Arc Ultra and Era 100’s 

Hi All

I have made the following post (similar to what has been said on Reddit) which you may be interested in:

Hi ​@Corry P ,

Just to confirm, is this sonos system update/post you stickied the article you have been working on to get approved and posted? Or should we still expect more to come?

Hi ​@stevetsanders 

It is not what I prepared, no. I am not convinced that what I wrote will ever be posted, to be honest with you. Progress on approval for it seems to have halted, at least for the moment.

There has been a change to some of the messaging available, some of which was used in one of my replies on that thread (the talk about the inner drivers on Era 300s), so I will see what I can do about getting all that together in a post - as it has already been approved for pubic release, I won’t need to seek approval.

I’ve just installed the update and I have to say there’s a small improvement in the surround effect. I did not properly test it with test tones, but I watched some TV content with Atmos and DD5.1. The rears (Era 100’s) are slightly better separated from the Ultra now, giving the sound a bit more direction.

Still I’m not impressed by the surround effects coming from a 1400 Euro setup, but it improved. So I can finally say something positive on this topic.

You didnt miss out much, surround sounds still coming of the Arc when its not supposed to.
Its just Phyiscal Rears speakers can be increased seperately to overpower them.

Also, still no left to right adjustment for rear speakers. Useful, when one is closer to your listening sweet spot than the other. 
 

I swear it’s like no one at Sonos ever heard of home theater. Guys, you are not reinventing anything here this is basic stuff for any home theater setup. 

Should left/right balance not be governed by Trueplay?

This is exactly what I understand about a Sonos HT system. You set the approximate distance of the surrounds, based on your seating position when you are pairing them to the soundbar. Then you use Trueplay to tune and correct the room.

Just as with a traditional AV system, the best location for the optimal experience is centered between the speakers. I have both a Sonos HT system and an AV system powered by an Onkyo receiver. I do not adjust the surrounds depending on where I am sitting with the Onkyo. The room setup did the adjustments for me, so it stays as it was tuned for the room.

Do people ask the employees at movie theaters to adjust the balance of the surrounds if they sit closer to the left or right?

Just to take this conversation a bit further….

In a Sonos HT left/right balance has never been an option for any component in the HT setup. However, if the listener chooses not to use TruePlay or QuickTune the distance; close or far to the listener, can be adjusted for the surrounds. Such as two feet or less and/or more.

I haven’t setup a system in a while but I THINK the distance can be set independently for left and right surround speakers. 

I can confirm that if you turn off Trueplay you can adjust the distance of each individual surround speaker from your sweetspot.

With Trueplay

Without Trueplay

To be fair, I have to say I am finally impressed with the surround effects of my Arc Ultra + Era 100 speakers. Since the updates in March and now in April the sound placement has improved significantly and I am finally happy with my purchase. Ofcourse this should have been the case from release, but I am glad it has been improved. I do have to say I did not test this properly with test samples, but I am happy with the content I viewed recently.

Yesterday another system update was released. Too bad your change logs are vague… “Bug fixes and improved performance” doesn’t say much. This is something you should really improve.

Odd. My iOS update showed the same information as here. Granted, it isn’t a bunch more, but I was pleased to see at least more than a single line. 

Not odd. You are looking at the “App updates”, where I was referring to “System updates”.

Ah, I see.

Where would you put this data in the Sonos controller? I can see some value in that, just don’t see where it would go. 

Do you mean where you can see the system version (speaker update) ?
Settings-general settings-about your system.
Under each speaker you can see the version.
Latest update: 16.8 (build 84.1-64070)

I think the obsession with (IMO) overly detailed information about updates is not always critical to the end user.

Some updates to any software may be “bug” fixes that only affect a few but are globally distributed to prevent problems for other users in the future. Unless an update is target toward an overwhelming majority for a specific issue like Spotify for example the specifics may be vague as “fixes” other….???

As long as my OS for any product is performing as it should the specifics of most updates for “bug fixes” and “overall general use ability” are inconsequential to me.

Furthermore with the infinite number of devices from any generation using an OS and let’s muddy the waters even more given the plethora of home network configurations providing detailed specifics to the “Nth” degree would most likely make for dull reading for most. Not to mention all the head scratching to fully understand.

Once again, JMHO.

For me, sound placement isn't accurate , especially for 5.1 content ( atmos is fine)

You can now increase rear channel indeed , but there is still a problem

This matches what ​@Zorro88 and others described before. Seems like DD5.1 still needs to be optimized.

With a Sonos ARC (not Ultra) and a pair of 100’s, in combination with a sub, I’ve noticed some issues.  As an installer, I did not do the initial installation, but on the troubleshooting did discover the company that did and assumed they had adjusted the audio settings in the TV (my bad).  I recommended the 100’s and returned to install them at a later date.  When finished, we Trueplay tuned the system and tested after adjusted TV output to max for surrounds.  They were impressed with the output.  I then double checked the TV settings and enabled eARC, as it had not been by the previous company.  This dropped the volume to imperceivable levels, even with the adjustment of TV levels.  This is with all updates to the apps on both phones and all devices.  I was forced to disable the eARC.  Any feedback on this issue, as it seems to relate to this thread? I should note that I was testing Dolby Atmos content from Netflix in action sequences with both gun battles and car chases.

I know you’re an installer but what audio format is the TV set to output? Dolby Digital, Atmos enabled etc?

Is it Bitstream or PCM?

What brand/model of TV?
What device is used for streaming - is it from the TV’s apps or external like Apple TV, Firestick etc?

If external device, is the TV set to passthrough?

Are all HDMI cables high speed?

I just upgraded from the Beam 2 to the Arc Ultra and there is definitely a difference between the Era 100s and the Arc Ultra over them with the Beam 2. I do know they are present and more so with certain content than others.

Right now I’m taking the trust the process approach and just sticking to TruePlay and keeping it as is. I wonder if some of the sounds that are supposed to go to the rears are going up front instead. Maybe how they are dispersed needs tuning? I don’t want to raise the rear volume as I know they are receiving and I like the volume that they are at.

I do like that stereo content isn’t as prominent in the rear speakers now which is a plus. Just want to make sure I am getting a great Atmos (I know the 300s are the best you can get) and 5.1 mix when available with the 100s.

I just hope that Sonos tests the Arc Ultra’s with the 100s as they do with the 300s (which is recommended by most).

If anyone from Sonos can comment of the process of sound dispersion with the 100s that would be awesome.

You said you are sticking with TruePlay. Does that mean you didn’t re-TruePlay your room when you installed the Arc Ultra? If not you need to TruePlay your room again.

Also, are you indicating that the Sound of the Rears is less (degraded) than it was with the Beam2?

One more point. When you installed the Arc Ultra the rears auto switched to Ambient for music which is why you are not getting full on stereo with music. However, if that’s the sound you prefer,  then all good.

I did re-do TruePlay after getting the new Arc Ultra. I also had Ambient for music with the Beam as well.

I wouldn’t say sound is degraded, I just don’t notice the rears being as active as they were before. I do know they are active though. Could totally be because the Arc Ultra has more presence than the Beam did in the front which is why the rears don’t stand out as much. Was just curious if the rears did behave differently with the Arc vs the Beam.

Not being a member of the design team for the Era 100’s my uneducated guess would be that the Era 100’s do behave differently with the Arc Ultra vs the Beam 2. Your supposition is most likely a valid reason among others.  

Hey, is this still an issue these days or is it better?