HomePod mini stereo pair on an Apple TV produces only mono sound

Question

HomePod mini stereo pair on an Apple TV produces only mono sound

Hello!

I am in trouble with my home cinema setup. I bought two HomePod mini to make a stereo pair and connected them to my Apple TV 4K. All devices are up to date.

I get stereo sound when listening to Apple Music from my iPad. When watching Netflix on my Apple TV, sometimes I only get one speaker to produce sound. While watching Netflix, I browse through the menu of the stereo pair and can play a sound on either left or right to identify them. So they are correctly connected. But Netflix will only play sound on one of them!

This is not all the time, just sometimes. I tried unplugging/replugging them but this is not solving the problem all the time. Any suggestions?

Apple TV 4K, tvOS 15

Posted on Nov 29, 2021 1:37 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Bernhard Walzl Author

Level 1

84 points

Jan 1, 2022 3:46 PM in response to Bernhard Walzl

UPDATE: SOLVED!

Quick update to tell anyone who has the same problem that I have found a solution.

The routine that worked for me was to power cycle the router and then individually power cycle each device. Which was quite annoying. It looked like my wifi couldn’t cope with the traffic, clients connected, etc or was overloaded .. or something in that direction.

My router is provided by my ISP, is over 10 years old and there is quite a possibility that it’s just not up to game anymore.

I have looked up a new router in order to replace it but then I gave it a last chance and searched for the manual of the router and dig into it to see if I can find something fishy. And I got a catch!

There is a setting for power reduction and the manual is very vague about it. Some sort of reduction of throughput in order to minimise power consumption if there is little or no traffic.

It was activated. I deactivated this option and this seems to be working!

I hope this post helps others who have the same issue!

Bernhard

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Answer 2

JovonaP.

Community Specialist

Nov 30, 2021 11:07 AM in response to Bernhard Walzl

Hello Bernhard Walz,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities. It's our understanding that sound isn't playing as expected with your HomePod mini stereo pair when watching Netflix. You've done a great job trying to get this resolved. We're happy to help.

If you have't already, we recommend that you reset the HomePod mini using the steps in the following resource:

Reset HomePod

If the issue persists, let us know if this has ever worked with Netflix. Be sure to include any other troubleshooting steps that you may have tried.

Have a nice day!

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Answer 3

Dec 1, 2021 7:29 PM in response to JovonaP.

I was just about to go through those steps to reset and when switching it all back on I noticed it’s working just fine 🤷‍♂️. I am not going to change a running system just now. Surely however this is only temporary because this has happened before already a few times 😕

I have noticed a few glitches like this with HomeKit and I am quite positive this misbehaviour has the same root: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253396312

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Answer 4

Dec 6, 2021 8:43 PM in response to JovonaP.

Update :

The missbehaviour becomes weirder and weirder.

So yesterday I setup for watching a movie and noticed that neither HomePod was outputting any sound but the integrated speaker of my projector! I looked up the settings, it was clearly marked HomePod is active! I checked via the home app as well as directly on the Apple TV.

I unplug and re-plug the HomePod, no change. I was fiddling around for a good 20 minutes. Until I set my iPad on airplane mode. The second I did this, the HomePod immediately output the sound instead of the internal speaker. What? Why?

I start to give up on this and may even buy a standard speaker system with a 3.5mm plug. All I want is watching a movie but at the moment I constantly have to fiddle around in menus, resetting, unplugging etc in order to have proper sound :(

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Answer 5

Dec 10, 2021 10:41 PM in response to Bernhard Walzl

Update:

My daily homepod dilemma has a new chapter.

My HomePod today was very cooperative with playing sounds without any hiccup. I did reboot all and any apple devices I own just in case by default just to prevent problems. After I watched my film (in stereo) I told Siri to switch off the light and I get back: something is up with your iCloud settings and I should take a look in the home app on the iPhone.

i did logout and log back in but no change. What’s going on?

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Answer 6

Jan 5, 2022 12:49 PM in response to Bernhard Walzl

It could be wifi interference. I started having Homepod & Homekit issues and eventually found my neighbour had installed a new router that was using the same channels as my router (used Wifi Explorer on a Macbook to detect this). I forced my router to a different channel and the problems seem to have gone away. I realise that routers are suppose to handle this situation but evidently they don't always work as intended.

Another, related issue is routers that have smart feature to try and optimise the signal - this can confuse Homepods. However your router is probably too old for this "feature".

Finally, you could try assigning static IP addresses to the Homepods via the router settings.

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Answer 7

Jan 5, 2022 12:15 PM in response to Bernhard Walzl

FALSE ALARM: I am afraid, this did not resolve the issue. The problem is not solved. I can't edit the above post.

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HomePod mini stereo pair on an Apple TV produces only mono sound

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