Update:
Just adding this info to this post.
When not connected to a soundbar, your 300 will produce sounds from all of its speakers including the front one
This is especially punishing on gamers because you no longer can receive precise directional sound from the surround speakers.
For the time being, I have to put the Era 300’s outer speakers close to a wall so it has some clarity to it. Please make an option to turn these speakers on, it would be a shame to have to return these.
Hi @Henrique Gusso
I’d encourage you to get in touch with our technical support team with any issues you notice.
Just to clarify, is the centre channel inactive when listening to music on setup connected to a soundbar?
The center channel will never ever fire, regardless of whether you are listening to your TV or music, so long as the 300s are configured as rears. No way to switch that in the app, as silly as this sounds.
Just to give this post a reply, Sonos have confirmed that in surround configuration, the front tweeter is not used.
It is only used when they/it is used for music playback outside of a HT set up.
Solution:
@Corry P replied regarding my question in the Sonos Era 300 wall mount positioning post
In short:
Corry P wrote:
Hi Majo133
The decision was made after extensive user testing and feedback determined no front speaker audio provided the best sound, when the Era 300s are configured as surrounds.The advertising materials state what they state because that is what the speakers have. When not configured as surrounds, the centre channel driver is active, whether the speaker is operating alone or with another in a stereo pair.I hope this helps.
I also asked regarding informing user about this in the app:
Majo133 wrote:
Well thanks for your reply. Wouldn’t be good to inform users about this decision somewhere in the app after ERAs are added as surrounds? I guess i (and few other users who already noticed this) won’t be the last. I get it when the creator decides what is best for the user, but when user is testing the feature and the feature doesn’t work as it should and user is not informed anywhere how it should work, well then the confusion occurs.
So wouldn’t u consider adding this information somewhere to the ERAs surround setup?
Corry P replied with this:
Corry P wrote:
Hi Majo133
Point taken - thanks for your feedback! I’ll pass this along to the product team.
At least if someone searches this topic and comes across this post, they will see the clear replies now
Just to clarify, is the centre channel inactive when listening to music on setup connected to a soundbar?
The center channel will never ever fire, regardless of whether you are listening to your TV or music, so long as the 300s are configured as rears. No way to switch that in the app, as silly as this sounds.
Exactly.
Just to give this post a reply, Sonos have confirmed that in surround configuration, the front tweeter is not used.
It is only used when they/it is used for music playback outside of a HT set up.
Yes, thanks for the reply, i was the one talking to @Corry P in the Sonos Era 300 wall mount positioning post.
I’ll add the reply from the Corry here, so it’s clear what is happening with the center channel.
It doesn’t activate the front speaker but it does make more music come out of them. In Ambient they just emit a bit of sound to complement the ARC. In complete, or full they are set to output all the music, they mirror what the ARC is outputting.
I assume this is different for Atmos which is object based.
in either case, from what I can tell, as long as the 300’s are connected to the soundbar the front driver will not work under any circumstance. Correct me if I’m wrong. Unless it is different when streaming from the service as opposed to HDMI from TV? But movies etc would still lack the front driver.
Hi, I’m new to all this having purchased my Arc, Sub Mini and two Era 300s a fortnight ago. I’m very much learning and experimenting. My main problem is positioning of 300s as rears because my lounge has limited options. Immediately behind our two chairs is a bay window with large window sill. 300s could sit there but only be 2’ apart or 60cm so presumably not enough. So I think I may get some Ones for surround instead?
Main query though is re 300 front driver. Currently they are configured as surrounds and I understand that when watching Atmos movies that driver is off.
When I play Apple Music or Amazon Music via the S2 App ((no tv involved) but all components involved, is that front driver still disabled? Is the only way to play the 300s fully functioning as stereo speakers?
Hi, I think from all accounts that using the Era 300s as surrounds demands proper placement much more so than the Ones or Fives. With Ones you just have to basically point them towards your seating position, or even behind you, towards the TV. I have 2 One SLs as surrounds and price not withstanding, I know for a fact my lounge is not optimised to use the 300s to their full extent as surrounds, so it would be a waste of money for me. I will have to stick with my One SLs.
