7.1 audio speaker options?

I would just like to say..Sonos, if you’re listening…there is a home theater market within the Sonos owner community that is being badly underserved by not allowing the expansion to 7.1 and beyond.  I initially took my step into the Sonos world 4 years ago with the Arc and Sub, for a couple for reasons.  To me it seemed like the best/quickest way to get premium, wireless, Atmos-supported sound in my home theater setup without taking the full plunge into a full home theater setup with a receiver, and all the wiring that would entail, etc.  While I had become sold on the whole Sonos “experience” and quality through friends and family, the biggest appeal to me was the fact that I would have the ability to incrementally add on speakers to expand my setup at my own pace.  This is a huge selling point for me.  

About six months after getting my Arc/Sub, I added a pair of Ones for my rears and completed my theater surround setup.  I am happy with it, don’t get me wrong.  But the desire to grow my setup hasn’t gone away, both on the audio and visual side.  If I had the ability, I would absolutely LOVE to add some front L/R channels and/or additional side speakers for even more authentic surround sound and Atmos capabilities.  The fact that home theater owners are “capped” where we are, when we are actively looking for reasons to buy more speakers seems extremely counterintuitive to me and I think deserves some explanation at the very least.

Four years ago, I had to call Sonos customer support when I ran into an issue setting up my system, and at one point I brought up this question about future surround expansion.  I was told then that there were actually plans in the works for this and to be on the lookout.  Well, four years later and not a word.  I love Sonos and want to stay loyal, but I really think home theater Sonos users deserve some clarification on why a sound system whose core appeal is its modular/customizable nature doesn’t allow them to maximize the potential of what true theater surround sound can be.  In a world where there are more and more wireless options for surround sound coming to the market, I really think this needs to be addressed.

I really can’t fathom why “Sonos doesn’t announce what products they are currently developing” is so difficult for some to understand.  They don’t owe anyone anything, except a product and/or service in exchange for your money.  

L&R fronts that are already being routed to L&R front speakers in the soundbar, which may or may not mean they can be rerouted via software.  Also in question is sufficient bandwidth and low enough latency to send it out wirelessly with acceptable video sync and reliability. 

Hey, maybe the way it was worded made it seem like I was owed something, but that wasn’t really the intent.  The intent was just to add to the voices of Sonos users who want this, assuming anyone at Sonos is reading this.  If Sonos doesn’t think there’s enough demand for it, then there’s little motivation for them to roll something like that out right?.  So it was just going on good faith that customer feedback should count for something and there’s nothing wrong with constructive criticism.  I understand that there might be Wifi limitations that prevent it, or it could be something they’re quietly working to solve, or maybe they just don’t think there’s enough demand to justify the complex solution that it would entail.  But without knowing for sure, the best I can do is offer my perspective and voice the demand. 

Eventually there’s going to be a fork in the road where I’m going to be looking to upgrade my home theater setup and it may be that I have to sell my Sonos system and go for something else.  Obviously...they’ll be fine regardless, but I’m just saying that I’d prefer to stay with Sonos and keep building on my system for the longterm.  The love of my existing Sonos system is precisely what makes me so keen to upgrade it and build on it into the future.  Hope that clears it up.  Peace.