Contributor I

Question

Arc Ultra + Era 100 Surrounds

302 replies
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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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Corry P

Sonos Staff

Hi All

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

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

S

stevetsanders

Lyricist III

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?

Corry P

Sonos Staff

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.

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

P

Patriekvg

Enthusiast I

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.

W

Woglinde

Enthusiast I

It seems Sonos has changed something in the surround settings. This could be positive for this Era 100 rear speaker issue:

https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/s/3dbnR9bi5I

„After hearing your feedback, the team has made changes to the way that the slider works. With this update, the Surround Audio Level setting within the Sonos app will allow the volume of the surround audio to be raised or lowered in the rear speakers only. This will let you dial in the amount of surround audio you're looking for.“

Has anyone tested this new update? (I can‘t anymore, I have sold my Arc Ultra already)

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.

M

MiamiC70

Trending Lyricist I

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.

106rallye

Should left/right balance not be governed by Trueplay?

Pools-3015

Prodigy I

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?

AjTrek1

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.

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.

P

Peter_254

Prodigy II

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