Upgrading My Sonos Setup for Better Dolby Atmos – Advice on Configuration?

You cannot add the 100s and 200s for watching films.  You could group them for music but you can’t have 4 speakers as surround for film/tv sound.

The Arc Ultra has far better bas on its own than the Arc does but as you have a sub Mini you may not hear much difference.

In your situation I’d buy a pair of the 300s form Sonos on the 50day trial and decide on listening.

You could then sell your 100s or use in another room?

Thanks for the detailed advice – it's super helpful! That's a bummer about not being able to mix the Era 100s and 300s for surround sound on movies and TV. I was really hoping to keep everything integrated without any waste.
That said, I'm all about that Dolby Atmos upgrade for a more immersive experience, so I'll probably go ahead and grab the pair of Era 300s. Fingers crossed it takes my setup to the next level!
As for the Era 100s, I could repurpose them in my home office for some background tunes, or maybe gift them to my nephew – he's always tinkering with tech and would love that.
Cheers! 😊

If you want to use the Era 100s as front surrounds then you can, but you need to set them up with the iOS app Sonosequencr.

You will get more helpful answers on the Reddit community compared to here.

https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/search/?q=Front+surrounds&cId=9bc041d4-1df8-4729-af38-3cbd27ae859b&iId=a046905c-35a1-433f-9898-4953bb36ac95

I suggest everyone read about the pro’s and con’s of Sonosequencer at this link:

https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/comments/1q9s3gx/guide_how_to_setup_a_sonos_surround_system_with/

Those who feel the combination of ArcUltra / Sub x 2 / Era 300’s x 2 are not adequate should take into account the size and shape of the room. Even Sonosequencer may not be a “silver bullet” to offer a dramatic improvement over the Sonos approved Dolby Atmos setup. Louder doesn’t always translate into better accuracy to produce the Dolby Atmos bubble. 

Individual perception counts for a lot in setting up speakers in a room, some may like a lot of speakers, some may like a moderate number and some prefer few.   (The following is ignoring the Sub options) 

The few, would be two speaker stereo / Atmos or a step down to a soundbar with poorer imaging.

The moderate, think soundbar and 2 surrounds, in either Full or Ambient mode for music. Imaging is degraded with the surrounds in stereo, improved for Atmos.

The many, using the beta code to add additional front speakers, technically going to be poorer imaging but the listener may still prefer the wider soundstage. Also Grouping several Rooms in the same room for music, not good for TV though.

Now what I'd like to see is the center channel section of the Arc, with upfiring drivers (no side firing ones) to put under the TV. Add two Era-300s as front height, right and left channels. Add in Era 100 or 300 surrounds as needed for the room. You would get the wider soundstage and if the center and surrounds were able to be muted for stereo excellent imaging.

Add a Sub or two and you could rival AVR performance but keep Sonos ease of use.

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for the thoughtful replies and for sharing your experience. I really appreciate how knowledgeable and helpful this community is.

I actually experimented with Sonosequencr once before. Unfortunately it did not go very smoothly for me. At one point I ended up having to completely reset the speakers and rebuild the whole system from scratch, which turned into a bit of an adventure. Because of that experience I have been a little hesitant to go down that path again.

I also looked through the Reddit links that were shared, and it seems like an interesting approach, but not exactly something I would call a quick or casual setup. For now I think I will keep things simple and stick with the official Sonos app and the supported configuration.

That said, I do really love the idea of properly experiencing Dolby Atmos. So that upgrade path was already very tempting for me.

Quick update: I actually went ahead and ordered a pair of Era 300s already. I am really looking forward to hearing what they can do with Atmos.

As for the Era 100s, I will probably move them to another room for music, or maybe give them to my nephew. That might make me a very popular aunt.

Thanks again to everyone for the helpful advice and the friendly discussion. This community is wonderful 🙂

​@Jessica F W 

When gifting Sonos remember to factory reset the product before handing it over.

I like having Sonos in a lot of rooms, nice to have it in the bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, garage and other rooms so I can have music wherever I am.

Easy to Group and unGroup Rooms so you have the current music where you want it, or select different music for each Room.

The kids and grandkids only get free Sonos when I'm out of rooms!

Your past experience with Sonosequencr is no different to some users experience with the Sonos app.

The other Reddit link was very convoluted. At the most basic level, you just have to first remove surrounds/sub from your Arc, then use Sonosequencr to add fronts. You can then use Sonos app again to re-add rear surrounds and Sub Mini. Takes less than 10mins.