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Hi everyone,

 

I currently have 2× Era 300 and use them mainly for music. Now I’m planning to add a Sonos Arc + Sub, and move the Eras behind the couch as surrounds.

 

I also have a turntable connected, and I don’t want to listen to music primarily through the Arc — I’d like to keep music playback just on the Era 300 stereo pair, but when I play movies through Apple TV, I want the full setup (Arc + Sub + Era).

 

👉 Question:

How can I set it up so that, for example, when I play something on Spotify it only plays through the Era 300, but when I start a movie it plays through the full system?

When used as surrounds, the line-in is disabled on the Eras. And, there’s no quick way to de-bond them from the Arc and then re-bond them when you want to watch a movie. 
There are many threads on this topic if you do a search, together with explanations as to why it’s like this. 
Get a pair of pre-owned Ones for surround duty and leave the Eras as they are. 

Play 1s, Ones or One SLs pair well with the Arc, the Plays are getting ancient though so unless you get a deal compared to the Ones I'd pass on them.

If you decide on the Arc Ultra I'd consider Era 100s and one of the Sonos sets, particularly if you have an upgrade discount available.

https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/premium-immersive-set-arc-ultra-sub-era-100-pair-black

 

  1. Group Rooms Instead of Adding Surrounds:

    • Set up the Arc + Sub as a home theater system in your TV room.

    • Keep the Era 300s as a separate stereo pair in the same room (or wherever you prefer).

    • When listening to music:

      • Group the Era 300s with the Arc system using the Sonos app.

      • This gives you full stereo music playback on the Eras without forcing them into surround mode.

    • When watching movies:

      • You’ll get immersive Dolby Atmos surround via the Arc + Sub setup (without Era 300s acting as surrounds).

  2. Why not add Eras as surrounds?

    • If you set them as surrounds, they’ll only work during TV/movies.

    • You can’t use them independently for music without unpairing them each time.

 Notes:

  • Music played through grouped speakers won’t be in true multichannel Atmos, but will still sound excellent.

  • Grouped playback might have a minor delay—fine for music, not ideal for video.

  1. Group Rooms Instead of Adding Surrounds:

    • Set up the Arc + Sub as a home theater system in your TV room.

    • Keep the Era 300s as a separate stereo pair in the same room (or wherever you prefer).

    • When listening to music:

      • Group the Era 300s with the Arc system using the Sonos app.

      • This gives you full stereo music playback on the Eras without forcing them into surround mode.

    • When watching movies:

      • You’ll get immersive Dolby Atmos surround via the Arc + Sub setup (without Era 300s acting as surrounds).

  2. Why not add Eras as surrounds?

    • If you set them as surrounds, they’ll only work during TV/movies.

    • You can’t use them independently for music without unpairing them each time.

 Notes:

  • Music played through grouped speakers won’t be in true multichannel Atmos, but will still sound excellent.

  • Grouped playback might have a minor delay—fine for music, not ideal for video.

 

AI nonsense, per usual.  90% of this post is factually incorrect.

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