ERA 300 as surrounds missing front firing driver

its all about communication and giving people the choice I am not questioning the sound quality they sound great playing music ,then you add them as surround and then play music again and it is a very deflating experience. so what about those standards ? 

I tried asking Sonos about this today. I let thim know I had preordered the new Arc Ultra, Sub Gen 4, and 2 Era 300's and I had just found out that I would not be able to use the main front speaker in the Era 300 unless I manually reconfigured the system to separate components each time I wanted to listen to music. What is the use in having speakers costing $450 each if the main sound producing element cannot be turned on for music? I explained that after reading about this I realized people have been asking about this since the Era 300 was released, and that Sonos had not provided a response. I stated that I would like an actual reply instead of being added as a number in the Feature Request system.

I started with online chat, and after a long discussion was told they did not have any answers, that I would not be able to request a reply to my question through them, and to call the phone number for higher level technical support if I wanted more info. I called technical support and was told by "Level 1" that they did not know if there was any effort to allow users to switch to a mode allowing stereo surround with Era 300's for listening to music. They transferred me to "Level II" where I spoke with a supervisor who said he has been receiving requests for this issue since the Era 300 came out, but he had not received any word about if Sonos were even considering a fix. I asked for his supervisor or for someone who could provide some actual information, and he said he would message "Level III" support to ask them.

I waited on hold...for a long time...with him coming back every few minutes to tell me Level III had not replied. In the end, the Level II supervisor said he would email me with the reply once Level III replied to him. I was on the phone with them for a total of 94 minutes after being on chat for at least an additional half hour, and ended with no information. All levels of support were professional and tried their best to help, but they just did not have any information to work with other than verifying the Era 300's turn off the front speaker when in theater mode and that you can manually separate and reconfigure the speakers as a new system in the app to use the Era's full potential for stereo music listening. 

The Level II supervisor asked if I had asked my question in the Community, and I let him know I had read about many others who had already asked the question in the Community (and on other forums), that many people have said they would be returning their systems or not buying a system from Sonos because of the issue, and that Sonos has not provided any replies. 

I'll update this if I end up receiving a reply from Sonos, but it's not looking good. I am now considering returning my preorder. Theater surround is important for movies, but I love music and had purchased the system thinking I would be able to use it for stereo music as well.

Sonos, if you value your customers please provide a reply to this significant issue. It would seem from an outside perspective that the app could be programmed to allow the user to select a music settings which would enable all speaker elements for stereo misic (or even to select specific speakers in case someone just wants to use the Era 300's as the only stereo speakers). As MichaelGG just commented, we need some communication on this. Thanks!

P.s. After reading through this discussion on the Sonos Community (which is closed for comment), it seems that it was confirmed 11 months ago by Sonos to be feasible. Not sure why it hasn't been addressed further. 

I would think it is feasible, in the same way EQ sound profiles, or adding DTS-X/HD codecs to a Sonos Home Theatre are feasible, but it doesn’t mean that Sonos will implement these things. It might ‘muddy’ the soundstage for example and not reproduce the overall output that the sound engineers are trying to replicate from an artists original recording.

Anyhow Sonos are clearly aware of the request from some users and it’s a now just a case of waiting to see what they may do about it. You can always cancel your pre-order if you prefer to wait and see. Also Sonos rarely mention their development roadmap when it comes to these type of user requests, at least not until shortly before implementing the requested changes.

I have the Arc, 300’s & Sub and personally speaking I think the setup sounds great for both music and TV audio …and by that I mean for ALL the various audio codecs that the setup supports, Stereo, Atmos audio etc.

Howdy! Good thoughts. I could wait, but I am in need of speakers now because using the TV speakers for music and movies is slowly crushing my soul. Since this issue has been known to Sonos for quite some time, I hoped they would have answers which would coincide with the new speaker releases.

The sound may be optimal without the front driver in some formats, but I would like the option to turn on the front driver if I decide I'd like more stereo surround... for instance if we are having other families over with kids running around where we don't need the center of the room focused experience. Many people across the internet have asked for this feature because it would help.

Either way, I hope Sonos will respond soon with information. Thanks!

If you are looking for more stereo sound from rear surrounds - you can simply switch the surrounds over from Ambient to Full audio for Music. If you want a similar thing for TV audio then there is ‘TV Level’ slider control in the App to balance/adjust the front/rear channels audio output too.

I ‘think’ you may even go onto find that you will NOT need the front Era 300 tweeters, but here’s some links for you to glance at in the meantime whilst waiting for your new system to arrive.

• https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/low-audio-from-surround-speakers-when-listening-to-music
• https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/change-surround-audio-settings
• https://www.sonos.com/en-gb/guides/arcultra

• https://www.sonos.com/en-us/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-a-sonos-home-theater

 I understand why they disable the front firing speaker on the 300s when they are surrounds.  I have no desire to return to the quad days when you could actually hear information from the rear speakers.  All I want them to do is make the stage bigger which is what they do if set up properly.  Like good stereo speakers they should just disappear allowing the presentation of the movie or music sound more natural.

 I listen to music in the same seat as when I watch TV or a movie.  I’m not likely to turn my chair 180 degrees to listen to music through the 300s so I listen to music with the Music Playback setting set to Full and it sounds just fine.  Would I prefer 5 Era 300 speakers for music & movies….Yes, but that’s not likely to happen.

 Sonos could probably allow you to turn on the front driver of the 300s if desired and I would probably test that to see what it sounds like.  I’m sure after that test I would turn them off again.  The best surround I ever had was using dipole speakers to each side of the sweet spot.  They were wired out of phase to avoid direct sound firing at the listener.  That’s how it’s supposed to be.

Thanks for the resources! Does the toggle from Ambient to Full activate the main center driver in the Era 300 for music? If so that would solve the problem... everything I have read and from what tech support said there is no way to activate the center chanel unless you reconfigure the system separately and not part of a HT. If it only makes the other drivers louder without activating the center driver, then it unfortunately doesn't solve the problem of a speaker with an unused and effectively useless main driver. 

 Not sure if Full activates that driver or just increases the volume level.  I’ll stick my ear in there to find out.  Interesting idea though.

I am also wondering now with the release of the new Arc Ultra and its motion woofer, will the same thing happen that if I was to pair a sub with it would the motion woofer be disconnected just like the era 300 front speaker being disconnected when you add them as surround sound speakers. Anyone know the answer to this?