Arc Ultra Surround Sound change!

Not sure I am understanding this change correctly in that after I updated software the Era 100 Surround volume slider continues to raise the Arc Ultra simultaneously with the rear surrounds.  Hope someone else experiments with this change.  My goal is to be able to have some control over changing the balance of rear sounds on the Era 100s in the back of the room vs the Arc Ultra up front.  

Hi ​@DaytonJohn 

I find this report of yours strange as before posting here, I personally made sure to install the update on my own Arc Ultra and tested - I could not hear any difference in volume from the Arc Ultra as I adjusted the TV Level setting with Atmos content playing, though I admit I did not try with other formats, and I have Ones rather than Era 100s.

What content are you playing please? I'd like to try and play the same content (or format) and compare results with you. If you have been testing with anything on YouTube (such as 5.1 surround sound test videos) please use actual content instead, such as a movie or TV show (not a quiz show or the News, of course, but maybe House of Dragons or Reacher, just as a couple of examples).

​@Corry P 

Thanks for the info, but why this is not written in the release notes 84.1-63110 ?

This update has reset all my settings on my surround system. Arc Ultra-Sub 4-Era 300.

Also think you should run a Trueplay again 🤷🏼

Hoping for the best 🤦🏼

Hi ​@Chagn 

I don’t know - I was expecting to see it mentioned when I checked just now. It’s possible that someone is waiting for confirmation of the precise wording to use.

I shall flag internally.

​@Corry P thank you for the update: I haven’t received the update yet, but will check later.

May I ask when the associated issue of ‘the inner era 300’ drivers are not used and the outer drivers play side and rear sound…

Also the arc ultra atmos / height drivers play at the same time as the era 300 atmos / height drivers instead of independently.

I have been holding out that these would have been corrected at the same time, but it sounds like all of this feedback has been ignored?

And now the settings are back about 10 min. later. I think I'll just reset everything and start over.

The update is not on the SONOS App but on the speakers.

Hi ​@Gavalar 

First of all, none of your feedback is ignored - ever.

This is one change. We did not say we were making any changes before now, and I have not mentioned any other changes now, and yet this change came - without warning. How you used this info (or lack thereof) to come to the conclusion that nothing else will be changed and that all else has been ignored, I don’t understand.

Some of the feedback may be yet to be addressed and some may never be addressed, but the latter does not mean feedback was ignored.

In relation to inner (customer facing) drivers on Era 300s not being utilised, we cannot address this as the fact of the matter is that they are being used. The inner speaker (tweeter + woofer) on the Era 300 surround system stays active when connected to any Sonos sound-bars that support Dolby Atmos (like Arc Ultra, Arc, and Beam Gen 2). This inner speaker mainly handles surround audio, but some of these sounds are also sent to the upward-facing tweeter with the rear height channel. The inner speaker is quieter than the upward-facing speaker because sound travels directly to the main listening area from the inner speaker, while sound from the upward speaker takes a longer, indirect route. The choice to share rear surround audio between the inner speaker and up-firing speaker was made to improve the immersive and environmental quality of the rear surround sound stage.

If the inner-facing drivers were as loud as the others, you simply would not be able to hear those other drivers, diminishing the effect of the surround sound staging.

I hope this helps.

Hi ​@Peter_254 

This is a last resort step - I do not recommend it. You are likely just creating more work for yourself.

Correct. It is a system update, as stated.

Something I’ll never understand is the obsession with with the idea of every driver being fired off with the same intensity at all times or else something is wrong.  It’s almost as inexplicable as the old “I paid for those speakers, I want to hear them all the time” complaints when stereo sources didn’t play over surround speakers. 

​@Corry P thank you for the very detailed response.

Where is the slider menu / toggle you have mentioned please? I have updated the ‘speakers’ as  ​@Peter_254 and you have mentioned, thank you for  this. I have checked in the Arc Ultra surround audio section and cannot find it?

I have just checked the audio implementation again with test tones.

