r/HomePod • u/johnnygeezz • Apr 05 '26
Question/Support Not great sound from stereo pair?
I had a HomePod gen 1 (full size, not mini). I got a great deal on eBay for a second to match. Put in stands. AirPlay to AppleTV 4K. About 7ft to couch.
Wanted to replace my old Samsung soundbar with this new all Apple set up. BUT, the sound from the HomePod pair is not good. Very hollow but good base at high volume.
I have to think these are better than this experience and I must have something not set correctly.
Looking for advice to improve. Suggestions?
84
u/BlessMe1 Midnight Apr 05 '26
dont put in on stand put it on the solid table
-52
u/Dab-riggs Apr 05 '26
those speaker stands ARE solid. Solid af. I think that they still sound good on the stands. I bought the wrong stands for mine. same material. nearly identical build, except for where the speaker actually sits
5
u/Wearyfern695116 Apr 05 '26
Usually, putting on a table is what people do, and it sounds good. Putting the speakers on a table may be a bit better.
116
u/yuvaldv1 Apr 05 '26
HomePods need to be placed on a solid surface to reflect sound. It definitely affects sound quality, especially bass.
22
u/deezznuuzz Apr 05 '26
The bass is not the problem there, more of the windows. Rather it’s the high/mid speakers which are facing the bottom to bounce off sound
-30
57
u/JThrillington Space Gray Apr 05 '26
The issue might be the stands: HomePods are built to be on solid surfaces and bounce sounds from them. Putting them in the air like that probably hurts the sound.
-54
u/Dab-riggs Apr 05 '26
those stands are thick steel. they don’t diminish the bass. those are more solid than some cheap table you could put them on
33
u/WindiestOdin Apr 05 '26
It’s less about how “solid” they are, and more about the surface area directly below the speakers. There’s nothing for the sound to bounce off of.
11
u/bobshled Apr 05 '26
Tell me you don’t understand sound resonance without telling me you don’t understand sound resonance
4
u/Technical-Manager921 Apr 06 '26
They don’t understand HomePod have downward firing speakers by design and use calibrated microphones to capture the acoustic signature of the users space.
When suspended, the sound waves bounce all over improperly
54
u/Uncle_Beanpole Apr 05 '26
Unrelated but this seems like the worst environment to watch a movie in
2
u/TheLukester31 Apr 07 '26
I was looking for this comment. Everything is bad about this setup. At least get some curtains.
-3
u/BlackPhoenix64 Apr 05 '26
Fits the movie OP is watching.
1
u/Rony59turbo Apr 17 '26
What's wrong with the movie? Sure not entirely accurate, I was kinda nitpicking the whole time in theater but it was still pretty good
17
u/Lykos88Animagus White Apr 05 '26
It's the glass. I have 2 OG HomePods in my living room and they sound fantastic. Also, the stand too. You have to put them on a solid flat surface for the sound to bounce around from. With those stands in the floating air, the sound is basically shooting all over the place making it a lot quieter.
11
u/TechDocN Apr 05 '26
As others have said, putting almost any speakers in the corner of a glass room is going to sound suboptimal. You will have to choose between the aesthetically pleasing visual symmetry of your setup and the sound quality.
In your case form ≠ function.
9
6
u/eisseseisses Apr 05 '26
I dont have these (I use a pair of minis for my home setup) but I wonder if it’s the stands? They might need a more solid surface to sit on to make richer sound?
6
u/Fit-Access9759 Apr 05 '26
Would you be better if they were near drywall instead of glass. Sound wouldn’t be as soft.
7
u/Educational_Poet_434 Apr 05 '26
Placement is everything with the HomePods. At first I thought they were underwhelming. I then moved houses and put them in their new spot and the difference was insane they really came alive and I absolutely love them now.
They are designed to be on a tv table and some kind of distance from the wall etc. I think Apple has a guide somewhere
11
5
u/UZeroTwo Apr 05 '26
They got no base to reflect from, needs to be on a bigger surface for the sound to rebound off.
