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easy switch between 2 setups (Home cinema and pure music play)

  • December 23, 2025
  • 4 replies
  • 83 views

I own a Sonos Arc Ultra and two Era 300 speakers. I would like to use the Arc Ultra together with the two Era 300s as a home theater setup, but also be able to quickly use the two Era 300s independently as a stereo pair.

In my experience, the sound quality of the two Era 300s in pure stereo without the Arc ultra is significantly better for music listening than when all speakers are combined in a home theater setup. Unfortunately, switching between these two use cases is currently not quick or convenient.

 

I would strongly appreciate a feature that allows multiple setup presets to be saved and switched between. Ideally, these presets would retain their individual Trueplay tuning settings.

 

For example:

 

  • When I want to watch a movie, I select a “Home Theater” preset, where the Arc Ultra and the two Era 300s play together.
  • When I want to listen to music the next day, I select a “Stereo Music” preset, where the Era 300s automatically disconnect from the home theater setup and operate as a stereo pair — quickly, automatically, and without manually removing or reconfiguring the speakers.

 

 

At the moment, when the Era 300s are configured as part of a home theater setup, they are no longer available for use in a separate room or stereo configuration. They must first be manually removed from the home theater group before they can be assigned to another setup. This additional manual step makes switching between use cases unnecessarily cumbersome.

 

A fast and seamless switching mechanism between such presets, while preserving the respective Trueplay calibrations, would significantly improve usability and the overall Sonos experience.

I could imagine that many out there also miss this Quick switching between setups

4 replies

Stanley_4
  • Lead Maestro
  • December 23, 2025

This is often requested but the needed reconfiguration needed internal to the Sonos system is complex.

Not saying it will never happen,  just that it isn't easy.

You might want to look at some of the more recent discussions for more details. 


Corry P
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  • Sonos Staff
  • December 29, 2025

Hi ​@ET0099 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

As ​@Stanley_4 states, there are various good reasons why this would be particularly difficult to do, but I have tagged this thread as a feature request and will pass it on to the relevant teams for consideration.

Thanks for the feedback!


  • Lyricist I
  • January 8, 2026

If you can’t make it easy to switch the era 300 front driver on/off using the app, how about manufacturing eras 300’s with a front driver on/off switch. What a waste! Let the users determine how they want to use the device!


AjTrek1
  • January 9, 2026

I think what OP’s fail to understand is that they should trust the engineers most likely experimented with the front driver on and decided that in reference to the other drivers it was not sonically appropriate.

So that’s what the engineers want but why not let the user decide with an option to turn the driver on?

Here’s my thought…The driver parameters are linked and balanced for optimal sonic resolution. The Era 300’s are a complex design to be able to provide Dolby Atmos and other codecs accurately. Changing the parameters of drivers such as turning one on will most likely affect the sonic resolution of another that is balanced to work with a particular driver turned off. Think of an equalizer that when adjusting one parameter the others are changed as well; be it ever so slightly.

So you say that’s still not a good enough reason as you fancy yourself a sound engineer of sorts and can decide what sounds good or not for yourself. Well that’s true… but after things are so far out of balance what options do you have except to Factory Reset the speaker and/or call Sonos Tech Support. The former is never a good course of action except under extreme circumstances and the latter places unnecessary burden on Sonos Tech support.

To be blunt…no company wants to allow a consumer to open a can of worms that is already known as such. Design Engineers of any product are sometimes willing to accept that there will be some dissatisfied customers due to certain decisions; but are willing to live with that percentage unless it becomes an overwhelming obstacle to unit sales.