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Judy43
Reel Rookie

Streambar won't play when roku speakers set to front

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Equipment: 1). Roku Streambar   2).  Roku TV Wireless Speakers (set of 2)

Issue: When wireless speakers are set to "front", the streambar does not play sound.  

I need the streambar and 2 wireless speakers to all play "front"; however, there doesn't appear to be a setting to ensure the streambar plays "front" when the wireless speakers are also set to front.

Any solution for this? 

PS.  Streambar works as designed when speakers are set to "back". 

My Equipment: 

https://www.roku.com/products/audio/roku-streambar

https://www.roku.com/products/audio/roku-wireless-speakers 

Thanks

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2 Solutions

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RokuEmmanuel-D
Community Moderator
Community Moderator

Re: Streambar won't play when roku speakers set to front

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Hi, @Judy43.

Welcome aboard to the Roku Community!

We understand that your Roku Streambar's audio will not work when you place your Roku Wireless Speakers on its side. We're here to provide the information that you need. 

For the optimal experience, it is recommended that you place your Roku Wireless Speakers behind the primary listening area. This placement is designed to deliver an immersive surround sound experience, enhancing audio enjoyment. 

With this configuration, referred to as a 3.0 or 3.1, two wireless speakers are installed as rear left and rear proper channels, and your Streambar or Smart Soundbar outputs sound for the front left, center, and front proper channels.

  • To create sound separation, Place one speaker slightly behind your couch to the left and the other slightly behind your couch to the right. Try spacing each speaker an even distance from where you sit.

image.pngThis allows you to hear sounds moving from the left and right behind you, helping to create an immersive surround-sound experience.

  • Measure the listening position: For ideal surround separation, the distance from your listening position to each speaker should closely match the distance between your Streambar or Smart Soundbar and your listening position. This helps you to hear sounds from all speakers at the same level, regardless of the overall volume.
  • Experiment: Watch a few action scenes from a movie or TV show and listen for sound coming from the rear left and right speakers. Move each speaker closer or farther away from where you sit until sounds distinctly move between the left and right speakers, giving the illusion of movement. Continue experimenting with locations until you like how the surround effects sound.

Check here for more tips on the best placement for my Roku wireless speakers.

We hope this helps with your concern. Please get back to us if you need more assistance. 

Regards,
Emman

Emmanuel-D.
Roku Community Moderator

View solution in original post

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RokuEmmanuel-D
Community Moderator
Community Moderator

Re: Streambar won't play when roku speakers set to front

Jump to solution

Hey @Judy43, how's everything going?

We want to inform you about the findings of the investigation conducted by our dedicated team at Roku.

For this setup, when the Streambar is set up with two speakers in the front, the speakers become the left and right front channels, and the Streambar turns into a center channel. The center channel will only output dialogue and no other sounds.

When setting up your audio system, we recommend utilizing surround sound (5.1) for an immersive experience. Keep in mind that if you're watching an older TV show that is only available in stereo, the audio will only be directed to the left and right speakers because the content is designed to support only left and right audio channels.

We wanted you to try a recommended movie,"Weird the Al Yankovic Story," available on the Roku channel for free. This is a surround-sound movie, so you can test it out and see if the problem is resolved. 

We hope this clarifies everything and also sorts things out for you. Let us know if you need more help.

Regards,
Emman

Emmanuel-D.
Roku Community Moderator

View solution in original post

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5 REPLIES 5
RokuEmmanuel-D
Community Moderator
Community Moderator

Re: Streambar won't play when roku speakers set to front

Jump to solution

Hi, @Judy43.

Welcome aboard to the Roku Community!

We understand that your Roku Streambar's audio will not work when you place your Roku Wireless Speakers on its side. We're here to provide the information that you need. 

For the optimal experience, it is recommended that you place your Roku Wireless Speakers behind the primary listening area. This placement is designed to deliver an immersive surround sound experience, enhancing audio enjoyment. 

With this configuration, referred to as a 3.0 or 3.1, two wireless speakers are installed as rear left and rear proper channels, and your Streambar or Smart Soundbar outputs sound for the front left, center, and front proper channels.

