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

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133 replies

G
Userlevel 3
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Was all lined up to buy Some era 300’s but that definitely won’t happen until this is fixed.  Did they really not think people might want to listen to music with these when also set up as surrounds for ATMOS material?  Please give us an option to enable center channel driver, because as things stand now, the Era 300’s set up as surrounds are severely handicapped for listening to music.  

George
S
Userlevel 4
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Adding to this request. 
 

Replaced my rear 5s with 300s today. 
 

We listen to a lot of music in this room, as well as watching movies. 
 

A lot of stereo mixed music. 

 

The 300s are great for theatre. They are crap for music with the center channels turned off. Now the music is primarily from the arc, when it used to be from a pair of 5s, set to “full” & +3 for music playback. 
 

I tried the 300s as a stereo pair with a sub mini in another room, replacing stereo 1s. It was a big improvement. 

 

I feel you're missing the mark here, giving us a weird, niche product that is less well-rounded by the decision to turn off the center channel. 

 

I especially feel duped by Sonos not informing their customers of this in a clear and transparent manner, which is an issue Sonos had demonstrated in the past, (ie Moves won't stereo pair on Bluetooth, etc). 

 

As someone heavily invested in Sonos gear, adding another 1k purchase that lacks basic usability is deeply disappointing. 
 

 

P
Userlevel 6
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This is a great feature request, but I want to amend it. Please reply if you think this is a better or worse suggestion.

For music playback, it would be ideal if enabling main drivers in ERA 300 also made ERA 300 the main speakers (along with the sub). The Arc could be disabled or relegated to “ambient”.

In my opinion, the Arc is not that great at music so I would rather turn around and face the ERA 300 for the music experience.

Henrique Gusso
Userlevel 2
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@ProfessorFrag That's exactly what I'd want. It's clear that two Era 300 speakers play music better than the Arc, but because I also want to use them as rears, that functionality is locked unless I'm willing to ungroup them from the home theatre setup all the time, which I definitely won't do.

S
Userlevel 4
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@ProfessorFrag 
 

Good suggestion. This would be a huge improvement. 
 

This is what I'd previously accomplished with the settings on my 5s as rears.
 

For any kind of serious listening the arc is anemic for music playback. I was overriding it. 

 

Even with the settings all bumped up on the 300s music playback is weird and inferior. 
 

They were a great improvement in another room as a stereo pair with sub mini, when compared to the pair of 1s/sub mini I'd had in there before. 
 

So they can do music well. Not as well as a pair of 5s obviously, but better than this rear surround restriction allows by a mile.
 

 

W
Userlevel 2

I’m considering returning my Era 300’s. I am using them paired to a Arc and two subs and replaced two sonos five’s. For non atmos tv viewing the surround sound seems to be greatly diminished even for 5.1 content. I’m guessing this is the reason why.

T
Userlevel 2

@ProfessorFrag That's exactly what I'd want. It's clear that two Era 300 speakers play music better than the Arc, but because I also want to use them as rears, that functionality is locked unless I'm willing to ungroup them from the home theatre setup all the time, which I definitely won't do.

I agree, I think many of us want both music and home theater surround with the same investment. I hate twice-a-day reconfiguring my setup in the app and re-running Trueplay. I work during the day listening to music in the same room as my home theater setup. So in the morning, for better sounding music, I am ungrouping the HT setup and grouping 2 Era 300’s as stereo pair, plus Sub.  Then at night, I totally reconfigure in the app as HT, with the Arc+2 300’s+Sub, then re-running Trueplay, then for better sounding surround, increasing Surround Audio -> TV Level way up. Yuck.

Please allow us configuration options to use these easily as multi-purpose speaker systems. Thanks. 

P
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

Was thinking of getting the 300’s for movies and music listening in my living room. Using beam + plus 2 of my old 3’s for back channel with mini sub right now. Glad I found this post. Will hold off until this changes.

T
Userlevel 2

This thread explains a lot.  I was wondering why my 300’s that replaced my two Play’s as surround sound sounded inferior.  It’s because the center channel is disabled.  To get around this somewhat, I had to crank up the surround sound volume to 10, after true play did its thing.  I also use these to listen to music and would be great to be universal for both music and surround.  The arc defiantly does not sound that great for music and as a previous poster mentioned, disabling the arc and letting the music roll from the 300’s only or +sub seems like a great option. 


As for returning,  I purchased directly through Sono’s, they have a 100 day return policy.  I don’t want to return these, but if this feature is not improved, I can’t really. justify spending $1K on surround sound speakers that only really work with Atmos content.  Please Sonos, can you address this and let us know what you are thinking. 

G
Userlevel 4
Badge +5

I'm going to be contrarian with regard to music quality. 

Era 300s replaced Ones in my home theater set-up with arc and sub gen 2. Trueplay re-run and all EQ tweaks set to zero.

Listening to Atmos music via Amazon Music over a couple of days, my ears are telling me this is a solid improvement. For me, it's a sense of being on stage with the band arrayed around me. This feeling noticeably more present with Era 300s vs Ones.

