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Hi everyone,

I thought this might be useful for people who plan to ditch their wired surround system for a system such as this.  I went for a Sonos ARC, Sub (Gen 3), and One SLs.  I came from a system consisting of B&W floor stand speakers and center channel, rears and sub coupled with a pretty high end Pioneer AV receiver (I manage to offload it for a decent price on the used market).   I have a 2019 model Sony TV with just a standard ARC connection.  Before getting this system I owned 2 other Sonos products - a pair of Ones stereo paired in a seperate room and the Sonos Roam (to which I think is by far their weakest product).  

So here are my thoughts:

For movies & TV, I am pretty happy by and large.  Calibrating the system with True Play yields very good results and the general usability of the system is great.  Its also far more attractive than my old bulky set up.  The immersion is great and dialogue is easy to hear even without turning speech enhancement on.  

For music, its OK.  I listen to music using the Full mode for the rears.  I think if there was a way to disable the volume from the ARC during music playback - it could be better in that regard.  To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to be blown away by the 2 channel music in this set up to be fair.  Having dedicated 2 channel speakers in front of you is hard to beat - in future I would like to have an option to buy 2 sonos speakers as fronts and utilize the existing sub - I think that would make a huge difference for Music - if they did that I would consider a pair of Sonos 5s.    

I was fortunate to get this system after they fixed their software issues.  In fact if anything, I found the bass too overpowering and had to lower it to -2.  

Biggest gripe I have with my system is not really down to the Sonos system specifically but indirectly down to its lack of versatility (by relying on only 1 HDMI port - although I knew this going in).  I know the only way to guarantee lossless Atmos is to either upgrade my TV or get an expensive work around like an HD Fury Arcana - but 1) I like my TV; 2) I mostly watch movies from streaming services to which Atmos is compressed anyway; and 3) Including the Arcana involves other compromises such as issues relating to CEC and audio gaps etc plus it adds another layer of complexity that is likely to go wrong at some stage.  So I have settled on getting lossy Atmos.  Issue there is that my go to streamer was the Apple TV 4K which doesn’t output bitstream Atmos to my TV (multi channel PCM through the MAT format so best I can get is standard Dolby 5.1).  So I have tried my best to try to and streamline and optimize the TV’s internal Android OS.  I can get Netflix and Prime in Atmos but currently there is an issue with Disney +  on Sony TVs which leaves me stuck with Dolby Digital Plus until they fix the software.  I almost wish that Sonos would offer its own proprietary HDMI pass through adaptor so it can work with older TVs - even if it cost as much as the Arcana - it would have worked seamlessly - I mean they offer an optical adaptor for old TVs so why not have that as a cost option?  Just a thought.  

Overall, the sound quality is “pretty solid” if not underwhelming for the price but when you consider the usability, simplicity and aesthetics - I think its a pretty good product.  I used to own an old Bose Lifestyle system back in the day that cost a lot more and sounded a lot worse.  

Hi everyone,

I thought this might be useful for people who plan to ditch their wired surround system for a system such as this.  I went for a Sonos ARC, Sub (Gen 3), and One SLs.  I came from a system consisting of B&W floor stand speakers and center channel, rears and sub coupled with a pretty high end Pioneer AV receiver (I manage to offload it for a decent price on the used market).   I have a 2019 model Sony TV with just a standard ARC connection.  Before getting this system I owned 2 other Sonos products - a pair of Ones stereo paired in a seperate room and the Sonos Roam (to which I think is by far their weakest product).  

 

 

Roam is the weakest product compared to the other products you own, or are you including other products you don’t have?  And does ‘weak’ refer to sound quality or other factors?

 

So here are my thoughts:

For movies & TV, I am pretty happy by and large.  Calibrating the system with True Play yields very good results and the general usability of the system is great.  Its also far more attractive than my old bulky set up.  The immersion is great and dialogue is easy to hear even without turning speech enhancement on.  

For music, its OK.  I listen to music using the Full mode for the rears.  I think if there was a way to disable the volume from the ARC during music playback - it could be better in that regard.  To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to be blown away by the 2 channel music in this set up to be fair.  Having dedicated 2 channel speakers in front of you is hard to beat - in future I would like to have an option to buy 2 sonos speakers as fronts and utilize the existing sub - I think that would make a huge difference for Music - if they did that I would consider a pair of Sonos 5s.    

 

 

If you are listening to atmos music, the Arc beats 2 separate stereo speakers in my opinion.   I would agree that you get better music from a pair of 5s, particularly when paired with sub.  You can setup that room in the same room as the Arc, as many have done.  Nothing stopping you from that.  However, rumor is that Sonos is working on the next gen 5s that will be atmos capable.

 

I was fortunate to get this system after they fixed their software issues.  In fact if anything, I found the bass too overpowering and had to lower it to -2.  

Biggest gripe I have with my system is not really down to the Sonos system specifically but indirectly down to its lack of versatility (by relying on only 1 HDMI port - although I knew this going in).  I know the only way to guarantee lossless Atmos is to either upgrade my TV or get an expensive work around like an HD Fury Arcana - but 1) I like my TV; 2) I mostly watch movies from streaming services to which Atmos is compressed anyway; and 3) Including the Arcana involves other compromises such as issues relating to CEC and audio gaps etc plus it adds another layer of complexity that is likely to go wrong at some stage. 

 

 

I haven’t had any issues with Arcana. I’m generally not a fan of ‘passthrough’ strategies.  With traditional systems, you’re passing your video through you audio system (receiver) meaning that the receiver is the bottleneck.  With HDMI-ARC setups, the you’re passing your audio through the video system (TV), meaning the TV is the bottleneck.  I like the idea of Arcana and similar products since you aren’t relying on your receiver/amp to handle video content, or your TV to handle audio, and they can just do what they were primarily designed to do.  In other words, I like a more component based approach.

 

So I have settled on getting lossy Atmos.  Issue there is that my go to streamer was the Apple TV 4K which doesn’t output bitstream Atmos to my TV (multi channel PCM through the MAT format so best I can get is standard Dolby 5.1).  So I have tried my best to try to and streamline and optimize the TV’s internal Android OS.  I can get Netflix and Prime in Atmos but currently there is an issue with Disney +  on Sony TVs which leaves me stuck with Dolby Digital Plus until they fix the software.  I almost wish that Sonos would offer its own proprietary HDMI pass through adaptor so it can work with older TVs - even if it cost as much as the Arcana - it would have worked seamlessly - I mean they offer an optical adaptor for old TVs so why not have that as a cost option?  Just a thought.  

 

 

Well, they would have had to have added several HDMI inputs, like receivers do, and likely had additional licensing costs for video formats.  You can easily get an HDMI to optical converter if you need it, plus whatever HDMI switch/splitter/matrix you may need for your TV at whatever quality you need.

 

Overall, the sound quality is “pretty solid” if not underwhelming for the price but when you consider the usability, simplicity and aesthetics - I think its a pretty good product.  I used to own an old Bose Lifestyle system back in the day that cost a lot more and sounded a lot worse.  

 

I referred to the Roam as being Sonos’s weakest product. I don’t think it’s terrible although my wife hates it. Biggest complaint is the battery life and the fact that it keeps falling asleep and it’s not always easy to turn it on again. When it comes to wireless WI-FI home speakers, Sonos has a very strong product line up but when it comes to portable Bluetooth speakers, there is a LOT of competition out there. If I had to get another Bluetooth speaker I might get the UE boom as they sound great, water proof and you can stereo pair them over Bluetooth.

By the way update everyone…..I watched a couple of movies last night and my appreciation for the system went up a few notches! The system is growing on me

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