Regarding using the 300s for music, if you keep them as part of your HT setup then the front driver will still be disabled for music. If you unpair them though and set them up as a stereo pair, then all drivers will be active.
Hi Sarah and many thanks. Currently I have the 300s either side of my Arc on a two metre long sideboard so I can get a reasonable amount of separation of the 300s. I have been using them as a stereo/Atmos pair and like them very much. I tried them as surrounds in that position and realise that isn’t how to position them but I was curious. Sound isn’t bad to be fair but I lose to much when playing music through Arc, Era’s and Sub. Just too much happening and a lack of clarity for music. I’m not unhappy with Arc and Sub Mini for tv in all honesty but just wondering if adding two One SLs would make much of a difference? With their smaller size they could sit in the window or conceivably be wall mounted. Thanks again for your reply.
I think adding 2 One SLs would be great. I love my 5.1 set up although it’s the Beam Gen 2 that I have, plus Sub mini and One SLs. I’m more than happy with that set up for both Atmos and 5.1 surround sound.
And again, from what I have read on here and Reddit, it seems that the Era 300s for music alone are better used as you are using yours now.
Hi, I’m new to all this having purchased my Arc, Sub Mini and two Era 300s a fortnight ago. I’m very much learning and experimenting. My main problem is positioning of 300s as rears because my lounge has limited options. Immediately behind our two chairs is a bay window with large window sill. 300s could sit there but only be 2’ apart or 60cm so presumably not enough. So I think I may get some Ones for surround instead?
Main query though is re 300 front driver. Currently they are configured as surrounds and I understand that when watching Atmos movies that driver is off.
When I play Apple Music or Amazon Music via the S2 App ((no tv involved) but all components involved, is that front driver still disabled? Is the only way to play the 300s fully functioning as stereo speakers?
Hi, I think from all accounts that using the Era 300s as surrounds demands proper placement much more so than the Ones or Fives. With Ones you just have to basically point them towards your seating position, or even behind you, towards the TV. I have 2 One SLs as surrounds and price not withstanding, I know for a fact my lounge is not optimised to use the 300s to their full extent as surrounds, so it would be a waste of money for me. I will have to stick with my One SLs.
Regarding using the 300s for music, if you keep them as part of your HT setup then the front driver will still be disabled for music. If you unpair them though and set them up as a stereo pair, then all drivers will be active.
Hi Sarah and many thanks. Currently I have the 300s either side of my Arc on a two metre long sideboard so I can get a reasonable amount of separation of the 300s. I have been using them as a stereo/Atmos pair and like them very much. I tried them as surrounds in that position and realise that isn’t how to position them but I was curious. Sound isn’t bad to be fair but I lose to much when playing music through Arc, Era’s and Sub. Just too much happening and a lack of clarity for music. I’m not unhappy with Arc and Sub Mini for tv in all honesty but just wondering if adding two One SLs would make much of a difference? With their smaller size they could sit in the window or conceivably be wall mounted. Thanks again for your reply.
Just to clarify, is the centre channel inactive when listening to music on setup connected to a soundbar?
I’m still a bit confused as to whether the front channel is working at all for music alone. Has anyone got their 300 set up only as one speaker to play music but can hear the front channel working? I have this exact set up and I still have no sound from the front. I’m tempted to send it back for a refund.
Hi Sarah N,
Many thanks for your reply.
I’ll have to double check my settings as there’s still nothing from the front channel for some reason.
Hello,
I’ve just asked the same question under another thread but didn’t quite word it as well.
I have one Sonos Era 300, set up to play music only. Am I right in thinking the one speaker alone will not produce any sound from the front, but just round the sides?
Did you guys noticed that in the surround settings on the sonos app, there is an option related to Music playing with 2 options:
I just tried to set the complete and I have a lot more sound coming. I’ve also raised a bit the music level +6.
Does putting the complete option enabled the front speaker ? (I think it does)
From what I can tell, the answer is if the era 300’s are connected to a soundbar the front speaker is always off.
