How to tune your Sonos speakers with Trueplay for better sound quality

Sonos offers a software feature called Trueplay that aims to make your existing Sonos speakers sound better. The software is designed to allow users to place their Sonos speakers wherever they like, even a cupboard, and still achieve good sound quality.

Trueplay enables you to tune your Sonos speaker to the room it is located in using a simple step-by-step process through the Sonos app. We’ve detailed the Trueplay process below but if you want more information on how the process works, you can read our Trueplay explained feature.

What Sonos speakers are compatible with Trueplay?

Trueplay is offered for all Sonos speakers including the Sonos One, Sonos One SL, Play:1, Play:3, Play:5, Sonos Five, Playbar, Playbase, Beam, Beam 2 and Arc. It is also on the portable Sonos Move and Sonos Roam, but these speakers offer Automatic Trueplay tuning.

Trueplay requires an Apple device running iOS 7 and above for the tuning process, as well as users getting up off the sofa. The tuning setup cannot currently be done with an Android device because there is too much variation in terms of microphones but Sonos has said it is working on it.

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Sonos Trueplay: The step-by-step process

To start the Trueplay process: Open the Sonos app > Tap on the Settings tab in the bottom right of your display > System > Tap on the speaker you want to Trueplay tune > Tap on Trueplay under the Sound section > Tap on Trueplay Tuning > Continue.

1. Allow access to the microphone

Trueplay uses the microphone on your iOS device to listen to test sounds emitted by the Sonos speaker you are tuning so the first step of the Trueplay process is to grant access to the microphone.

Once the Sonos app has access to the microphone, you’ll be able to start the Trueplay process. Make sure you don’t have a case on your iOS device.

2. Position your Sonos speaker

Move the Sonos speaker you are about to tune into the position you plan on leaving it in. The Trueplay process will tune the speaker specifically to its placement so if you move it, even to the other side of the room, it is worth retuning to ensure you are getting the best possible sound.

To retune a speaker, follow the steps at the beginning of this section.

3. Positioning your device

Your iOS device needs to be held in a certain way for it to pick up the test sounds accurately. The microphone needs to be at the top so you’ll need to turn your iPhone or iPad upside down.

This means either device would be held in a vertical position with the Home button (for iPhone 8 and older) at the top, or the Face ID notch (for iPhone X devices and newer) at the bottom.

4. Silence please

The microphone on your iOS device will then make sure the room you are tuning is quiet enough. No talking, no TV, no music. Super silence is necessary for Trueplay to work.

If there is too much noise going on in the room, an error message will appear pretty much telling you to shut up in a nice way. You can either select try again or cancel tuning if the time isn’t quite right for being quiet.

5. Watch the video

There is a very short video (under a minute) that will guide you through how to perform the tuning technique. It’s worth watching to make sure you do it right first time as otherwise you’ll have to repeat the entire process.

6. Perform the tuning technique

Once you press Begin Tuning, the Sonos speaker you are tuning will begin to emit the series of test sounds. You’ll then need to walk slowly around the room and wave your device smoothly up and down, as the video shows.

No running and no waving your arm like you’ve just seen a long lost friend. You’ll have to do it again if you get carried away or you don’t bother moving properly in the first place. It’s simple, but an art. Tap Begin Tuning when you’re ready.

For the Playbar, Playbase, Beam, Beam 2 and Arc, you’ll need to perform the tuning technique twice. The first time, you will sit in the place you would normally watch your TV, allowing Sonos to balance the sound from your speaker. The second time, you’ll walk around as described above, following the same procedure as other Sonos speakers.

7. Keep waving and walking

You need to keep waving and walking until the test sound stops so don’t even think about pressing start and sitting back down on the sofa.

If you can’t handle 45-seconds of walking and waving then you can cancel the tuning process by hitting the cross in the centre. But if you make it to the end, without the error screen appearing, you’ve successfully tuned your speaker to the room and you should notice a difference in sound. The more you listen, the better the speaker should sound.

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