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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Patriekvg

Enthusiast I

I was explicitely asking for any known audio issues, especially those mentionned in the community. The answer was “indeed”. For me this is a quite clear statement. Followed by the info that my issue is no known case and as such the can not help me (even though I actually reported it).

Sonos, I want to suggest to also state known issues at the page of release notes, so both Sonos employees and customers will always be informed. This would prevent a lot of support calls and frustrations.

@Corry P: Thank you for thinking with us and replying. Could it be you made a little mistake selecting the “best answer” of this thread?

Corry P

Sonos Staff

Hi @Patriekvg

I agree, but it was not I who selected it. I’ve unmarked it.

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

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fsedarkalex

Contributor I

Personally, I don’t think the tone was suitable, but as I mentioned, I do not want to rely on translations.

For me the tone (as in politeness) was okay indeed. The engagement could have been a bit better. I was lacking troubleshooting, maybe an offer to create an issue ticket with a diagnostic etc. But I think this is not something to be discussed here.

I am still unsure what to do on my side. Actually I hijacked this thread a bit. I am suffering from the sub-bass-issue (in my eyes/ears I do) and in general I think the ultra bahaves worse than the OG Arc regarding its EQ/Soundscape. Also I notice delay between arc’s sound and sub’s bass when using sonos app to play music. This is why I added my comments to this thread. To me it sound like it is a general issue in Home theather setups. Maybe especially with Sub gen 3. (I already said that switching off my sub improves the quality)

So my point is I have a new ultra and it does not sound the way it should. I am pretty sure its a software thing because the demo sounds at the end of the setup sound good but actual music does not.

What to do from here? I can not create a ticket, ponly call sonos by phone or use the chat - both are in my eyes no good ways to track an issue that is likely a bug)

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Patriekvg

Enthusiast I

Is this only a problem with Era100 (and also Era300?) as surround speakers?

Because I can give the all-clear for the Sonos ONE as rears (at least for me):

I have now tried the whole thing with several test files (Dolby and DTS) for 5.1 and 7.1 channels with playback via an Apple TV using an LG OLED.

All channels are played correctly by the Art Ultra as multichannel surround.

So both the “middle” surround channels and the “rear” surround channels come correctly from my surrounds (Sonos ONE).

I even had to reduce the volume of the sourrounds because it was too loud at first.

Interesting… maybe it's because the Era series has more drivers to address (the One is mono, Era 100 is stereo as an individual unit)?

Corry P

Sonos Staff

Hi @fsedarkalex

You haven’t disabled WiFi on the Arc Ultra, have you? Doing so would probably produce these issues, though I’d hope that would be spotted quickly in any troubleshooting.

You are correct in saying that you’ve hijacked the thread, however - you are somewhat off topic. Please recreate the issue with content playing on your Arc Ultra and submit a support diagnostic, then create a new thread, explain the issue, and @Corry P me in the post and I’ll be happy to take a look.

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

Corry P

Sonos Staff

Hi @matt1231123

We have reached out internally to get more details regarding this behaviour. Unfortunately, it could take a little bit of time until we have more details, and to get something that we can share with you all.

We don’t want you to feel like you have been conned or hard-done-by with buying an Arc Ultra - if you are concerned, I would say get your refund while you can, just to be on the safe side - you can always come back to the Arc Ultra at a later date.

The Arc Ultra is not only our newest product, but it is also our new flagship product - having our customers be happy with their purchase is our priority, so we will continue to work on keeping it that way.

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

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William_77

Lyricist III

@Corry P so we are actually back at square one without a real acknowledgement that this is an issue, from what I've read above?

It seems Sonos do not have proper quality control over the past few years and don't do thorough testing prior to release of products nor the app. With the vast amount of combinations of systems/devices you can have, it seems Sonos only tested that the Arc Ultra as a standalone was working OK, which defeats the purpose of a Sonos' system. Not a great showing for a company that markets themselves as a premium audio company.

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Patriekvg

Enthusiast I

@Corry P so we are actually back at square one without a real acknowledgement that this is an issue, from what I've read above?

It seems Sonos do not have proper quality control over the past few years and don't do thorough testing prior to release of products nor the app. With the vast amount of combinations of systems/devices you can have, it seems Sonos only tested that the Arc Ultra as a standalone was working OK, which defeats the purpose of a Sonos' system. Not a great showing for a company that markets themselves as a premium audio company.

I think you are misreading his reply. He replies to the question of Matt above (read it). So he’s not recommending to use the return policy, but if you don’t trust Sonos to make a fix with a firmware update later, it’s an option. He actually wants to say Sonos is on it, but has to be realistic with no ETA at the moment. Fact of the Arc Ultra being Sonos flagship for home theatre, should assure us a fix.

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William_77

Lyricist III

@Corry P so we are actually back at square one without a real acknowledgement that this is an issue, from what I've read above?

It seems Sonos do not have proper quality control over the past few years and don't do thorough testing prior to release of products nor the app. With the vast amount of combinations of systems/devices you can have, it seems Sonos only tested that the Arc Ultra as a standalone was working OK, which defeats the purpose of a Sonos' system. Not a great showing for a company that markets themselves as a premium audio company.

I think you are misreading his reply. He replies to the question of Matt above (read it). So he’s not recommending to use the return policy, but if you don’t trust Sonos to make a fix with a firmware update later, it’s an option. He actually wants to say Sonos is on it, but has to be realistic with no ETA at the moment. Fact of the Arc Ultra being Sonos flagship for home theatre, should assure us a fix.

Ah right, getting confusing as so many people commenting, and the replies getting lost within the vast amount. I wasn't planning on returning, though as my original comment, it does seem Sonos quality control/testing has been hit and miss, even the original Arc had quite a few issues but eventually got solved, I don't doubt Sonos will fix it, just sucks that something as simple as adding current gen Era's to their current flagship wasn't tested properly prior to launch. I understand if there were issues with previous gen speakers working with Arc Ultra surround, but surely you would test your flagship with the current speakers? From what it sounds like, the Ones work perfectly fine as surrounds.

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Woglinde

Enthusiast I

SONOS Support says with…

all known AUDIO issues related to Arc Ultra are fixed.

They even said if I still am unsatisfied with that version, I need to send the device back for refund as there is no case regarding any audio issues.

Funny enough, they don’t seem to want to create a new case. So wen can only complain for existing cases. Strange support strategy...

I dont know what is “all issues are fixed”
I dont think the orginal issues of the surrounds coming from the front is fixed yet or its not clear if fix is in the form of a firmware update or other. (Firmware seems to make sense to me)

So…. I dont think they are talking about the same “known issues” at all.

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Arc Ultra and Era 100’s

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