This is just opinion from my jaundiced ears.

 

 

E
Userlevel 3
Badge +1

I'm going to be contrarian with regard to music quality. 

Era 300s replaced Ones in my home theater set-up with arc and sub gen 2. Trueplay re-run and all EQ tweaks set to zero.

Listening to Atmos music via Amazon Music over a couple of days, my ears are telling me this is a solid improvement. For me, it's a sense of being on stage with the band arrayed around me. This feeling noticeably more present with Era 300s vs Ones.

This is just opinion from my jaundiced ears.

 

 

That’s awesome! Have you tried playing them as a Stereo Pair with all drivers firing outside of the home theater set up?

G
Userlevel 1

also for utilizing the center channel. at least have the option to on/off jt BUT also have the options to increase the center channel loudness as well as the side firing drivers like how you can increase the sub/height options. 

P
Userlevel 1
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A simple music or movies toggle in settings would do the job.  Or use the centre channel for ambient sounds or something. I dunno, just seems odd not to use it.

P
Userlevel 6
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Sonos Turnplay™. Using one simple toggle in our app, flip the orientation of your home theater system 180 degrees for an optimal music listening experience. Let ERA 300 take center stage fully enabling its six custom drivers, while Sonos Arc or Beam 2 fill in the background with ambient effects. Set aside time in your day not facing a screen and letting your ears enjoy an immersive critical listening experience. It’s not just our logo that works when turned around.

N
Userlevel 3
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Sonos has made some questionable software choices lately. This is absurd. 

B
Userlevel 1

Adding my voice here. The Era 300 is mediocre for music when used as a rear speaker. I’ll be returning the two I received this week. Not at all worth the investment for people that intend to use them for music and home theater. Sonos really missed badly on this one. I’ll consider buying again someday should this issue be resolved because I really do like them for home theater purposes.

C
Userlevel 1

I also support this feature request, as it’s essential for mixed use scenarios when the Era 300’s are configured as surround speakers.

 

My HT setup is currently using an Arc, Sub and two Play:3’s as rears which I use to watch movies and TV content with various audio formats (e.g. Dolby Atmos, DD 5.1, stereo etc.) but also use this system to listen to music in various formats via Amazon Music Unlimited, only some of which is in Dolby Atmos format.

 

Therefore in my use case, the Era 300’s are only operating “optimally” in two of the above scenarios (e.g. Movies/TV or Music in Atmos format)...and sub-optimally in all other scenarios.

This is not aceptable for what would be a $1500 purchase (in Australia). I won’t be purchasing the Era 300’s unless this issue is resolved.

 

Very disappointing :(

jonmichael
Userlevel 4

Sorry Sonos, but until you fix this, you are going to get lots of returns and lots of “wait and see” orders, including mine. I just sold some equipment this week so the $1000+ cost (including stands) for the 300s wouldn't touch my checking balance. But now, I can wait until the 5.1 is at least as good as, and maybe better than, the One SLs. If that does not happen, I will stay with the Ones.

Old guy with toys.
B
Userlevel 1

This is extremely disappointing, I was so excited and have been testing and adjusting my 300s since delivery. They blew us away with the sound in single or stereo paired mode. In surround mode once setup, we thought we had something to adjust as we could not hear the center. This is AWFUL...The price for two of these plus stands MINUS the center driver in surround as we will only use them is bad business. Am returning unfortunately.

 

 

please ADD feature above

X
Userlevel 1

Couldn’t Sonos enable the front speakers when watching 5.1 surround content using the Era 300s? I feel like it would be easy thing to do.

M
Userlevel 2

Sonos needs to fix the era 300s immediately.

 

watching regular tv non-Atmos content: the arc is too dominant on a setup with two rear 300s and a sub.(replacing rear 1sls, which honestly sound more full after a comparison) multichannel pcm 7.1 ATV+ 4K passthrough LG CX.
 

i feel like I was bait and switched with false advertising…

300 as rear channels do not project sound from forward grill.

With my ear to front grill on non Atmos content? 
Huh?

Can’t hear them!

 

why isn’t it in use? Sonos is required to address this,

 

or I am seriously considering returning the 300s and never purchasing Sonos again.

jgatie

Lots of ". . . or the bunny gets it" posts in this thread.  Not the best way of conveying disappointment, nor the most convincing.  15 years of posting here, and I've yet to see an actual dead bunny.

M
Userlevel 1

Holding off until this gets addressed.

M
Userlevel 1

Pre-ordered a pair of Era 300 and really disappointed too. Request to at least give us the on/off option to utilize all the drivers in Era 300 when used as surrounds ASAP. Also, non-transparency or inadequate information of Era 300 before release should definitely be improved in the future.

jonmichael
Userlevel 4

Am I wrong that this could happen with a software upgrade? Somewhere in the software there is a switch that turns the center speaker “off.” It stands to reason that by disabling this switch, the center channel stays on. If it is more technically difficult than this, please enlighten me. Thanks.

Old guy with toys.
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