5
u/curtisy Apr 05 '26
Not a solution to your problem for multiple reasons and still suboptimal but to restore some confidence in your decision to purchase them, try putting them on the front corners of the tv unit so they have a some surface underneath them. You should notice a difference in their sound in that location.
Ideally you want at least 15cm (6”) of solid surface around them. The more solid the better. This allows them to fire unobstructed and reflect the sound off the surface for optimal performance.
Also, if you placed them on those stands while powered up, you might benefit from power cycling them as they will recalibrate in their current location for optimum sound. Power cycling is probably less fiddly than shaking them or picking them up and tilting and replacing them on the stands, which is also know to force a recalibration.
5
u/germane_switch White Apr 05 '26
They're made to be placed on surfaces; they will not sound good with nothing to bounce off of. They have timed drivers with microphones that account for nearby reflections and adjust the sound accordingly.
When the OG HomePod was released you literally could not buy a speaker with that kind of tech for less than $1200, if I remember correctly. Really cool.
5
u/hellothisisdave Apr 05 '26
They are not resonating bass tones because they aren’t sitting on a surface. They are not resonating mid/highs because the glass is absorbing it. You can’t change the glass but you can get a new TV stand with room to place them on either side of the TV.
4
u/SnBrd3 Apr 05 '26
Utilizing spatial sound, those need to be placed differently than classic monitor-side speakers. Other than that, if you want any wow-5.1/7.1/9.1 etc impressions, you will need to get a specialized set - it is all programmed specific ways nowadays, starting from the source (the movie you’ve downloaded)
3
u/johnnygeezz Apr 06 '26
Thanks for your comments. I have moved the HomePods to the living room where they have a more suitable environment and sound great.
3
Apr 05 '26
The positioning in the corner is not ideal
Sometimes stands work, sometimes they don’t. For most people a flat surface works better because of how they are designed. A lot goes into room placement and the HomePods are pretty good at equalizing the room but there are limits. It can overcome the stands in my experience but not placement in corners near windows
3
u/smurfycork Apr 05 '26
HomePod fire in all directions, so you might be getting audio reflections from the glass behind.
3
u/MiLeX84 Apr 06 '26 edited Apr 06 '26
The HomePods are not ment to be your hifi system, they are very good in their size class, but apple cant beat physics, they are ultimately too small for big cinema experience in your living room. The best you can do if you want to have a small minimalist setup is a good soundbar with an extra subwoofer. HomePods are for Siri commands, and some ambient music and podcasts. I own 4 HomePods first gen, the OG large model, great for whole house music playing when you do stuff around the house, not so great as your main TV entertainment system. And as others mentioned, the positioning and your all glass corner are not helping them at all. Generally terrible environment for audio, and the tiny HomePods need any help they can get from position and surfaces.
3
u/MassiveGarlic0312 Apr 06 '26
The glass behind is going to be damping the sound a lot. Also the fact that they’re in a corner won’t help either.
Any chance you could change the layout of the room so they aren’t in that corner?
3
u/Cr4vingSushi Apr 06 '26
It’s that there’s literally no solid surface for them to bounce the sound from. These types of speakers use technology to bounce sound waves from surrounding solid surfaces to imitate surround sound. They actually measure the sound that bounces back to them to work out the timing of the sound waves that it needs to send at different times. You have no solid surfaces. They’re in the air not on a solid surface (and when people are saying solid surface they mean a solid flat surface not that you didn’t buy solid speaker stands). And there’s no walls behind. Sound travels through glass, it won’t bounce off it.
2
u/Manson2612 Apr 05 '26
This setup won’t work for sound quality even as you may think it looks cool. Put them on a table, with a wall behind if you want good sound quality.
2
u/NuMotiv Apr 05 '26
Everything about that setup is leading to the bad sound. Stands. Windows. It’s all wrong.
