So we are only getting 4 out of 6 speakers working for music when they are used as surrounds. Is that correct?

Due to the absence of this feature, I returned my Era 300s. I look forward to owning a pair in the future when the added functionality is implemented. 

Correct.  Only one of the side tweeters are firing in each speaker.  It’s hard to tell if one of the side woofers is firing since it’s not as pronounced as the tweeters.  Again, this only happens when using the Sonos app - and not Apple TV 4K (for music).

Wait are you saying all six speakers work with apple tv?

No - all five speakers work with ATV.  Fronts never fire when setup as surrounds.

This is a very good point, i second this!

I’m starting to think sonos is wanting to make people buy separate speakers from the 300s if they want to listen to music. I’m thinking about sending the 300s back. To pay this much for a set of speakers and can’t use them like you want is bs. 

A few hours ago finally got to replace my OneSL surrounds with two Era300s and after setting them up together with a Beam and Submini felt like something was slightly off right away for music listening which is my main use.

Even before finding this post I noticed the 300s to be somewhat quiet in comparison to the OneSLs I had prior, so much so that I got my ear close to find out the front driver was not working.

Kept listening to some music and while Atmos music sounded nice I think it could sound better if the front drivers were not muted, normal music also sounded good but at the same time I was wanting to go back to my old setup…

Im currently using the two 300s as a stereo pair with the Submini and its so much better but still I kind of miss the surround effect my old setup gave.

Hope Sonos could enable more options for using the 300s as surrounds in a optimized way with their full capacity. 

Hello to all,

I got the ERA300 to up grade the 2 Surround One’s...and yes, they are great if used with Dolby Atmos movies or music...but I, also, use the HT (BE|am Gen 2+ Mi Sub) to listen to normal music and movies…

I felt a difference in worst compared to the previous System when listening to normal music...and found out , infact, that the central driver MUST be enabled or given this option.

So i will return the Era 300 at the end of the trial period if this option will not be avalaible.

In the mean time I will use the ERA 100 as rear surround speakers , has anyone found any improvements coming from the One s in the HT system sound?

Totally agree! After upgrading my play ones to 300’s as surrounds the experience was really underwhelming. Especially with music but 5.1 content doesn’t sound great either. I’m considering swapping back to my play ones and returning the 300’s within the window if Sonos doesn’t fix this.

A dedicated slider or auto function, on with music when playback is set to full and on while watching non Atmos content, is a must!

I’m really hoping Sonos is taking this seriously and it would be great if they could let us know what their take is on this feature.

Completely agree, I don't understand what Sonos was thinking. Personally I already had my order ready but I will stop it until I see how this issue evolves.

I’m so glad other people feel the same way I do. Someone else said it in this thread but the best way I can sum it up is the era 300 speakers should be smart enough to make use of most of the drivers in the speaker, no matter what content is playing. They sound great for Dolby Atmos music and movies but for everything else they’re lacking because the front firing tweeter is deactivated and the sound is primarily coming out of the outside tweeter and woofer instead of the inside drivers, pointing back to where I am sitting which is in the middle.  

Not making excuses ….but I’ve got to believe that Sonos engineers are aware of the Center channel going silent in some scenarios. It could possibly be by design but Sonos isn’t going to spill the beans as to why (at least not yet).

Sometimes products are released knowing there is a potential customer feature dissatisfaction on the horizon; but move forward with the release to start recouping R&D costs. Publicly traded compnaies are always under pressure to show a respectable ROI on a product release ASAP. The intent is to address the issue via a software/firmware update. 

IF however, Sonos was not aware of the center speaker going silent and there’s no logical reason it should ...then the Sonos engineering group dropped the ball BIG TIME.

IF no explanation is given for the Era 300 center channel behavior “pro or con” it could be Sonos’ biggest launch failure. The Era 300 could be a “lame-duck” with no future; as sales could be negatively impacted just for lack of information.

IF the center channel behavior is a design flaw that can’t be fixed via an update then Sonos IMO should start a recall sooner than later to minimize brand confidence loss.

After a full day using the 300s as a stereo pair with the Sub Mini I can tell you all the 300s are great speakers for music, they sound amazing with Atmos music, they give a great immersive effect.

As surrounds the 300s are very diluted version of themselves, no matter how you configure them. I think it may not be only the front drivers being disabled, its their whole software/config, they just do not shine.

