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Hi everyone !

i finally bite the bullet and got a sonos sound system. I ordered beam gen 2 first and in my 18 sq meter living room i was a tad underwhelmed. I read so much about it and also checked it myself in department store and i was waowed but… at home it felt a bjt underwhelming. Clarity was amazing but almost i can say it was rich enough. I got sub mini and that was a game changer. Dverything elevated! Sound was fuller and richer. I can genuinely hear the difference and felt what everyone was saying (sub mini will help beam to offload the low frequencies). 
anyway, after my long winded entrance….

lets talk about surrounds. Era 100 s were next to order. They havent arrived yet but i am already regretting a bit my purchase since i feel like it wont be that different for a surround speaker compared to sonos one. I know there is an extra tweeter and mid woofer bigger etc. But… i wondered if i am gonna be still ok with a second hand cheaper sonos one for rear.

 

thoughts? Anyone tried both of them as rear speaker and can tell me the difference clearly ? Because insaw many people praising era 100 s for stereo music listening. 

anyway.. thank you for reading my post and looking fwd to answers.

Hey, Welcome to the world of Sonos addiction. LOL

Beam Gen 2 is a fab sound bar and so is the Sub Mini. 

I have varies setups including this one and have tried both Sonos Ones and Era 100s as surrounds to both a Beam and ARC. Sound is always subjective to your ears, room and if you have run Trueplay also. I always mess with the EQ after a trueplay to suit my ears / room. Everyone is different.

On the subject of One versus Era 100 - I personally feel / hear a difference in favour of the Era 100s especially in the lows and highs. The surrounds will still give out low end and the SUB low low. The Beam G2 does offer virtual Atmos also and when Era 100s are used as surrounds they also offer virtual atmos in the rear. (When used as single players or stero pair they do not offer virtual atmos) If your into that. 

This is great article on Surrounds - How to get 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound with your Sonos system | Sonos Blog

I also had far better system stability in my Wifi network after changing my Sonos Ones with Era 100s. 

I do also have a pair setup as a Stero Pair and they also sound awesome. 

Of course this is my opinon for my ears and room setup and I think the Beam G2 and Era 100s and Sub Mini is an awesome setup. Happy listening. 

This is also a great article. The Ultimate Guide to a Sonos Home Cinema | Sonos Blog

Tha k you for your reply! 

I was aware of dolby atmos of beam and era 100. My dreams were sonos arc/era300 but my living room isnt big enough and beam/sub mini is amazing already.

after hearing your thoughts i felt better about era 100’s. Also the fact that they are the newer gen with bigger tweeters etc and deeper bass sounds like all big wins as a future investment. 
 

thanks again!

Btw - i think it’s not possible but i want to ask anyway, can i switch era 100’s from surround to stereo whenever i want ? Or it’s a pair/unpair type of pain? :)

@arslanelver

Of course taking the Era100 you will get a great surround setup. And if you use Atmos content imo they will definitely be the right choice. If you already own Sonos Ones and/or Atmos isn’t a need for you, I would stay with the Ones. 
I compared both setups and the room had good conditions for virtual atmos signals. In that case in tv mode and Atmos signal the Eras won the race. With DD5.1 imo there isn’t such a difference.

In music mode for me there wasn’t a huge difference. If you set rears to full and a high level the Eras sound a bit more powerful. But set to surround and equal level to Beam the Ones sound quite similar. 

Btw - i think it’s not possible but i want to ask anyway, can i switch era 100’s from surround to stereo whenever i want ? Or it’s a pair/unpair type of pain? :)

Not possible… 

Thank you for your answers! Looking forward to connecting era100’s and watch dolby atmos content !!!

@Schlumpf @cgogerty omg! I dont have stands yet and just placed them to my side tables… i was weirdly underwhelmed first but than i did trueplay tuning.. it did make a witchcraft level difference. Very happy with them and thanks for your kind replies!

For music you can select “Full Mode” instead of the default Ambient and see if you like that sound better. I do that in my main room for socializing as it allows overall lower volume levels and more even sound. In my office I leave it that way all the time as I really prefer the sound I get. 

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