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Majo133
Majo133
Renowned Enthusiast I
March 30, 2023

FEATURE REQUEST: Add option to enable "Center speakers" for the ERA's 300, if they are added as surrounds

  • March 30, 2023
  • 133 replies
  • 14723 views

After suggestion by @Corry P in the  Sonos Era 300 wall mount positioning post, where we discussed the issue of ERA’s 300 “center speaker” not playing at all, while added as surrounds.

I asked this:

@Corry P

 

I don’t want to “reach”, but couldn’t there be a toggle to enable the “center driver” for example only for music?

Something like the Surround Audio — Music Playback feature.

So at least in music scenarios, ERAs are not “crippled” in surround setup. Because in “stereo” standalone mode without ARC, they sound much better in my opinion.

 

Corry P replied:

Hi @Majo133 

Perhaps - I recommend you start a new topic making this point and it will be marked as a feature request. Thanks!

 

I am therefore creating this post marked as “Feature request” and i am requesting feature described below.

 

Feature to be added:

“Allow user to manually enable center speakers of the ERA’s 300, if they are added as surrounds to the ARC/BEAM + SUB setup.”

This could be added for example only for music playback, to the section “Sound” --- “Surround Audio” --- “Music Playback” as an option, so user can choose, if he wants all ERA’s 300 speakers to be enabled or not.

Even better if it would function for the rest of the content as Movies/Games, but that might be a stretch and maybe not as easy to implement.

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    133 replies

    Corry P
    Corry P
    Sonos Staff
    March 30, 2023

    Hi @Majo133 

    Thank you - I've marked this thread as a feature request and it will be seen by the relevant teams for consideration. Keep the ideas coming!

    "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
      nosht
      Lyricist I
      March 30, 2023

      Adding my plus one to this idea: the performance of the Era 300 as a musical stereo pair is sublime, and I’ve spent quite a few hours trying to debug why the speakers felt significantly less punchy after pairing them as surrounds with the Arc. No amount of trueplaying worked to bring that back.

       

      I understand there’s quite some engineering behind this choice, so not questioning the sensible defaults. I’d love the option to enable the center channel for my particular living room.

        JackThr1ll3r
        Contributor I
        March 30, 2023

        You’re right, we should have the option to choose whether to activate the centre channel or leave it inactive. We paid for 6 drivers, then we want all of the six drivers 😊

          christonge
          Trending Lyricist I
          March 30, 2023

          Gets my vote 🙋🏻 … there’s no doubt they sound wonderful right now but it would be great to at least have the option. Thanks

            jmweaver559
            Lyricist I
            March 30, 2023

            100% agree, we use the living room surround Eras for obviously movies (which sounds amazing) and music, but more music to be honest. We need the option between watching movies or listening to music, so we can maximize all of the drivers. The wife wants me to switch back to the surround Ones when we listen to music, it’s that bad of an experience…

              kendyman kenneth
              Lyricist III
              March 30, 2023

              this is like a 6 gear car and it can only go up to 5th gear, in favor of Sonos switching that driver back on, because it sounds weird to me…

                SONOman1996
                Lyricist I
                March 30, 2023

                I would like to see that feature implemented. Buying two Era’300 when the center is disabled in a surround setup for music is no go for me.

                I am postponing any ERA 300 purchase until the above requested center speaker function is implemented. 

                  MECM
                  Lyricist II
                  March 30, 2023

                  I too would like the ability to enable the center tweeter when in surround mode.  This should be an option in the Sonos app.  Paying over $1000 with stands and not having the center channel is ridiculous.  Please implement this.  

                    monkeycat
                    Lyricist II
                    March 30, 2023

                    Very underwhelming speakers for 95% of content out there when using them as surrounds.

                    Arc+Sub+300’s

                    Yes atmos content sounds amazing!

                    but everything else…. fumbled the bag.

                     

                    Arc+Sub+One’s > Arc+Sub+300

                    When it comes to non-atmos 300’s are not worth it… unless they active the center channel for non-atmos content.

                      eatzaylove
                      Collaborator I
                      March 30, 2023

                      Very underwhelming speakers for 95% of content out there when using them as surrounds.

                      Arc+Sub+300’s

                      Yes atmos content sounds amazing!

                      but everything else…. fumbled the bag.

                       

                      Arc+Sub+One’s > Arc+Sub+300

                      When it comes to non-atmos 300’s are not worth it… unless they active the center channel for non-atmos content.

                      The era’s actually sound incredible when paired in stereo and the center tweeter is utilized, I’m not sure why they decided to limit them so badly when paired as rears. Really hoping they give us an option to enable full functionality soon.

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