Era 300’s as front left & right (request)

A soundbar is different for a center speaker. You request would also need for Sonos to start making center speakers.

I am all for using Era 300s as front left and right, but don’t want the Arc required as a center channel speaker.  Very much overkill.  I also don’t get your comparison.  Yes, the Arc alone doesn’t sound as god as a pair of Era 300s for spatial audio, but Arc + surround speakers (any surround speakers) sounds better than a pair of Era 300s alone.  The question really is, does Era 300s up front and in the back sound significantly better  than Arc in the front and Era 300s in the back?  I believe it will, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if the improvement is marginal for spatial audio.

I think it would be awesome to add the ERA 300's as front speakers to expand the soundstage. I already have the ARC, Fives as rears and Dual subs. I'm not ready to get rid of my Fives just for the 300's. Being able to add them to the set up would be an instant purchase. 

@melvimbe 

The Arc as a center channel may not be overkill. Let me explain…

The Arc recognizes when surround speakers and sub are present and redirects that material accordingly. Imagine ...

• If via a firmware update maybe the Arc could be made to recognize when out-board speakers are being used for front left/right and adjust its acoustics accordingly (i.e. it’s internal left/right channels are deactivated).

OR

• If via a firmware update maybe the Arc could be made to recognize when out-board speakers are being used for front left/right and it’s internal speakers (L/C/R) are all redirected to act as center channel with appropriate damping so as not to overpower the outboards.

The upside if possible would be:

• Current owners of the Arc and/or Beam would not have to invest in a new speaker
• Sonos can forego adding another SKU and still make updates/improvements to the next generation of Arc and Beam.
• Sonos lives up to it’s unspoken promise/commitment not to leave current customers behind or cause unwanted additional financial investment.

Of course all the above depends upon such an update being possible given the Arc/Beam have enough memory. Then again it may be impossible on any level...memory or not?

I think that a three channel AMP would be an interesting bridge production that would bring in traditional stereo types who have traditional HT systems with discrete speakers. Anyone who is currently using a two channel AMP could simply move it to the surrounds. At some point another AMP could be added for spatial audio.

Soundbars are convenient and satisfy a lot of consumers because the bars are easy to deploy, but a full surround system sounds much better (in my opinion). Other than adding the three channel ARC to the lineup (“ARC+”?), this full surround would mostly be a software project.

These are all positive comments. I hope a Sonos representative is viewing this thread and taking note of the discussion. I would love either to use the Era 300’s as a left, centre and right or to see what the Arc would sound like as a centre with a firmware addition. However, I would be more in favour of the Era 300s x 3 and 2 for rears set up. 

Just as a note, a similar request was made with PLAY:5/3/1s when the original PLAYBAR was released, with no action taken. You’ll need to draw your own conclusions as to why. 

Yes Bruce, not getting my hopes up 🤣

It would be a lovely thing, though ;) I’m 100% behind the idea, just need to be realistic about the chances of it happening. 

Well, we did get dual subs. 😁 you never know. 🤞