I effectively have a 5.2.2 system. The ‘inner’ drivers are so quiet when playing you effectively can’t hear them. When I play rear ‘side’ or rear ‘rear’, sounds, there is no difference in the volume from the outer to inner drivers. I.e. you would expect the side drivers (outer) to be louder when playing side sounds and the rear drivers (inner) dropped be louder when playing rear sounds.

Hi ​@Gavalar 

To find the setting, please open the Sonos app and tap the Settings icon » [room with Arc Ultra] » Surround Audio » TV Level.

Please don’t use “test tone” videos - they are not fit for purpose. Please use actual cinematic content.

I don't mean resetting the speakers but simply setting all to 0 and doing a Truplay and then setting Sub, surround etc. to my preference.

Hi ​@Peter_254 

Ah gotcha - that is probably the way to go, yes.

Hi ​@Corry P 

Thank you for the information. Pleased to finally see some improvements being made to the Arc Ultra. I’ve been speaking with Level 3 recently, they advised a fix to the audio pops was ready pending release, are you able to share if this was included in this update?

Ideally, I would like to see Sonos be more transparent than they currently are, I’m sure a lot of other customers would agree. Whilst I understand not sharing roadmaps etc, there continues to be very real frustrations around the end user experience of what is a very expensive, flagship, soundbar.

Sonos would do well to remember that we are invested and expect much better than we are currently forced to accept in terms of service and support for our products. Sonos appears to enjoy being shrouded in mystery, especially when it comes to customer escalations and how they wish to react to our genuine concerns and feedback.

In some ways, Sonos could well be compared to some could not care less bareucratic Govt department rather than a consumer focused audio equipment manufacturer. 

​@Corry P thank you for your help. But actual test tones are to check the correct channels are being ‘fed’ to the correct speakers.

It sounds like I’m best off repurposing the 300’s and using 100’s as rears as it will be the same (I.e. no benefit of side and rear channels like with the old arc, before the update), less the height tweeter.

​@Corry P we now have a very loud centre channel, quiet left and right channels.

The rear channels are more adjustable so thank you, but the Arc Ultra side channels still play rear side and rear, rear sounds?

I can’t believe your comment, no customer focused representative of a major Corporation would make such a statement to a long-time customer or even a new prospective customer.  My comment is because I still have the same issue that many customers have mentioned for months.  The Arc Ultra always duplicates the volume increase or decrease that the rear Era 100s produce while using the Era 100 slider to try and increase the rear speaker volume (and not the Arc Ultra volume).

Since the update, the slider works as it should. It doesn't affect the ultra anymore 

When you say “the slider” are you speaking of the slider on the Era 100 or are you speaking of one of the sliders within the Sonos app?

What I’m looking to accomplish is to have the sound of a jet or a race car for example as it moves from in front of the viewer/listener on past or now behind the viewer/listener you would hear the swish going past you and then off to the distance behind you.  A typical home theater system with rear surround speakers regardless of sophistication or cost has done this forever.  Unfortunately with the Arc Ultra and Era 100s as Surrounds the viewer/listener doesn’t get this effect because the soundbar duplicates the sound of the rear speakers.  No matter what I try I cannot increase the Era 100s Surround configuration volume without simultaneously increasing the Arc Ultra (front of the room sound).   
 

I will go back and try to find a slider in the App that allows me to accomplish my goal but I haven’t had any luck thus far.  

The sonos app ( "tv level")

Thanks for the update, your explanation made more sense than the one given officially on the Sonos Reddit, I had a difficult time understanding it.  I hadn’t been on this forum in a while, so glad I decided to pop by! I plan to read more here as there’s just so much of the same complaints to filter through on the reddit lately. 

Since today's update, the tv level slider on surround settings of the sonos app allows what you want ( you ahave to perform a system update , not an app update)

That works for me, with my Sonos Home Theater. Now, not all streams contain surround sound audio. Lots of it is only in stereo.  So in order to test Sonos’ capability here let’s first narrow down the variables. What content/format/streaming service/media are you playing?

And THIS is the actual issue. It’s like no one at Sonos has ever owned an actual home theater setup.