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HD and 4k video streaming of live music is becoming standard across many platforms (Nugs.net, LivePhish, etc) and leveraging ERA 300s (or similar) forward facing tweeters should be made available to allow users to take advantage of their full potential. 

Current setup: Arc soundbar, Sub, Era 300s as surround pair

Ideal set ups for various use-cases:

TV and video: current configuration with Atmos style surround, where side and upward facing speakers are utilized on the Era 300s and the forward facing speakers are disabled

Audio Music via various apps: Arc, Sub, and Era 300s with all speakers firing, especially if audio being streamed isn’t Atmos

Music video streaming: Arc, Sub, and Era 300s with all speakers firing   

Potential implementation options (obviously knowing nothing about the code base and difficulties associated with each option...):

  • Room specific profiles allowing various combinations of speakers to be used depending the content being consumed
  • A toggle specific to the surrounds that allows all speakers to be leveraged

What I didn’t realize when purchasing the Era 300s as surrounds is that I’d never be able to use the forward facing speakers unless I decoupled them from the Arc. This renders a portion of the hardware in the Eras as inaccessible, based on the assumption that this is what the user base wants. Given there are several other, older feature requests that are near identical to this one, I can say this isn’t a fair assumption. 

How will you cope with the volume changes as the extra speakers kick in or drop out - possibly from one track to the next - according to its format? What about the Trueplay mix, where sound levels are optimised for speakers in the room? 
There are some quite significant obstacles to overcome rather than just having an enable/disable toggle. 


Great questions, responses in-line:

volume changes as the extra speakers kick in or drop out - possibly from one track to the next - according to its format

  • This is occurring now, right? The only difference is that the forward facing speakers become included. Also, volume leveling is often times controlled by the streaming service (Spotify for example allows for this in the settings)

What about the Trueplay mix, where sound levels are optimised for speakers in the room?

  • In this scenario, when Trueplay is calibrated the forward facing speakers would be active and balanced in accordance to all other speakers within the system 

There are some quite significant obstacles to overcome rather than just having an enable/disable toggle.

  • Completely agree and interested in hearing from Sonos (although unlikely) on what’s even feasible. A toggle is just one potential option and I’m not suggesting that a significant amount of code changes wouldn’t be required to enable it. A toggle (or my other suggestion of having different profiles associated with one room) could potentially address all of your questions; when activated the toggle could disable Trueplay and leverage only the EQ settings

Hi @cowphunk 

Thank you - I've marked this thread as a feature request and it will be seen by the relevant teams for consideration. Keep the ideas coming!


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