'll give them a go later today then!

 

[redeye]

I tried the Shield for my own media and I found it infuriating. I’d rather deal with PCM than deal with the random issues.

Suprised to hear. I haven't had any issues at all and it's the only way I can get my virtual 1:1 rips playing on my LG C3 65" perfectly. The picture quality and audio is massively better than any streaming service and I get to watch them whenever I want, and not worry about them suddenly not being available.

have to admit it is a hassle creating them and I do these days tend to just buy and watch 4K Blu Rays of films I really want to be able to see at any time. The weekday evening laze on the sofa I do stream stuff.

 

[CapitalOne]

Can someone help with a technical question as I've beaten my head against the wall for so long.

I have 5 various Sonos speakers, and they are all on the same wifi network, network A. I'm trying to move all of my Sonos speakers to network B. I have gone through the app, added network B and gone through the wizard process to move them to the new network. The app seems happy with this, however, the speakers.... stay on network A. I have done it so many times and gotten to the point where I have, in time, hard reset every single speaker, uninstalled the app from my phone (iphone), "forgotten" the existing Sonos installation. Forgotten, then hard reset, and I cannot get all of the devices on to Network B functioning properly, I've had to add them back to Network A. What on earth do I need to do?

Did you do a full reset so they forget the password for network A?