Renowned Enthusiast I

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

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
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.

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

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S

sidereal1

Lyricist III

Hello @Corry P ,

I'm involved in this thread, but also this related thread which I'd like to draw your attention to.

It's a shorter thread, so will be quick to catch up on, but many of us are having issues with drivers not working even with Atmos mixed music.

I'm still waiting to be contacted by tier 3 tech support from last week, after my 2 hour tech support call went beyond the abilities of tier 1 & tier 2.

Can you help with this/get this info in front of the relevant parties?

Thank you.

Corry P

Sonos Staff

Hi @sidereal1

I just replied to you on that thread 2 hours ago.

I am tier 1, so I’m not sure how I can do anything more than what has been done already. I recommend you wait for your reply from tier 3.

Please be assured that the relevant parties have already been informed.

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

P

ProfessorPeach

Enthusiast II

Even if not everyone is here, voicing their opinion, there are probably many more users that are wondering the same thing as we are here.

The most baffling thing about this is that tech influencers / youtubers are acting like if this was not even an issue, looking at you Peter Pee, or did not even mention it in they “reviews”.

Exactly! I brought up this very point with my partner yesterday: why was the issue not mentioned in “reviews?” They all just happened to leave it out? It beggars belief, particularly when the centre driver’s absence is so conspicuous.

It is bad enough Sonos itself wasn’t open about it until forced to be (but not unexpected given the corporation’s increasingly unscrupulous track record in recent years). The YouTubers (agreed, Peter Pee among them…) were no better. I cannot say whether, like most influence-peddlers, PP has become another grovelling shill enticed into the corporate fold, but, at the very least, his review and those of others have proven inept. About as disappointing as my speakers.

melvimbe

There’s nothing really helpful that could be added to the thread at this point. Feature request was made and acknowledged. It’s really just people adding their voice to the request and venting at this point.

Danny

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ProfessorPeach

Enthusiast II

There’s nothing really helpful that could be added to the thread at this point. Feature request was made and acknowledged. It’s really just people adding their voice to the request and venting at this point.

… Which is a perfectly legitimate thing to do under the circumstances.

P

ProfessorPeach

Enthusiast II

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.

@jonmichael @Dan011093 Speaking of crickets, a former colleague is one of the tech editors at The Verge: apparently there is a popular wager being made among staff members regarding the timing of an official Sonos announcement on this fiasco. It would seem the majority believe it will be made after the returns window expires for the bulk of the earliest buyers.

They would face some customer anger, the thinking goes, but the modern Sonos doesn’t seem too worried about that kind of thing given past controversies covered in the media. That anger would pale in comparison to the backlash from angry businesses facing an avalanche of returns. The corporation would get to enjoy that injection of fresh liquidity which would otherwise be threatened by returns and backorder cancellations en masse. The theory did not originate there, of course (it’s all over the internet), but most at the publication are betting against any announcement before the earliest deadlines, taking the cynical (or realistic?) view.

melvimbe

There’s nothing really helpful that could be added to the thread at this point. Feature request was made and acknowledged. It’s really just people adding their voice to the request and venting at this point.

… Which is a perfectly legitimate thing to do under the circumstances.

Sure, but the whole ‘groveling shill’ comment is a bit humorous to see, looking in from the outside. Comes off as bit over the top

Danny

P

ProfessorPeach

Enthusiast II

There’s nothing really helpful that could be added to the thread at this point. Feature request was made and acknowledged. It’s really just people adding their voice to the request and venting at this point.

… Which is a perfectly legitimate thing to do under the circumstances.

Sure, but the whole ‘groveling shill’ comment is a bit humorous to see, looking in from the outside. Comes off as bit over the top

And you have every right to an opinion. 👍🏻

I cannot help but wonder why certain people find “grovelling” and “shill” to be so triggering, however. 😉

melvimbe

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.

@jonmichael @Dan011093 Speaking of crickets, a former colleague is one of the tech editors at The Verge: apparently there is a popular wager being made among staff members regarding the timing of an official Sonos announcement on this fiasco. It would seem the majority believe it will be made after the returns window expires for the bulk of the earliest buyers.

They would face some customer anger, the thinking goes, but the modern Sonos doesn’t seem too worried about that kind of thing given past controversies covered in the media. That anger would pale in comparison to the backlash from angry businesses facing an avalanche of returns. The corporation would get to enjoy that injection of fresh liquidity which would otherwise be threatened by returns en masse. The theory did not originate there, of course (it’s all over the internet), but most at the publication are betting against any announcement before the earliest deadlines, taking the cynical (or realistic?) view.

I heard something similar from my cousin’s step brother who knows a guy.

Theory doesn’t make a lot of sense. What exactly would Sonos announce after returns expire? If they are not going to make any changes, they wouldn’t make an announcement. They have never made a ‘We are never going to do that’ announcement regarding feature requests, in the history of the company. If they are going to make changes, makes more sense to do that before returns expire.

My advice, for those of you who are bothered by this, I wouldn't wait to hear from Sonos on this. Take it for what is now and decided whether you want to keep it or not If you can’t live without the center speaker, then return it. You can always buy again later. If you like it well enough without, then keep it.

Danny

melvimbe

There’s nothing really helpful that could be added to the thread at this point. Feature request was made and acknowledged. It’s really just people adding their voice to the request and venting at this point.

… Which is a perfectly legitimate thing to do under the circumstances.

Sure, but the whole ‘groveling shill’ comment is a bit humorous to see, looking in from the outside. Comes off as bit over the top

And you have every right to an opinion. 👍🏻

I cannot help but wonder why certain people find “grovelling” and “shill” to be so triggering, however. 😉

Finding a comment to be a bit humorous is to be triggered? 😀

Danny

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