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

jonmichael
Userlevel 4



 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.
M
Userlevel 3

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
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

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.
F
Userlevel 4
Badge +4

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
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

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.
D
Userlevel 3
Badge

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.

M

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 ? 🙏

D
Userlevel 3
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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...

T
Userlevel 1

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
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

 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
S
Userlevel 4
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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
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

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
Badge +2

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
P
Badge +2

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
Badge +2



 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
Badge +2

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
P
Badge +2

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? 😀

I was not referring to you my friend….

P
Badge +2

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. 😉

 

You must be a blithering idiot if you don’t understand why someone would find the description “groveling shill” to be less than laudatory.  Now remember, no getting “triggered” by anybody else’s opinion!

Please do not derail this thread. We are all friends here. 👍🏻

W
Userlevel 3

Hello, So it has been a few days and Peter Pee never replied back to me. I’m not too surprised but wanted to share the update.

Apart from this. Returns -- I was informed by customer service that we do not need the original Era 300 box when we return for refund. Just pack it well. I’m sure most of you kept the original box, I was just too excited to clean up and had high hopes in the speakers. =)

You have roughly a month to return it from when you create the RMA # with Sono’s customer service.

 

P
Badge +2

Hello, So it has been a few days and Peter Pee never replied back to me. I’m not too surprised but wanted to share the update.

Apart from this. Returns -- I was informed by customer service that we do not need the original Era 300 box when we return for refund. Just pack it well. I’m sure most of you kept the original box, I was just too excited to clean up and had high hopes in the speakers. =)

You have roughly a month to return it from when you create the RMA # with Sono’s customer service.

 

@weimin108 Thank you for the follow-up with us. I’m no longer surprised Peter Pee went suddenly mute either. It is more disappointing that we have silence from Sonos too—even though it is inconceivable this issue did not come up during the testing process and that complaints were entirely unforeseen (that would require incompetence on an almost epic scale). Hope your return goes smoothly for you.

melvimbe

@weimin108 Thank you for the follow-up with us. I’m no longer surprised Peter Pee went suddenly mute either. It is more disappointing that we have silence from Sonos too—even though it is inconceivable this issue did not come up during the testing process and that complaints were entirely unforeseen (that would require incompetence on an almost epic scale). Hope your return goes smoothly for you.

 

It’s the end of a holiday weekend, and posting vids about wireless speakers is Peter Pee’s side gig.  I’m not surprised he has not responded.  As for Sonos, Corry P replied just 10 hours ago, and has stated that Sonos is looking at the issue seriously.  Not silent.

Danny
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