I hope all this its not hardware related because if it was it would be a total fail on Sonos part, I keep thinking it must be a bad call or maybe a lazy focus group that was used for this as it just does not make sense to me at all.

My brother which is not big on Sonos came to help me setup the new 300s as I was giving him my not so old OneSLs and he noticed the underperforming first, its that bad.

Sorry for the lenghty post, hope Sonos is listening to us all and could fix this soon via a software update.

Ps. Although I have never based any purchase on tech influencers but with this I have come to learn to not trust them at all, they are all exaggerated and biased salesman’s.

It seems when playing non-surround music and the speakers are set to ‘full’ in the Sonos app, the front and inner tweeters aren’t firing. Definitely doesn’t sound great to me.

And in general, still not sure why the front tweeter is disabled...they would be helpful in having better sound definition in my setup. I replaced Play:3s as my surrounds and the Eras are definitely less pronounced.

“Peter Pee” -- a big Sonos Products Youtube influencer has done a review on the Era 100 and 300’s. 

I left him a message on one of his latest videos. Thought I might share the post here, I’ll report back on his response, if he does:
 

Coming from the Sonos One's as my previous surrounds, I've lost rear directional clarity for Music, movies, and the most affected, gaming.

Sono's tech from their community have openly confirmed that when you connect the Era 300's as surrounds, the front tweeter is disabled.

I have the cash ready for a pair of 300s, but I will leave it in my PayPal account until this is settled. I am pretty happy with my Arc/SubGen3/One SLs system. I certainly have no desire to drop a grand on speakers that will actually degrade the SQ. So I wait.

Error

My One’s which the 300 replaced sound much better in everything but Atmos !! This is not what I expected when I paid $1000 for the upgrade … obviously not using the center channel is causing this … why didn't Sonos tell us this before release? I have the arc ,2 subs and now 2 era 300”s and I'm disappointed !! Might be time to move away from Sonos

My plan was to replace a pair of Ones I had as surrounds for an Arc and Sub with a pair of Era 300s, which arrived last weekend.  After doing some more testing, I think I’ve concluded that I’ll hold on to the Ones for now and pair them as a group with the Arc/Sub/Era 300s when listening to non Atmos music.  It’s not the ideal situation, but it covers all bases for now, and hopefully Sonos will issue a future software update that will make better use of the Era 300’s center speakers when in surround mode.  
 

I’m still amazed that this never came up during any of the product reviews right when the Era 300 came out.  It jumped out at me within 5 seconds of listening to music and I’m not super anal about this stuff.  It was just so obvious that I was worried I had done something wrong in the initial setup. 

I know I already posted but I can’t help but feeling duped by Sonos and YouTube reviewers who never mentioned this before release !!!!! The more I listen the more upset I get … they have to come out with an update to fix this problem !!! 

I agree 100%. No reason to have all speakers working in single and stereo (2) mode, then neuter it in Surround mode.

Funny thing is even during atmos supported media the front tweeter and inside speaker still don't work.

The “tech influencers/youtubers” not mentioning this issue is something, that is the worst about this whole situation in my opinion.

But it at least shows how out of touch with “reality” most if not all of them are. I get it when there is for example not enough time, which could be this case, but i somehow can’t believe, that in 24 to 48 hours folks like u and me pointed out this and some other issues without having the “influence” behind them and yet, they could not do it, just baffling.

Sometimes the common sense and trying the product for yourself is all you need, because these reviewers are what they are.

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.

Following up on the message above.

If you want trully 7.1 immersion there is definitely a software piece that needs to process all three drivers positionally. 

E.g → Something’s moving from the side to the back - today this is achieved trhrough psychoacoustics with ones, they adapt volume to make you feel “surrounded” and do a great job at that.

Now with the ERA 300s the least I was expecting was some sort of algorithmic processing that for both 5.1 and 7.1 sound sources (most TV shows and most content and games) it would use all three drivers to give a fuller sense of directionality and sound movement.

Sonos, this is the least I’d expect to get the Eras. Ironically I already have the stands and upgraded to an Arc to pair with the 300s, but looks like i’ll be going back to a more basic system (Beam Gen 2) and ones until this is resolved.

Worst part is, how have we not received any sort of commitment from engineering at this point?
I know how tech companies are doing nowadays, I myself work for one. 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.