  • To create sound separation, Place one speaker slightly behind your couch to the left and the other slightly behind your couch to the right. Try spacing each speaker an even distance from where you sit.

image.pngThis allows you to hear sounds moving from the left and right behind you, helping to create an immersive surround-sound experience.

  • Measure the listening position: For ideal surround separation, the distance from your listening position to each speaker should closely match the distance between your Streambar or Smart Soundbar and your listening position. This helps you to hear sounds from all speakers at the same level, regardless of the overall volume.
  • Experiment: Watch a few action scenes from a movie or TV show and listen for sound coming from the rear left and right speakers. Move each speaker closer or farther away from where you sit until sounds distinctly move between the left and right speakers, giving the illusion of movement. Continue experimenting with locations until you like how the surround effects sound.

Check here for more tips on the best placement for my Roku wireless speakers.

We hope this helps with your concern. Please get back to us if you need more assistance. 

Regards,
Emman

Emmanuel-D.
Roku Community Moderator
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Re: Streambar won't play when roku speakers set to front

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This is not at all what the user was describing. When you fix the issues that prevent 90% of sound coming from the L and R speakers, eg. once they are re-added as Front speakers and not Rear and you've messed around with the Music vs. Standard and Stereo vs. Passthrough and ALL THAT, the actual Roku Streambar that previous issued 90% of all sound and served as subwoofer, now puts out NOTHING. It's just a BIG Roku unit, not using its speaker.

This isn't a difficult question or ask from customers: we want to place the Streambar near the TV as the main sound. IDENTICAL SOUND should pump through EACH SPEAKER, using MONO sound, which allows the user to set up their own MONO surround sound speakers. This isn't the product nor the forum for audiophiles; we want sound, throughout the place so we don't have to crank the sound and bass up to ungodly levels just to Kind Of get what we paid for. 

Judy43
Reel Rookie

Re: Streambar won't play when roku speakers set to front

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This response is not to the question asked.  Neither the bar or the speakers are "on their side". 

Repro:

1). set up sound bar. 

2). add 2 speakers

3). Set speakers to "Front" 

Expected behavior:  soundbar and both speakers PLAY identical "front" sound (full sound, not the background sounds).

Actual behavior:  soundbar does not play (no sound),  2 speakers play "front" found. 

 

There is no reason to have 2 speakers for background sound in my scenario. 

I need them to play FRONT sound ... and ... have the sound bar ALSO play FRONT sound. 

Is there a workaround?  

Do I just return the 2 speakers? 

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RokuEmmanuel-D
Community Moderator
Community Moderator

Re: Streambar won't play when roku speakers set to front

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Hi, @Judy43 and @mistermarcy.

Thanks for stopping by here in the Roku Community!

We apologize for the misinformation about the setup with the Roku Wireless Speakers and Roku Streambar. No worries; we'll let the team know about this and conduct an investigation to provide you with an accurate resolution.

To proceed with the investigation, we need additional information about the devices involved in this problem: 

  • Roku device model, serial number, device ID, and OS version. (these can all be found in Settings > System > About)
  • Tracker ID (when you see this issue occur, press the Home button five times, followed by the Back button five times, and provide us with this ID)
  • Wireless speaker model and serial number

We are anticipating your prompt response.

All the best,
Emman

Emmanuel-D.
Roku Community Moderator
0 Kudos
RokuEmmanuel-D
Community Moderator
Community Moderator

Re: Streambar won't play when roku speakers set to front

Jump to solution

Hey @Judy43, how's everything going?

We want to inform you about the findings of the investigation conducted by our dedicated team at Roku.

For this setup, when the Streambar is set up with two speakers in the front, the speakers become the left and right front channels, and the Streambar turns into a center channel. The center channel will only output dialogue and no other sounds.

When setting up your audio system, we recommend utilizing surround sound (5.1) for an immersive experience. Keep in mind that if you're watching an older TV show that is only available in stereo, the audio will only be directed to the left and right speakers because the content is designed to support only left and right audio channels.

We wanted you to try a recommended movie,"Weird the Al Yankovic Story," available on the Roku channel for free. This is a surround-sound movie, so you can test it out and see if the problem is resolved. 

We hope this clarifies everything and also sorts things out for you. Let us know if you need more help.

Regards,
Emman

Emmanuel-D.
Roku Community Moderator
0 Kudos
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