Jada Jones/ZDNET

Follow ZDNET: Consider adding ZDNET as one of your preferred news and technology resources within Google, ensuring that you stay informed with its latest expert insights.

**ZDNET’s essential takeaways**
The configuration and overall layout of your listening space play a surprisingly powerful role in determining how effectively your soundbar renders Dolby Atmos audio. Even the most advanced speakers are limited by their surroundings. Furthermore, a variety of built‑in audio settings can be used to enhance vocal clarity, helping dialogue stand out against background sounds. Expanding your Sonos home theater system by integrating compatible components not only enriches clarity but also adds significant robustness and dimension to the overall sonic experience.

Although Sonos’s official webpages and widely circulated product reviews provide exhaustive lists of specifications and technical parameters, these numbers rarely tell the full story. In practice, numerous environmental and user‑controlled factors influence performance far more than many realize. The positioning of your soundbar, the type of audio formatting used in the content you play, and elements such as the shape of your room, its physical proportions, and the nature of your furniture all interact with your equipment’s capabilities, often affecting sound quality in profound ways.

In my own setup, I rely daily on the Sonos Arc and Arc Ultra soundbars, complemented by a pair of Era 300 surround speakers, a Sub 4 subwoofer, and the Ace headphones. Achieving complete satisfaction, however, was not instantaneous. It required patient experimentation and a series of subtle modifications. Having refined my configuration, I’m now ready to reveal what truly elevates your system.

**Also of interest:** Discover the hidden potential of your TV’s USB port — there are four lesser‑known advantages that most users overlook.

Begin your optimization journey by examining your soundbar’s placement. Regardless of whether your model is the flagship Arc or Arc Ultra, or one of the more compact options like the Beam or Ray, positioning remains critical. Ideally, align the soundbar directly beneath and centered with your television, placing it as close to ear or eye level as the setup allows. Avoid hiding the device inside a media cabinet or enclosed shelving, since doing so restricts the dispersal of sound waves. Optimal placement enables sound to project freely throughout the room, creating a wider and more natural soundstage instead of an acoustically confined one.

### 1. Problem: Dolby Atmos doesn’t sound fully immersive
**Underlying cause:** insufficient height.

Dolby Atmos is an advanced, object‑based spatial audio technology designed to simulate a three‑dimensional sound environment. In commercial cinemas, the immersion feels effortless because ceiling‑mounted speakers contribute to a sensation of vertical space — sounds genuinely seem to originate from above. At home, you likely do not have such dedicated ceiling channels, but models like the Sonos Arc and Arc Ultra compensate using upfiring drivers that bounce audio upward, creating a convincing illusion of overhead sound.

**Solution:** increase the height‑channel intensity.
This adjustment can be challenging, especially in spaces with high or vaulted ceilings, or where limited vertical clearance between the television and soundbar prevents the sound from properly reflecting. To counteract this, raise the height‑channel volume within the Sonos app to strengthen that vertical dimension and make atmospheric effects more audible.
If your listening environment is of medium to large size, consider incorporating the impressive Era 300 speakers. These units not only extend the horizontal expanse of your Dolby Atmos presentation but also include an upward‑firing tweeter that enhances the sensation of elevation — assuming your space can accommodate them.

**Also noteworthy:** Explore creative ways to make use of your Chromecast TV — beyond streaming entertainment — including one surprisingly effective smart‑home integration.

For users of Sonos’s smaller soundbars, namely the Ray and the Beam (Gen 2), be aware that these models lack dedicated upfiring speakers. Even so, their blend of forward‑ and side‑facing channels substantially broadens your content’s perceived width and depth. While either compact option constitutes a major leap beyond most televisions’ thin built‑in speakers, the Beam (Gen 2) remains the top choice in the compact category, especially when it’s available at a discounted price.

### 2. Problem: Dialogue sounds muffled or unclear
**Underlying cause:** suboptimal use of enhancement modes.

When spoken voices blend into background effects or musical scores, subtle feature adjustments can make a large difference. Begin by activating *Speech Enhancement*, an option that deliberately lowers bass frequencies while boosting the midrange — the frequency band where most human speech resides. Pairing *Speech Enhancement* with *Night Sound* can further reduce heavy bass, preventing low‑end rumble from obscuring dialogue when watching late at night. Conversely, ensure that the *Loudness* setting remains switched off, since it accentuates non‑dialogue sounds and can unintentionally drown out voices.
If these tweaks do not sufficiently improve vocal clarity, consider manually reducing bass levels in your soundbar’s equalizer settings. All such controls are readily accessible through the Sonos mobile application.

Based on personal observation, integrating a subwoofer and dedicated rear speakers provides an even more complete resolution to dialogue issues. By offloading the deep‑bass duties to the subwoofer, the soundbar is free to focus on midrange reproduction, allowing conversations and on‑screen voices to emerge with far greater definition. The resulting effect is not just clearer speech but an overall richer and more layered presentation.

**Additional tip:** If you’ve already immersed yourself in the Sonos ecosystem yet prefer private viewing sessions — for instance, to avoid disturbing roommates or neighbors — the Sonos Ace headphones are an exceptionally convenient accessory. They connect seamlessly with the Arc, Arc Ultra, Beam, and Ray models, duplicating the exact same audio format that your soundbar would otherwise output.

### 3. Problem: The sound feels off balance or inconsistent
**Solution:** recalibrate using *TruePlay* acoustic tuning.

TruePlay is Sonos’s proprietary room‑calibration system that adapts each speaker’s frequency response to the specific acoustic traits of your environment. Whereas demonstration rooms on the Sonos website typically showcase minimalist, perfectly squared spaces, real homes rarely reflect such idealized conditions. Rooms often feature walls at varied distances, uneven surfaces, and sizable furniture that obstructs or reflects sound differently.

To restore balance, perform a TruePlay tuning session, allowing the software to measure how sound interacts with nearby boundaries and furnishings — such as a large sectional couch or irregular wall placement — and automatically adjust the output for optimal performance. Any time you rearrange furniture, reposition your soundbar, or alter the room’s layout, it’s wise to run this calibration anew. Doing so ensures your system continuously operates at its highest potential, maintaining the clarity, spaciousness, and tonal precision that define a truly immersive Sonos listening experience.

Sourse: https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-improve-sonos-soundbars-3-ways/