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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
  • 14725 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

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    jonmichael
    jonmichael
    Enthusiast II
    April 8, 2023



     But please, arrange something with your product and engineering team and come up with a future solution so that we can know whether we should make the expense or not.

    I think we need to have confidence that we are being heard. If a good reason exists for this engineering decision, let us in on it. If it can’t be fixed, please tell us so, and why. If it can be fixed but won’t be, share your reasons for that decision. If engineering says it will be fixed, we deserve a sorta date certain. So far, we are hearing crickets. I am cautiously hopeful that we hear something soon.

    Old guy with toys.
      Mattymoo1
      Lyricist I
      April 8, 2023

      After replacing my Sonos One’s with the Era 300’s in surround set-up, testing, being less than impressed with anything non-ATMOS, and then reading most of the comments on this forum… here are my findings. Any non-ATMOS input signal (e.g. DD 5.1, DTS 5.1, DD 2.0 pro logic II) will only use the outward facing tweeter on the Era 300’s. So effectively only 1 of the 4 tweeters will be in use for anything non-ATMOS. That is the reason why they sound so underwhelming with non-ATMOS content. While I understand SONOS’ reasoning that the center tweeter should be disabled, for me the bigger issue is that the inward facing side tweeters are also disabled. SONOS should simply have the surround signal be assigned to both side tweeters for a wider soundstage (similar to a Dipole Surround Speaker). One could call it upsampling from 5.1 to 7.1, but with DTS 5.1 this is standard practice to repeat the surround signal to the extra rear surrounds anyways. Except the Era 300 does not do that either. That also explains while the surround level slider in the app only affects the outward facing tweeter. In short, non-ATMOS surround playback with the Era 300 is like using the Sonos One’s (also 1 active tweeter only) being angled away from your listening position. I really hope there will be a firmware fix or option to make the Era 300 more usable for non-ATMOS content in a surround set-up.

        Majo133
        Majo133Author
        Renowned Enthusiast I
        April 9, 2023

        I will most likely return mine if this doesn’t get an update. Why the heck did I pay $900 to use these as surrounds when I can’t get all drivers for music playback?  
         

        This feels like a huge oversight and an extremely lazy engineering choice.  These speakers seem designed to be used as a stereo pair, not surrounds.  Sonos should be up front about this so people don’t keep getting disappointed.  
         

        Let’s say hypothetically the surrounds actually do sound best without the front drivers.  Even in that case, did you really think customers wouldn’t complain about this?  There is a negative psychological effect when you pay for something expensive and don’t get full potential functionality out of it.  Seems like whoever designed these should have considered this, really not that hard to predict backlash for this.

        Very well said, could not agree more about the “psychological” aspect and also SONOS not correctly stating all the facts regarding the ERAs if used as surrounds.

        Yesterday, is not today.
          flybyme
          Enthusiast II
          April 9, 2023

          Is there a formal reply from SonoS engeneer team to this issue we report?

          And if not….why?

           

          As mentionned, why no youtube influencer do not talk about it??

            Majo133
            Majo133Author
            Renowned Enthusiast I
            April 9, 2023

            Is there a formal reply from SonoS engeneer team to this issue we report?

            And if not….why?

             

            As mentionned, why no youtube influencer do not talk about it??

            Not yet, i did not receive any other mails, than the one i posted here, so we must wait i suppose.

            Yesterday, is not today.
              Dan011093
              Lyricist III
              April 9, 2023

              Is there a formal reply from SonoS engeneer team to this issue we report?

              And if not….why?

               

              As mentionned, why no youtube influencer do not talk about it??

              Not yet, i did not receive any other mails, than the one i posted here, so we must wait i suppose.

              Is there any way to escalate this thread further? They should take the input of the entire thread. Not just fixing it for music playback will do... Sadly 5.1 content (which is most of the content) sucks big time.

                MattJCand
                Lyricist I
                April 9, 2023

                Is there a formal reply from SonoS engeneer team to this issue we report?

                And if not….why?

                 

                As mentionned, why no youtube influencer do not talk about it??

                Not yet, i did not receive any other mails, than the one i posted here, so we must wait i suppose.

                Is there any way to escalate this thread further? They should take the input of the entire thread. Not just fixing it for music playback will do... Sadly 5.1 content (which is most of the content) sucks big time.

                Maybe @Corry P could help us ? 🙏

                  Dan011093
                  Lyricist III
                  April 9, 2023

                  Hopefully we get an answer tomorrow or Tuesday. I'm waiting on this to return the stands and the arc as I really want the full setup, otherwise can live with just the beam gen 2 subs and ones...

                    thepark
                    Lyricist I
                    April 10, 2023

                    Let me start by saying I’m a big Sonos fanboy. 

                     A Playbase was my start into the Sonos universe followed quickly by the Arc, two Gen 2 subs, two ones, a Beam 2 and a sub mini. 
                     
                    All of them satisfied my audio needs. 

                    When the Era 3 speakers were announced, I immediately decided that would upgrade my ones to the threes in my master bedroom. The sound difference was immediately noticeable, the ones filling the room with surround sound versus the threes neutered sound. 
                     

                    I watched John Wick 1 on Blu-ray today with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. The sound from the Sonos Eros 3 speakers came fully to life and blew me away.

                    If Sonos can figure out a way to bring to life the full capability of these speakers in ALL surround sound formats, they will come full circle from a limited audience into a great product. 

                     

                      Corry P
                      Corry P
                      Sonos Staff
                      April 10, 2023

                       Hi @MattJCand 

                      Maybe @Corry P could help us ? 🙏

                      The feedback has been passed to who it needed passed to - I assure you we are paying attention.

                       

                      "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
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