I find this very disappointing. Sonos disable lots of features when using a soundbar it seems. For the price you pay I don’t think this is good for consumers, full price paid should equal all features and it should be up to the user if they disable or not. That is just my view.
Sonos, if you are listening, enable the speaker… and the line in and Bluetooth too while you are at it. It’s a bit of a joke.
Hi, I’m new to all this having purchased my Arc, Sub Mini and two Era 300s a fortnight ago. I’m very much learning and experimenting. My main problem is positioning of 300s as rears because my lounge has limited options. Immediately behind our two chairs is a bay window with large window sill. 300s could sit there but only be 2’ apart or 60cm so presumably not enough. So I think I may get some Ones for surround instead?
Main query though is re 300 front driver. Currently they are configured as surrounds and I understand that when watching Atmos movies that driver is off.
When I play Apple Music or Amazon Music via the S2 App ((no tv involved) but all components involved, is that front driver still disabled? Is the only way to play the 300s fully functioning as stereo speakers?
Hi, I think from all accounts that using the Era 300s as surrounds demands proper placement much more so than the Ones or Fives. With Ones you just have to basically point them towards your seating position, or even behind you, towards the TV. I have 2 One SLs as surrounds and price not withstanding, I know for a fact my lounge is not optimised to use the 300s to their full extent as surrounds, so it would be a waste of money for me. I will have to stick with my One SLs.
Regarding using the 300s for music, if you keep them as part of your HT setup then the front driver will still be disabled for music. If you unpair them though and set them up as a stereo pair, then all drivers will be active.
Hi, I’m new to all this having purchased my Arc, Sub Mini and two Era 300s a fortnight ago. I’m very much learning and experimenting. My main problem is positioning of 300s as rears because my lounge has limited options. Immediately behind our two chairs is a bay window with large window sill. 300s could sit there but only be 2’ apart or 60cm so presumably not enough. So I think I may get some Ones for surround instead?
Main query though is re 300 front driver. Currently they are configured as surrounds and I understand that when watching Atmos movies that driver is off.
When I play Apple Music or Amazon Music via the S2 App ((no tv involved) but all components involved, is that front driver still disabled? Is the only way to play the 300s fully functioning as stereo speakers?
This is disappointing, I doubt there there is not a way to sonos could tune the front speaker for use as a channel or to complement a channel in the home theatre set up. It’s not like nearly all other home theatre products don’t do this, top end Samsung soundbars have like a billion channels, slight exaggeration.
in any case sonos should allow a choice. There just feels like something wrong to spend a lot of money on something to have part of it disabled. Part of the cost is to cover the inclusion of that speaker, why am I paying for 12 drivers to only be able to use 10. If this is the case they need to sell a 10 driver model for home theatre use that are cheaper….. is it just me that this would seem logical to?
Absolutely, and I imagine that this thread just like the feature request will be closed to keep us from being able to make our voice heard. More folks keep on finding this out and complaining. Now there are a bunch of open boxes in Amazon in two different countries where I buy my stuff at least.
Very disappointing; especially not to hear any news from Sonos.
This is disappointing, I doubt there there is not a way to sonos could tune the front speaker for use as a channel or to complement a channel in the home theatre set up. It’s not like nearly all other home theatre products don’t do this, top end Samsung soundbars have like a billion channels, slight exaggeration.
in any case sonos should allow a choice. There just feels like something wrong to spend a lot of money on something to have part of it disabled. Part of the cost is to cover the inclusion of that speaker, why am I paying for 12 drivers to only be able to use 10. If this is the case they need to sell a 10 driver model for home theatre use that are cheaper….. is it just me that this would seem logical to?
ok so basicly, im at the day before getting second era 300 for my bedroom.
Question is - worth to buy and make stereo or not ? cause o the front channels..
kickass outstanding or regret? I know its Sonos so its not a typical regret I have already beam gen2, sub3 and 2x ones as a living room setup
The front-facing driver is only disabled when the Era 300 is used as a surround speaker. The front-facing driver is enabled when used as a stereo pair with another Era 300. Two Era 300s as a stereo pair sounds fantastic especially when playing music in Dolby Atmos.
thank you mate! ordering ;-)