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Answered

ERA 100 & AMP not working for surround

  • 29 August 2023
  • 9 replies
  • 1416 views

I just bought the Amp, the sub and 2 Era 100.  All is working except the Era 100 for surround. I have tried everything and cannot get it to work. The crazy part is that I had bought the Arc over the weekend with the AMP as surround and that worked great except that the Quality of sound from the Arc was poor compared to the existing non-SONOS wall speakers. Anyways, long story short, I returned the Arc, and then used the AMP as my front speakers with my existing wall speakers, and then added the sub plus the Era 100 for surround (rear).  Surround will not work with the Era 100 in this configuration.  Not sure what else to try.  Any ideas before I choose to run back to the store and replace my whole set up with a trusted reliable brand like BOSE?

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9 replies

Userlevel 7

The Era 100s can only be used as surrounds with the Arc, Beam, or Ray. You might consider using a pair of One SLs as surrounds instead.

Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @GuitarSuperstar 

The Era 100s can only be used as surrounds with the Arc, Beam, or Ray. You might consider using a pair of One SLs as surrounds instead.

This is incorrect - did you see this written down somewhere? If so, please let me know where. Thanks.

I think you may have been confusing them with Era 300s which can only be bonded to Beam (G2) or Arc.

 

Hi @Batigirl61 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

The Era 100s absolutely should work with your Amp as surrounds. Where does it go wrong? Are you unable to bond them together? Or, are you able to do that, but unable to get audio from them?

If you have ethernet-wired your Amp and disabled it’s WiFi, that could be an explanation for what’s going wrong - WiFi needs to be enabled, even if the Amp is wired to the network.

I hope this helps.

Userlevel 7
Badge +17

The Era 300 cannot be combined with an Amp, the 100 can. See https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/surround-sound-guidelines-and-limitations

Hi @GuitarSuperstar 

The Era 100s can only be used as surrounds with the Arc, Beam, or Ray. You might consider using a pair of One SLs as surrounds instead.

This is incorrect - did you see this written down somewhere? If so, please let me know where. Thanks.

I think you may have been confusing them with Era 300s which can only be bonded to Beam (G2) or Arc.

 

Hi @Batigirl61 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

The Era 100s absolutely should work with your Amp as surrounds. Where does it go wrong? Are you unable to bond them together? Or, are you able to do that, but unable to get audio from them?

If you have ethernet-wired your Amp and disabled it’s WiFi, that could be an explanation for what’s going wrong - WiFi needs to be enabled, even if the Amp is wired to the network.

I hope this helps.

Thanks.  I am able to bond them together, but audio does not come out of of the Era 100.  The amp is connected to HDMI ARC on my TV and to my WiFi wirelessly.  The era is connected wireless as well.  No ethernet calble anywhere.

Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @Batigirl61 

Understood. What format does the Sonos app say is playing when no audio can be heard from the Era 100s?

If it says Dolby Digital 5.1, Atmos, or DTS 5.1, please submit a support diagnostic while still playing and post the given number here. Thanks.

If, on the other hand, it says Stereo PCM or Dolby Digital 2.0, then it is normal that you don’t hear anything from the surrounds, though a change to the TV’s audio output format setting may change that.

Userlevel 7

Hi @GuitarSuperstar 

The Era 100s can only be used as surrounds with the Arc, Beam, or Ray. You might consider using a pair of One SLs as surrounds instead.

This is incorrect - did you see this written down somewhere? If so, please let me know where. Thanks.

I think you may have been confusing them with Era 300s which can only be bonded to Beam (G2) or Arc..

My mistake. I was going by the info on the Era 100 product page FAQ. But apparently the question is only related to “soundbars” and doesn’t mention the Amp.

Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @GuitarSuperstar 

Found! Thanks for letting me know where you saw that - I think there is probably room for improvement and clarification there.

I did think that it was probably our fault that you said that! 😁

Hi @Batigirl61 

Understood. What format does the Sonos app say is playing when no audio can be heard from the Era 100s?

If it says Dolby Digital 5.1, Atmos, or DTS 5.1, please submit a support diagnostic while still playing and post the given number here. Thanks.

If, on the other hand, it says Stereo PCM or Dolby Digital 2.0, then it is normal that you don’t hear anything from the surrounds, though a change to the TV’s audio output format setting may change that.

It says it is playing Dolby 5.1.  I even connected the speakers to a new TV I bought and still did not work.

Here is the # for the diagnostic:

1655680469

Hopefully you guys can help me.  Otherwise, I will have to return the system.

 

Thanks

Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @Batigirl61 

Thanks for the diagnostics. I can see the surrounds are not coming out of power-saving mode and connecting to the Amp’s 5GHz broadcast in order to play, which is likely related to the fact that the Amp is also reporting excessive latency on WiFi, but I see no interference reported, so I think this might be down to the router needing a reboot, or interference near it.

Please unplug your Era 100s and Amp from power. Next, unplug your router from power for at least 30 seconds - when no-one is using the internet, of course! While you are there, please find any radio-capable devices (including hubs) that are within 1m of the router and remove them from it’s vicinity (DECT phone base, baby monitors, etc). Once WiFi returns, please plug the Amp back into power and wait for a solid white light before turning on the two Era 100s.

If the issue persists, please try removing the surrounds from the Amp, then add them back on again.

Settings » System » [room name] » Remove Surrounds

Settings » System » [room name] » Set up Surrounds

And if that does not fix the problem, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team for some more in-depth troubleshooting.

In regards to interference near the router, our Reducing wireless interference help page may be of assistance.

I hope this helps.