Switch to TV, back to music, and home theater sound

Switch on the Rooms tab

Just say it: assistant, WeChat, Claude / ChatGPT

Say things like "switch to TV", "TV mode" or "watch TV"; "back to music" or "music mode"; "switch to line-in". No need to name the room: it finds the speaker with a TV input.

• In the ZoneFoundry assistant: on the same Wi-Fi, the phone switches directly.
• Away from home, or from WeChat, QQ, Telegram or Claude / ChatGPT: it goes through the Sonos cloud first, so usually your phone doesn't need to be open or at home, and it works in schedules and scenes too.
• If the cloud can't switch it, WeChat and the other channels will ask you to open ZoneFoundry on your phone, keep it in the foreground on your home Wi-Fi, and send the message again.
• Back to music resumes the room's existing Sonos queue rather than picking new songs, and does nothing if music is already on. If the queue is empty, you'll be told to just ask for a song: playing any song also switches back to music.
• If there's no soundbar at home, you'll be told no speaker with a TV input was found.
• All of this needs a Sonos account sign-in, but no bridge.

Quick sound: long-press a room → Sound

Long-press a room on the Rooms tab for Set as default, Focus room, Rename, Sound and Leave group. Tap Sound:

• Off your home Wi-Fi it goes through the Sonos cloud instead (sign-in needed), and the panel says "Remote mode — these go through the Sonos cloud, so they can take a moment."
• If neither works you'll see: "This room can't be adjusted locally right now — check that your phone and the speaker are on the same Wi‑Fi."
• You can also just say "turn on night mode" or "turn off speech enhancement"; it finds the soundbar for you.

Full home theater settings

Path: the gear at the top right of Home → Settings → Rooms & Playback (called Devices in earlier versions) → Manage Rooms → tap a room. Swiping left on a room in Manage Rooms also renames it.

What you'll find (each item only appears if the speaker reports that setting):

• Sound: Bass and Treble (-10 to 10), Loudness ("Boosts certain frequencies at low volume.") and Restore to Default.
• Home Theater: Audio In (read-only; shows the TV signal format); Night Mode and Speech Enhancement; TV Dialog Sync, 0 to 5: "If voices are out of sync with the picture, increase TV Dialog Sync to delay the audio."
• Surround: Surround Enabled, TV Level and Music Level (-15 to 15), and Music Playback: Ambient or Full. This is where you balance front and rear speakers.
• Height Level, -10 to 10: "Height Level adjusts height-channel volume for spatial audio like Dolby Atmos." There's no separate Dolby Atmos switch.
• Speaker layout: a read-only channel map showing which speaker is center, front left/right, surround left/right and Sub. Hidden if it can't be read.
• Sub: only when a Sub is confirmed. A switch, Sub Level (-15 to 15) and Sub Phase (0° / 180°).
• If a change fails you'll see "Couldn't update speaker setting".

Trueplay

At the bottom of the same page: "Tuning uses the Sonos app's microphone calibration." Tap Set up in Sonos app to open the Sonos app (or the App Store if it isn't installed). Trueplay itself can only be done in the Sonos app.

Put TV and sound settings in a scene

• Device settings in the scene editor (the collapsed row reads "EQ, night mode, TV input…"): Night mode, Loudness, Bass, Treble, Speech enhancement (the same setting as Speech Enhancement elsewhere), Subwoofer gain and Switch to TV input. Footer: "Only the items you set here are sent. Everything left on "Leave unchanged" is not touched."
• When you run the scene in the app, these only apply with your phone on the same Wi-Fi as the speaker; otherwise they're skipped without an error.
• The content source list also has TV (HDMI ARC / Line-In). There's no "back to music" option. See Scenes.

Letting Claude or ChatGPT do it

• An AI connected to ZoneFoundry can switch to TV, back to music, or to line-in, the same way WeChat and the assistant do.
• For home theater, AI can only turn night mode and speech enhancement on or off, and only on soundbars. Bass, treble, loudness, surround, Sub, dialog sync and height level can only be changed in the app.
• To connect one, see Let Claude or ChatGPT control your Sonos.

FAQ

Switched to TV and can't get back?

Tap Music on the Speaker Input card on the Rooms tab, say "back to music" to the assistant, or just play any song or favorite. "Back to music" resumes the existing Sonos queue; if the queue is empty you'll be asked to pick a song.

No Speaker Input card?

It only appears when the selected room can switch inputs. Tap the soundbar's room on the Rooms tab first.

No TV sound, or it won't switch?

Check the current input on the card's subtitle; with no soundbar you'll be told no speaker with a TV input was found. If WeChat can't switch it, open ZoneFoundry on your phone, keep it in the foreground on home Wi-Fi and send again. For the TV's own audio output and delay, see our guide on Sonos soundbar lip sync and TV audio dropouts.

Voices out of sync with the picture?

Turn up TV Dialog Sync under Manage Rooms → the room, on the same Wi-Fi.

Where is night mode?

Three places: long-press a room → Sound; Settings → Rooms & Playback → Manage Rooms → the room → Home Theater; or just say "turn on night mode". Soundbars only.

Where's the front/rear (surround) balance?

TV Level and Music Level under Manage Rooms → the room, on the same Wi-Fi.

Why is there no night mode under Sound?

That room isn't a soundbar. Night mode and speech enhancement are soundbar-only.