Enthusiast II

Era 300 rear driver is silent (with Arc Ultra)

393 replies
24998 views

First things first. This is not a rant. This is an expalation of a problem, which reduces the experience in 3D audio a lot. For background: I'm a sound engineer and music producer and I don't wanna sound arrogant, but I know what I'm talking about. (I'm a really nice and funny guy :D)

So lets get to the problem then :D

NO I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT THE FRONT FACING DRIVER

for better understanding watch this VIDEO

This bug appeared the moment I switched the Arc with the Arc Ultra. Before I made the switch I was on the 16.1 app and firmware. So I don't know if the Ultra causes the problem or the app/firmware. Before the switch everything was running as it should.

So, since there is not much of a topic around this, I'm curious if I am still one of a few who have this bug or one of a few who noticed it.

I made this post in Reddit, but not everyone is on Reddit and the more people know, the faster Sonos can work on it. Reddit discussion

I didn't saw any review which mentioned it.
As you can see in the video, the rear driver is completly silenent when the Era 300's are paired with the Arc Ultra. Also Truplay isn't "sweeping" the driver either. (Timestamp 0:44)
So the mesurement isn't right.
First I thought it could be a feature instead of a bug, but it doens't fit the Dolby Atmos recommendations like this. You won't get sound from "behind" your seating position.
And I remember Sonos self promoted it how it should work, where the rear driver is playing.

DOLBY ATMOS LAYOUT

Sound from side driver/channel should boucing off your side walls, rear driver/channel bouncing off the back wall of your seating position and height channel obviosly bouncing off your ceiling. Thats why you should position them facing forward. At the moment you don't get the immersion that sound is coming from behind you, since the driver is silent.

I tested every setting, played the Dolby Atmos testfile (MKV [TrueHD Atmos] and MP4 [EAC3 + joc Atmos]) from different sources (TV Plex app, Nvidia Shield, from a USB through TV) Same result everytime.

If someone could test this behavior and can confirm this, it would be very nice. Sonos can't fix something they don't know and if most people doens't recognize doens't mean something isn't wrong.

Currently I'm running app version 80.12.04 (Android) and 80.12.03 (iPhone) and firmware version 81.1-58210.
If you don't have this problem, what version are you running?

And last but not least: IF this ever getting fixed, the experience with Arc Ultra and Era 300 will be much better! I love my Sonos products soundwise and Arc Ultra is sounding really good, but it could be much better.

Have a nice day

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Pinned Reply By Jamie A

Hi all, thank you all for your patience.

I was going to post at the same time as Keith on Reddit, however I wasn’t able to. I see that the link to the reddit post has already been copied here, but just to confirm what you've already discovered, this is expected behaviour as explained by our audio team.

I’m happy to forward any questions and feedback you have, as well as forward this as a feature request.

The side tweeters on the Arc Ultra are “overpowering” the bonded rear surrounds.
Side channels are virtualized by both the Arc Ultra and Era 300’s. While you can use “Surround Audio” features to dial in the sound level of your preference there are a few important things to keep in mind:

Surround TV Level and Music Level Slider Behavior: The surround level sliders adjust the sound level for both the Arc Ultra and the surround channels equally. This is the intended behavior.

Using Surround Distance Setting to Adjust Rear Sound Levels: The surround distance setting can be modified to influence the output level from the rear speakers relative to the sound bar:

Setting it to “Less than 2 feet (0.6m)” reduces the volume from the rear speakers.
Setting it to “More than 10 feet (3m)” increases the volume from the rear speakers.

Perceptible Differences: While the surround distance slider adjusts the levels equally for both the Arc Ultra and the surround speakers, testing has indicated that listeners may perceive differences in the sound from the listening position, as described above.

Impact of Trueplay: The surround distance setting is disabled when Trueplay is active, as Trueplay automatically corrects for this. To adjust the surround distance, Trueplay must first be disabled.

There is no audible output from inner woofers when Era 300 is bonded as rear surrounds.
This is by design. The rear speakers are designed to disperse sound throughout the room, rather than directing it to the listener exclusively.

The Era 300 plays rear channel audio through its height array.
This, too, is by design. The Era 300’s DSP (Digital Signal Processing) leverages either the rear height tweeter OR the outward-facing tweeter/woofer to create the intended sound experience. Because of this, when you play the Dolby test track, you might notice that rear height channel as being active during rear-channel playback. This is expected.

Edit: Modified the wording on the 2nd and 3rd bolded points to closer match the wording in the app.

