While I don't want to throw anyone into a “bad listener” bin, expectations for the surround experience vary. Many new surround users expect to be smacked in the back of the head by surround energy. Less than this the user feels that the surround is not working. Their first few films should be action movies with lots of “boom” in the rear. Even then the surround levels should be elevated above what more experienced viewers feel is realistic. We’ve been through this before. In the early days of stereo a curtain was drawn between the left and right half of the orchestra. This was often characterized as “ping pong” stereo because the focus would abruptly jump between left and right — in order to prove that the recording and playback were stereo.
A bad initial choice for a new surround user would be a city street scene or outdoor country scape. While the viewer will probably not directly perceive the surround channels, the audio scene will collapse if the rears are muted.
Perhaps there should be two surround settings, “ambient” for more seasoned viewers and “progressive” for new users.
Hey @buzz a few of us suggested this to @Corry P and he wrote a piece and was on our side. It looks like he’s been told to “leave it alone”, as he’s not mentioned it since and hasn’t replied.
It increasing looks like Sonos is less likely to action customer requests now as they have “world class” sound engineers who believe sound from behind you, should be virtualised from a sound bar in front of you 
I shall be moving away from Sonos for a surround sound option now as it’s more of a ‘kids toy’ that a replacement for a surround sound system. Especially as you can’t configure basic options like this, or reduce the incredibly loud centre channel!
Hi @Gavalar
Hey @buzz a few of us suggested this to @Corry P and he wrote a piece and was on our side. It looks like he’s been told to “leave it alone”, as he’s not mentioned it since and hasn’t replied.
It was not written at your prompting. I am still on “your side”. It is not the case that I have been told to “leave it alone” - I have not been told any such thing. And, if we did not want to discuss it, I would have made it impossible for anyone to reply to this thread, for a start.
I shall be moving away from Sonos for a surround sound option now as it’s more of a ‘kids toy’ that a replacement for a surround sound system. Especially as you can’t configure basic options like this, or reduce the incredibly loud centre channel!
We literally just changed it so that you can now configure the option.
Remember - there is no direct mapping between the channels of a soundtrack and the drivers on the speakers. Multiple drivers are used to render each channel, and those drivers are not relegated to rendering just one channel each.
For what it is worth, I (still) agree with you on the centre channel front, personally - no manager has swayed me in that respect, and nor have any attempted to do so (they would fail if they tried).
I hope this helps.
Hi @Gavalar
Hey @buzz a few of us suggested this to @Corry P and he wrote a piece and was on our side. It looks like he’s been told to “leave it alone”, as he’s not mentioned it since and hasn’t replied.
It was not written at your prompting. I am still on “your side”. It is not the case that I have been told to “leave it alone” - I have not been told any such thing. And, if we did not want to discuss it, I would have made it impossible for anyone to reply to this thread, for a start.
I shall be moving away from Sonos for a surround sound option now as it’s more of a ‘kids toy’ that a replacement for a surround sound system. Especially as you can’t configure basic options like this, or reduce the incredibly loud centre channel!
We literally just changed it so that you can now configure the option.
Remember - there is no direct mapping between the channels of a soundtrack and the drivers on the speakers. Multiple drivers are used to render each channel, and those drivers are not relegated to rendering just one channel each.
For what it is worth, I (still) agree with you on the centre channel front, personally - no manager has swayed me in that respect, and nor have any attempted to do so (they would fail if they tried).
I hope this helps.
Hi @Corry P I was under the impression that the piece you wrote was in response to the feedback we all gave you on what needed to change?
You gave us an option to turn the rears down. You didn’t give us the option to stop sounds from behind coming from a sound bar in front. Regardless of what has been thought up by the sound Engineers, this is not correct.
Will a ‘centre’ volume slider be provided soon please? If so, this will correct another issue.
Why was there such a dramatic change recently regarding virtualisation which strongly contradicts what Sonos said before about (words to the effect of), Era 300’s complete the rear half of the Atmos bubble? Before the rear sound came from the rear drivers and side sound from side drivers.
Nothing against you personally @Corry P as you are trying to evoke change. It just sounds like your hands are tied. I am personally very grateful you are listening as you are the only viable channel to have a resolution here.
Hi @Gavalar
Hi @Corry P I was under the impression that the piece you wrote was in response to the feedback we all gave you on what needed to change?
Well, in a round-about way, yes. All I was trying to do was clarify a technical query I had and I ended up in a meeting.
Will a ‘centre’ volume slider be provided soon please? If so, this will correct another issue.
I don’t have that information.
Why was there such a dramatic change recently regarding virtualisation which strongly contradicts what Sonos said before about (words to the effect of), Era 300’s complete the rear half of the Atmos bubble? Before the rear sound came from the rear drivers and side sound from side drivers.
The only change was to the non-technical wording explaining very technical and proprietary processes - no behaviour was changed until now. I am not entirely sure as to what you are referring, however - I think I was off work around this time. If you could outline the change made, perhaps I can enlighten you.
Nothing against you personally @Corry P
I should hope so!
It just sounds like your hands are tied. I am personally very grateful you are listening as you are the only viable channel to have a resolution here.