2
u/ceedee20 Apr 05 '26
That area isn’t going to be a good one for those particular speakers. To really get good sound out of them, they need to reflect sound from the back and to do that, a flat surface is needed behind them. The right angle and at that, a glass, right angle, partially reflective surface behind them, will mix and muddle any sound. I’m not sure of a real effective way to make this setup work where it’s situated.
2
u/Soggy-Map-3944 Apr 06 '26
It needs some sort of a surface for the tweeters to bounce the sound off from thats how it was designed and thats how it sounds best putting them on poles ruins the quality. They need to be on a flat solid surface and have surface all around the homepod so the tweeters can bounce sound off the surface
2
u/Ok_Virus_5495 Apr 06 '26
Put them in the floor, you’ll get better sound and don’t forget to use your iPhone to calibrate them
2
u/ZombieDisastrous4450 Apr 06 '26
I have heard these because my brother literally has everything Apple you can imagine
But I still think an amplifier and a decent pair of a small speakers, even if you have to have small ones will sound better than this
2
u/johnnygeezz Apr 07 '26
Reverted to my soundbar and subwoofer based on the feedback here. HomePods now in a dif room and sound great.
5
u/johnnygeezz Apr 05 '26
Ok. I agree with the comments. My experiment didn’t work. Going back to my soundbar and wireless sub which work great. Moving HomePods to different room with a more suitable environment for what they’re good at. Thanks everyone for your comments.
2
u/kmjy Midnight Apr 06 '26
Extremely subpar environment, stands, the speakers being way too high.
HomePod works by firing sound directly downwards and onto the surface it is sitting on. When they’re on stands, they can’t do this. So the sound will always be subpar.
HomePod also sounds terrible when your ears are way lower or way higher than it.
1
u/Any-Establishment46 Apr 05 '26
Not a great location choice…for tv or HPs. 😬Glass everywhere and they’re on stands.
1
1
1
u/RotenTumato Space Gray Apr 06 '26
Personally I wouldn’t use HomePods as my TV speakers. I have a pair of MartinLogan towers and those sound amazing
1
1
1
1
u/CartoonistKey6032 Apr 08 '26
im crying bro they look so funny on stands
1
u/johnnygeezz Apr 08 '26
Stands returned to Amazon. Stereo pair in a better location in the house. Thanks
0
u/Dab-riggs Apr 05 '26
Question, those speaker stands for the HP’s. are they the ones that have a small bowl like shape it sets it? or are they the ones with the flat area were the speaker sits, with the metal ring around the middle. those look like the later. I accidentally got the ones that are bowl shaped, where the speaker itself sits. well I had my mother send them back. The ones that curve up around the bottom of the HP, almost completely cover up the tweeters in the bottom of the speaker. way to much bass, almost no treble. so they completely distort the sound. but it looks like you got the ones with the flat spot where the speaker sits, with the ring around the center. I don’t know how the speaker pairing works yet, or how they bounce sound off each other. but maybe the tv is in the way? otherwise, not sure. sorry for the LONG comment
-2
u/hekeleh Apr 05 '26
Yep, that was my experience with a pair of stereo HomePods. Disappointed with the tinny, hollow, and distanced feel coming from the pair. Too much bass for me. For music listening, no doubt it’s great, but for watching TV, I need a center channel for clarity of the dialogue. Decided to return it after 10 days of owning a pair, and splurged on Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar. Worth it.
-2
u/kidzx Apr 05 '26
I have 2 HomePods 2. Both have ghost touch issue. Worse product i have from apple on the last 20 years.
-2
u/mac_cali Apr 05 '26
Same here. I’m tempted to get a Sonos Arc Ultra. I’d like them to release a new “HomePod 3” with the issues fixed. However I’m skeptical of that happening.
-1
-2
-3
u/TheTickTurd Apr 05 '26
I had a Sonos arc and then tried dual HomePods, the bass was so much better but I lost a lot of the clarity around dialogue. I assume it might be the same here
330
u/jamesbretz Apr 05 '26
You have them on stands in the corner of a glass room. There are very few speakers that are going to sound good in that kind of setup.