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S

Snoomuffin

Enthusiast II

You know if someone could actually explain the logic behind the “decision” why they did what they did to the era 300 many of us would not care just like the front firing speaker being disabled - this makes sense.

but now who knows if this bug, or in Sonos’s eyes this “feature”, will ever get fixed because they are doubling down and contradicting themselves about the era 300 functionality. Still debating on whether I should just return my system or not…

D

da3wilson

Lyricist III

You know if someone could actually explain the logic behind the “decision” why they did what they did to the era 300 many of us would not care just like the front firing speaker being disabled - this makes sense.

but now who knows if this bug m, or in Sonos’s eyes a “feature”, will ever get fixed because they are doubling down and contradicting themselves about the era 300 functionality. Still debating on whether I should just return my system or not…

Yeah. It's odd that they didn't make the announcement before the implementation. Also it just seemed to happen when the ultra was released/installed for most of us where they could seemingly sneak it in without anyone noticing. I'm tempted to return the ultra and go back to my regular arc while I still can. Who knows what other features/functionality they will disable and then call intentional... In my case one side of my room has a big gap (20ft) between the speaker and a wall so this change has definitely thrown off the balance for the surround sound.

T

Train_dude

Avid Contributor I

The problem affects the era 300s when use as surrounds it doesn't matter if it's an arc or arc ultra. We probably won't hear anything back from sonos team until next year

D

da3wilson

Lyricist III

The problem affects the era 300s when use as surrounds it doesn't matter if it's an arc or arc ultra. We probably won't hear anything back from sonos team until next year

Check out the pinned comment with the official Sonos reply. Losing functionality = working as intended.

M

MEvW

Lyricist II

Asked for comments on the Dutch Sonos community.
I hope the “feature request will be taken into consideration.

K

krion

Trending Lyricist I

Asked for comments on the Dutch Sonos community.
I hope the “feature request will be taken into consideration.

Don’t hold your breath. People have been submitting “feature request” for enabling the front driver since last year. Instead of adding that option they did the opposite: they stealthily disabled another working tweeter (if their narrative is to be believed that it was an intentional design choice different from last year’s, and that it’s not a bug).

S

Snoomuffin

Enthusiast II

Asked for comments on the Dutch Sonos community.
I hope the “feature request will be taken into consideration.

Don’t hold your breath. People have been submitting “feature request” for enabling the front driver since last year. Instead of adding that option they did the opposite: they stealthily disabled another working tweeter (if their narrative is to be believed that it was an intentional design choice different from last year’s, and that it’s not a bug).

I can at least understand the logic behind disabling the front firing tweeter.

disabling the rears is just stupid. Why would I want to hear a door close from the ceiling if it’s right behind the character.

S

Snoomuffin

Enthusiast II

You know if someone could actually explain the logic behind the “decision” why they did what they did to the era 300 many of us would not care just like the front firing speaker being disabled - this makes sense.

but now who knows if this bug m, or in Sonos’s eyes a “feature”, will ever get fixed because they are doubling down and contradicting themselves about the era 300 functionality. Still debating on whether I should just return my system or not…

Yeah. It's odd that they didn't make the announcement before the implementation. Also it just seemed to happen when the ultra was released/installed for most of us where they could seemingly sneak it in without anyone noticing. I'm tempted to return the ultra and go back to my regular arc while I still can. Who knows what other features/functionality they will disable and then call intentional... In my case one side of my room has a big gap (20ft) between the speaker and a wall so this change has definitely thrown off the balance for the surround sound.

Whats noticeable is that now all my atmos tracks sound like 5.1 surround because majority is coming from the sides surrounds (not including the height channels).

So really this system sounds like a 5.1.4 system.

AjTrek1

There are obviously mixed feelings about the above answer regarding the rear surrounds and Atmos sound in general. I for one am enjoying my Arc Ultra + Era 300’s + Dual Sub 4’s in my main media room measuring 20 ft Long, 18 ft Wide and 8 ft High. I recently watched Twisters and really enjoyed the sound effects of a tornado moving around and overhead.

I also have an Arc Ulra + Era 300’s + Sub 4 in my Great Room that is sunken but open to Kitchen area. The total footage is 20 ft Long, 36 ft Wide and 15 ft High. Watching Twisters in that space is less impactful but still offers decent surround effects.

My point is that the Atmos “bubble” (if you will) created in my main media room is quite different with more impact than in my Great Room. I would suspect that if your space is more open then you may not get the full Atmos experience as would be in a more confined space.

Many will probably respond (if so inclined ) that everything sounded different before the above statement was presented regarding the inside drivers of the Era 300’s not firing. Although I have to wonder if the perceived missing audio is due to someone having run a sound test that exposed the silent drivers and by the power of suggestion it’s now a problem wherein before it wasn’t. In short sometimes “not knowing” propagates “bliss”.

Please understand that I by no means intend to infer that the missing sound is all in one’s head (so to speak). However, I have to wonder if one’s space has been taken into consideration when evaluating the sound of the Arc Ultra + Era 300’s and Sub(s)...silent inside Era 300 drivers or not?

Edit: If you decide to respond to my comments (in that you disagree) I ask that you please remain civil. There are community members who have been known to go “off the rails” when someone like myself has a different viewpoint than the implied majority.

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.