I would not say my hands are tied - here I am, replying to you. It is completely normal for us not to announce something until it is imminent, or already available, such as with this change we have just made.
I hope this helps.
Hi @Gavalar
Hi @Corry P I was under the impression that the piece you wrote was in response to the feedback we all gave you on what needed to change?
Well, in a round-about way, yes. All I was trying to do was clarify a technical query I had and I ended up in a meeting.
Will a ‘centre’ volume slider be provided soon please? If so, this will correct another issue.
I don’t have that information.
Why was there such a dramatic change recently regarding virtualisation which strongly contradicts what Sonos said before about (words to the effect of), Era 300’s complete the rear half of the Atmos bubble? Before the rear sound came from the rear drivers and side sound from side drivers.
The only change was to the non-technical wording explaining very technical and proprietary processes - no behaviour was changed until now. I am not entirely sure as to what you are referring, however - I think I was off work around this time. If you could outline the change made, perhaps I can enlighten you.
Nothing against you personally @Corry P
I should hope so!
It just sounds like your hands are tied. I am personally very grateful you are listening as you are the only viable channel to have a resolution here.
I would not say my hands are tied - here I am, replying to you. It is completely normal for us not to announce something until it is imminent, or already available, such as with this change we have just made.
I hope this helps.
Hi @Corry P what I meant was… when I first had the original arc, with the era 300’s, side sounds came from the side drivers and rear sounds came from the rear drivers from the arc 300.
This was updated last year when the arc ultra came out where the 300 drivers (side drivers loudly, with rears and top tweeter quietly) played all at once for side and rear sounds. Not independently like before.
This is what many people have brought up and would like reverted. I don’t want sounds from behind me, coming from the side drivers (tweeters) from a sound bar in front of me.
Hopefully we will have a centre volume slider in time as well.
Hi @Gavalar
The behaviour of Era 300 surrounds has not been changed on Arc Ultra from how it was on the original Arc.
Hopefully we will have a centre volume slider in time as well.
Personally, I hope so too.
Just installed an update for Arc Ultra and only for it, none for my other speakers.
(Era300-Sub 4-SL)
Can't see any changes in the App nor any info about the update 
And now an update to their App :)
Moderator edit: removed picture with serial number
@Corry P
Thank you – this update was fantastic and has improved my experience with the system tremendously.
It was my one and only criticism I had with the system. It was absolutely amazing besides that. But that one element was indeed quite frustrating I have to say.
Therefore: Incredibly happy that this was fixed!
I am just ever so slightly worried about features like that changing again in the future if Sonos comes to a different conclusion. While I know how quicky complexity increases in software, please hear my plea to not take away behavior in tue future, but to add a different behaviour as an option. E.g. if this change would have been implemented the other way around, I would now feel as if you ruined my expensive system with a software update.
But I digress and would like to emphasize again: fantastic update that made this stunning system fir me finally utilize its full potential. Thank you to to the Sonos team for listening and implementing this fix!
@Corry P great news! Not sure if it’s the latest update but I have news…
Front Atmos sounds are coming from the Arc Ultra only.
Rear Atmos sounds are coming from the era 300’s only.
Front width sounds are coming from the arc ultra and NOT the side rears.
Side sounds come from the side era 300 drivers (with a very faint sound coming from the era 300 front) (this is absolutely fine)).
Rear sounds are coming from the rear (300) up firing drivers, but this is close enough.
I’m happy now. 
Hi @Gavalar
Glad to hear it!
It now seems my rears (Era 300s) overpower the Arc Ultra in terms of presence and volume.
Anyone else experiencing this?
@GuyinPA75
Not me.
Are you able to use TruePlay? If not there is a manual adjustment for the rears.
How are your Era 300’s positioned in reference to your seating? Submitting a diagram of your room showing the speakers and seating area would be helpful.
@GuyinPA75 if you turn the volume of the rears down, this will help.
My 300 rears are set to -3 for TV.
@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.
I am intending to do that too. Swapping the 300 for 100 for my rears. Now awaiting for the stands to arrive.
I’ve noticed that I have to turn it up to hear dialogue, when previously I didn’t have to…The dialogue is low but when explosions happen it shakes the room, this is the second time that Sonos fiddled with the volume..Are people experiencing the same issue?
Hi everyone,
About a month ago I bought the Sonos Arc and I really enjoyed how it handled surround sound – it felt immersive and the rear speakers (Era 100s) were quite active during movies. A week ago, I decided to return it and upgrade to the Arc Ultra, thinking it would be an even better experience.
While I appreciate the cleaner processing and added features of the Arc Ultra, I’ve noticed that the surround speakers don’t seem to be as engaged. On the Arc, it felt like more audio elements were being pushed to the rears, whereas with the Ultra, the soundstage feels more “contained” and sometimes too front-heavy, even with Surround Level set to +5 and “Full” mode enabled.
Is this a design change in how surround routing is handled between Arc and Arc Ultra? Or is it something that could improve with updates? Would love to hear if others feel the same.
PS: I really appreciate that Sonos added an update to the Ultra which now lets us adjust the rear surround volume independently — that’s a great improvement. But honestly, the Arc did more than just volume. It sent more audio content to the surrounds, which created a richer and more engaging surround experience overall.
Thanks!
