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Spaddywaddy
Enthusiast II
May 30, 2023

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

  • May 30, 2023
  • 47 replies
  • 9499 views

I was thinking how my Sonos Home theatre set up would sound with the Arc as a centre speaker and Era 300’s additional left and right.

I have the Arc, 2 x Sub Gen 3 & 2 x Era 300’s for the  rears. When listening to this set up, I can’t help hear that the Arc is the weak link in the set up. For example, listening to the Era 300s as a pair sound great for Spatial content, but the Arc alone just sounds empty IMO, 

Im wishing Sonos would add the ability to use the Arc as a centre and Era 300’s or 100’s as front left and right. I think this would be an awesome Atmos setup. 

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    47 replies

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    SpaddywaddyAuthor
    Enthusiast II
    July 12, 2023

    @melvimbe Imagination is just running wild as far as the in ceiling speakers. I would imagine the ARC and the amp would work together. Dis able the height speakers on the ARC and pass that signal off to the ceiling speakers and let the ARC and Fives handle the ear level channels. I feel pretty invested into the Sonos system right now and would add the 300s if I could without dumping my Fives. I'll probably fold and get the 300's to test them out and just return them if they're not a huge difference. 

    I had the fives as rears and another pair to listen to music in Stereo master. The Era 300’s IMO sound better than the fives as rears and obviously will spatial audio. However, the fives are still superior to listening to music in Stereo master. Give them a try, you may like them, but ears are different from person to person.

    Alan Sielbeck
    October 15, 2023

    I’d very much like to see this as well.  Seems you’d get fantastic Atmos positioning with 4 up firing drivers from the 4 era 300s, better sound stage by using discrete speakers for L&R audio, and focused center channel audio.  This would also create more balanced sound in rooms that aren’t perfectly square.  
     

    Truly want Sonos to figure this out.  

    jgatie
    jgatie
    October 15, 2023

    I’d very much like to see this as well.  Seems you’d get fantastic Atmos positioning with 4 up firing drivers from the 4 era 300s, better sound stage by using discrete speakers for L&R audio, and focused center channel audio.  This would also create more balanced sound in rooms that aren’t perfectly square.  
     

    Truly want Sonos to figure this out.  

     

    It’s been requested for a decade, going back to the original Playbar.  I would not count on it coming any time soon.  It seems Sonos, like the rest of the A/V industry, manufactures a soundbar to be a soundbar. 

      106rallye
      106rallye
      October 15, 2023

      Still not sure Sonos is about packing your room full of speakers. To me Sonos is about having as few speakers as possible.

        Mandyla
        Trending Lyricist I
        November 23, 2023

        I just added two ERA 300s as group/room front Stereo Pair to my Gen2, Sub and Ikea rears.  AppleTV Movies and Apple Music Dolby Atmos sound fantastic with this set up.  No problem with the Beam center channel.  Provides height and wider sound stage to the Beam.  No major synch problem. Easy to adjust volumes in the app. 

         

        I suggest this for all Beam 2 owners rather than buying an Arc and two era 300 rears.

         

        jgatie
        jgatie
        November 23, 2023

        Again, I curse that stupid YouTube video. 🙄

          Mandyla
          Trending Lyricist I
          November 23, 2023

          Why?  It is working great for me.  The front sound stage with the grouped ERA stereo pair is much better and the Ikeas are adequate rears.  Tried it with some Atmos movies from AppleTV and the whole room sounded much better.

           

            GuitarSuperstar
            Lead Maestro
            November 23, 2023

            I just added two ERA 300s as group/room front Stereo Pair to my Gen2, Sub and Ikea rears.  AppleTV Movies and Apple Music Dolby Atmos sound fantastic with this set up.  No problem with the Beam center channel.  Provides height and wider sound stage to the Beam.  No major synch problem. Easy to adjust volumes in the app. 

             

            I suggest this for all Beam 2 owners rather than buying an Arc and two era 300 rears.

             

            Doesn’t this setup mix up the audio mix? Doesn’t the Era 300s in front play surround audio that should only be heard from the surround speakers behind you?

            "Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
              jgatie
              jgatie
              November 23, 2023

              Why?  It is working great for me.  The front sound stage with the grouped ERA stereo pair is much better and the Ikeas are adequate rears.  Tried it with some Atmos movies from AppleTV and the whole room sounded much better.

               

               

              I curse it because it encourages people to think it sounds good.  It doesn’t.  You lose directionality, you lose a distinct front sound stage, and no matter what anybody says, for TV sources the front Era 300’s are delayed, causing an echo.  The only way to get rid of the echo is to delay the audio, which causes lip sync problems.  So you may think it sounds good, but in reality it’s not even close to the way the source was mixed, and cannot be called real “surround sound”. 

              Oh and by the way, you aren’t getting any real Atmos effects from your front Era 300’s when watching TV.  Grouped rooms with a TV source get stereo only.  

                Mandyla
                Trending Lyricist I
                November 23, 2023

                Guitar,

                 

                I use the ERAs as a group front stereo pair.  From Apple TV, it play the Atmos front stereo sound not the rear.  The rear comes from my Ikeas with no problem.

                 

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