Contributor I

Question

Arc Ultra + Era 100 Surrounds

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Arc Ultra and Era 100’s

Anyone else have this setup and noticing that the Era 100’s as rears are doing less work with the Arc Ultra when compared to the standard Arc? I’m barely noticing any audio coming from the rears even with the surround volume turned up to maximum. I swapped my original Arc back with the Era 100 surrounds and tested the same Atmos movies on the Arc and the Arc Ultra, and there is a significant difference/reduction in the signals being sent to the Era 100’s in the rear channels with the Arc Ultra. Increasing the “TV Level” setting for Surround Audio in the Sonos app increases the front surround volume coming from the Arc Ultra but the signals coming out of the ERA 100 rears are almost non existent.

Is this behavior the result of how the Arc Ultra processes surround channels, and should be considered normal operation?

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User649833

Contributor I

Wow so glad I found this thread. I have already purchased the arc ultra to replace my beam gen 2 and was just about to purchase the era 100’s as rears as my play 1’s are not supported with the ultra. Looks like I'll return the ultra and by an original arc that will work with my play 1’s. On a side note I am impressed with how the ultra sounds with the sub mini but not at the expense of having no rear surrounds.

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xmascarol7

Lyricist I

I posted this question in the Office Hours on the Sonos reddit today and got a highly concerning response.

I’ll quote what ShaunFromSonos responded here:

The Arc Ultra does do a lot of heavy lifting with the sound. This is something which has sparked a lot of internal conversation around how the Room uses each driver on each speaker. I didn't know that this was happening on my system until it was pointed out here and on our community. I was initially upset too. But my ADD kicked in and while I was testing, I started watching the movie and eventually realized I was still getting the Atmos experience, even if it wasn't the way I was expecting the sound to be played.
I'm not sure if this needs a fix but it it something we are talking about. If something changes, we'll definitely let everyone know.

This makes it sound like he believes this is the intended behaviour. I’m really hopeful that this is just one Sonos employee being unfamiliar with the issue and not their actual position on the problem.

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DaytonJohn

Lyricist III

We have the same general issue with the surround Era 100s as everyone. I’ve also noticed that if I start watching a 5.1 show often the voices come from my right rear Era 100 with very little (if any) voice coming from the Arc Ultra. If I stop the show, go to a completely different app/source and then return to the original app/source and resume the show voices suddenly come from the Arc Ultra. I use Apple TV 4K connected to an LG G4 for all my sources.
POSTED 12/19/2024

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jOLED

Lyricist I

Hi all, glad I came across this thread as I’m not too savvy when it comes to sound systems or soundbars. I’ve been in the market for a new system and was leaning towards an Arc Ultra, a pair of 100’s and a either a mini or gen 3 sub, but this is making me rethink that and just get the regular Arc as I would not want the headache of trouble shooting any issues as someone who isn’t too knowledgeable about how to even address any problems.

That said, is there that big of a difference between the Ultra and regular? I’m completely deaf in my left ear and reading that the dialogue sound was great on the Ultra was what was pushing me to get it.

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DaytonJohn

Lyricist III

jOLED - If it were me, I would not let these early comments steer me away from the Arc Ultra! We have absolutely enjoyed this new Sonos product. Don’t get me wrong the original Arc is still available and is selling at about a $200 savings vs the new Arc Ultra. To us the Arc Ultra is well worth the difference and we are confident that future software/firmware releases will resolve the issues. When we watch and listen to a Dolby Atmos program everything is great. You will love the new Arc Ultra should you decide to acquire one.

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Patriekvg

Enthusiast I

[….]

That said, is there that big of a difference between the Ultra and regular? I’m completely deaf in my left ear and reading that the dialogue sound was great on the Ultra was what was pushing me to get it.

This is offoptic. The thread is not about buyer advice, it’s about a problem with channel separation / soundstage.

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Woglinde

Enthusiast I

jOLED - If it were me, I would not let these early comments steer me away from the Arc Ultra! We have absolutely enjoyed this new Sonos product. Don’t get me wrong the original Arc is still available and is selling at about a $200 savings vs the new Arc Ultra. To us the Arc Ultra is well worth the difference and we are confident that future software/firmware releases will resolve the issues. When we watch and listen to a Dolby Atmos program everything is great. You will love the new Arc Ultra should you decide to acquire one.

I think there is a multitude of problems discussed in this thread…….. most is about suround sound not coming from the rears…. but from the front (from the ultra). Atmos or 5.1, so for us only stereo is “working”

I dont think we should recommend a product that doesnt work well day one. I cant imagine we have to treat this like a first generation product or kickstarter and wait for things to be fixed after release…..
Worse is this not something they really acknowledge, beyond (we found the problem and we will fix it, have they really found the problem or its just customer service scripted response??)

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cmathis91

Contributor I

@Corry P Any update here? Thanks!

Corry P

Sonos Staff

Hi @cmathis91

Yes - this was addressed (explained) while I was off on holiday, mostly on the Reddit Office Hours event:

Side channels are virtualized by both the Arc Ultra and the Eras. Customers can use the “Surround Audio” features to adjust the sound level to their preference, but there are a few important points to note:

Setting it to “Less than 2 feet (0.6m)” reduces the volume from the rear speakers.
Setting it to “More than 10 feet (3m)” increases the volume from the rear speakers.

Surround TV Level and Music Level Slider Behaviour: The surround level sliders adjust the sound level for both the Arc Ultra and the surround channels equally. This is the intended behaviour since surround channels are rendered by both the sound bar and rear surround speakers.
Using Surround Distance Setting to Adjust Rear Sound Levels: The surround distance setting can be modified to influence the output level from the rear speakers relative to the sound bar:
Perceptible Differences: While the surround distance slider adjusts the levels equally for both the Arc Ultra and the surround speakers, testing indicates that listeners may perceive differences in the sound from the listening position, as described above.
Impact of TruePlay: The surround distance setting is disabled when TruePlay is active, as TruePlay automatically corrects for this. To adjust the surround distance, TruePlay must first be disabled.

My apologies that it was not posted here too.

I hope this helps.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein

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Minhlong

Enthusiast I

So, this is " by design" ? 🤣🤣

And how do you explain atmos tracks are perfect but dd 5.1 are awful?

And trueplay doesn't set distance properly, it has been said several times....

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Arc Ultra and Era 100’s

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