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mcgooze
Streaming Star

Roku Wireless Speakers in Surround setup with Roku soundbar not loud enough

I'm starting a new thread because the original question was solved, but the discussion continued into what appears to be a bug or flaw in the Surround update, using the Roku Soundbar, Sub & wireless speakers for a 4.1 setup (with the new 9.26, Build 5201 OS update).

What I and others have found is that the Surround is working (when playing back a signal broadcast in Dolby 5.1, such as many shows on Netflix) but there is no way (at least that any of us have found) to control the volume of the surround speakers, and they are too quiet to give a real surround experience. For many of us, the only time the surround speakers are noticeable is when they are playing back a stereo signal (such as music on YouTube), with the "enhanced stereo mode" set to "music" (which isn't surround!).

I like that Roku seems to want to make their products very user friendly, but there really needs to be a way to adjust individually the volume of the speakers in relation to how they are positioned to the listener, as users can't always set their speakers in exactly the way that design engineers would deem ideal.

I'm hoping this gets addressed quickly in another software update. I bought the surround speakers based on the announcement of Surround and so far it's pretty disappointing.

54 REPLIES 54
akakar4858
Streaming Star

Re: Roku Wireless Speakers in Surround setup with Roku soundbar not loud enough

Completely agree with mcgooze. Hopefully Roku can release an update where the rear TV wireless speakers volume can be turned up. Possibly using the tabletop remote that came with the TV wireless speakers? Or if there can just be an additional on screen option where you can adjust the volume of the rear speakers. Also hoping that Roku release a better Soundbar with 3.0 (L, R, C) capabilities instead of the current 2.0 (LT, RT) expanded Stereo mimicking surround. 

cwawro
Channel Surfer

Re: Roku Wireless Speakers in Surround setup with Roku soundbar not loud enough

I am also experiencing this problem. The Movies & TV Surround Sound option makes the wireless speakers so quiet I wouldn't even know they were there if I hadn't set them up myself. I need to use the Music mode (which is only stereo) in order to actually hear the rear speakers. I hope this gets addressed in an update!

mcgooze
Streaming Star

Re: Roku Wireless Speakers in Surround setup with Roku soundbar not loud enough

Slight update. I spoke with someone in Support today. I had hope for a brief moment, but it didn't pan out. I'm sharing here in case someone else thinks they can make this work.

The support lady discovered through our conversation that I didn't have any remote paired with the wireless speakers. If I did, I'd be able to bring up the volume of the speakers. Seemed simple & logical enough. We couldn't, however get any of my remotes paired with the speakers- they automatically paired with the soundbar.

Where we left it is that she's going to check with the "team" and get back to me.... but if anyone else wants to try to make that happen, let me know if you have any success!

 

greg

akakar4858
Streaming Star

Re: Roku Wireless Speakers in Surround setup with Roku soundbar not loud enough

Hmm... So I have the tabletop remote paired and I was able to adjust the volume but it was the overall volume that seemed to be adjusting. I also remember that the tabletop remote automatically paired, I didn't have to go through pairing steps. My hope is that it automatically paired with my TV wireless speakers, I will check in the evening when I get home to see if the tabletop remote is paired to the soundbar or to my TV Wireless speakers and update this thread. 

0 Kudos
RokuTannerD
Retired Moderator

Re: Roku Wireless Speakers in Surround setup with Roku soundbar not loud enough

Thanks for sharing the observations and feedback here. The ability to adjust individual audio channels, or the rear speakers, is not currently supported. This would be a great suggestion to share in the 'Suggest a feature' section of the Community though! 

(On a separate note, pairing a remote is only applicable to your Roku TV, or Roku Smart Soundbar directly. You cannot pair a Roku remote directly with speakers themselves. This would also not change the currently available audio options. Apologies for any confusion that may have occurred when speaking with our support team.) 

As noted earlier in the topic, setting Enhanced Stereo mode to 'music' will produce stereo sound from all speakers, which may help raise the volume level on rear speakers in the 4.1 surround setup. This is currently the only feature available that will allow you to adjust the volume output from the rear speakers, other than just turning the overall volume up to a higher level.

 

Thanks,

Tanner

0 Kudos
akakar4858
Streaming Star

Re: Roku Wireless Speakers in Surround setup with Roku soundbar not loud enough

Hello everyone I created a "suggest a feature" topic here :

mcgooze
Streaming Star

Re: Roku Wireless Speakers in Surround setup with Roku soundbar not loud enough


@RokuTannerD wrote:

Thanks for sharing the observations and feedback here. The ability to adjust individual audio channels, or the rear speakers, is not currently supported. This would be a great suggestion to share in the 'Suggest a feature' section of the Community though! 

(On a separate note, pairing a remote is only applicable to your Roku TV, or Roku Smart Soundbar directly. You cannot pair a Roku remote directly with speakers themselves. This would also not change the currently available audio options. Apologies for any confusion that may have occurred when speaking with our support team.) 

As noted earlier in the topic, setting Enhanced Stereo mode to 'music' will produce stereo sound from all speakers, which may help raise the volume level on rear speakers in the 4.1 surround setup. This is currently the only feature available that will allow you to adjust the volume output from the rear speakers, other than just turning the overall volume up to a higher level. 

 

Thanks,

Tanner


Thanks for weighing in Tanner. I figured the remote fix was too good to be true. I would ask you to relay to the bakers that this issue is more like a bug or design flaw than merely a limitation of user options. You can't possibly assume that every surround setup is the same, and users will sometimes have limited options as to where surround speakers can be placed. Hence the need to be able to individually affect the volume of the various components. It could as simple as the way you offer "no bass" and "bass boost" so that it remains as user friendly as possible. But to not have any adjustment means that a good many users will have a very disappointing experience, which will translate into bad reviews and low sales. Please get this addressed.

thanks,

greg

RB11
Newbie

Re: Roku Wireless Speakers in Surround setup with Roku soundbar not loud enough

I also have the same feedback on the wireless setup.  In fact, I get better sound capabilities by just using the wireless roku speakers with my Roku tv.  The soundbar and sub have been a waste of money if the functionality of the individual wireless speaker volume output adjustment can’t be addressed.  great concept, but less than average execution here.  

akakar4858
Streaming Star

Re: Roku Wireless Speakers in Surround setup with Roku soundbar not loud enough

Hey can you please also share your response here. Roku suggested we create a "Suggest a Feature" request for this issue which I've done at this link.