Sonos ARC + Sonos SUB + Ikea SYMFONISK(x2) - Movie vs Music

Not with the SYMFONISK but with Play 1s and a Beam, but no Sub.

I set them up as a home theater set in the standard positions for TV watching.

Set the streaming/music mode to Full rather than Ambient and they filled the room nicely but the stereo image did suffer.

Moved the Play 1s up front to flank the Beam and got a very nice stereo image.

Thanks Stanley. So this means that the bar will never be as good for stereo as two separate speakers. And was there a big difference between the two set ups while watching a movie? I mean if the Play 1s made a big difference in the home theater set up, while they were in the back?

For the record… no soundbar will do 2.0 Stereo justice if you are a TRUE listener of stereo music designed for Left/Right speaker configuration and adding a sub if desired.

The needs for stereo and TV sound reproduction  differ enough that I don't think a soundbar is a great option, the much wider Arc is better than the smaller ones though. The sound is good  just the localization seems to suffer a bit.

I really do like having surrounds, for 5.1 or better content they add a lot. An Arc and 300s sound amazing, if you can get the 300s to a reasonable location.

Hello Gents,

Thanks for your feedback and opinion.

It looks that I will need to keep the current set up and in case I would like to watch a movie I will move the SYMF to the back

Look at it as an excuse to get a pair of Era-300s and a full sized Sub for the front of the room.

I liked stereo from my pairs of Play 5s, 3s, 1s or, One SLs but Atmos from the 300s has me spoiled. 

And this was my thought, and I still agree but…..

I bought an Arc Ultra for TV exclusively sounds.  As kept my two Era 300s and a Sub, set as another room name, for music. 

Loved this set up. But one day, curiosity, and an Ultra HD Atmos copy of Top Gun Maverick(other better Atmos movies are available), got the better of me.  I set up the system to have the Eras and Sub as a full surround system with the ARC ultra, then pranced around the room in the now familiar Trueplay dance.

The results were outstanding for the movie. 

However.. What I was not expecting was how good this set up was for listening to my Music library.  Takes a while to get used, with sounds coming from behind, in front and above, but I now choose this over other standard stereo set ups and will be sticking with it.  

What I have also being collecting is Atmos mixes of Music on Blueray, and there are loads on both Amazon and Apple Music.  These are amazing, especially the latest release of Genesis “Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” but Bohemian Rhapsody Atmos mix is a music feast.

But whatever the format of the music i love the sound.

Maybe not for everyone’s taste but worth checking to see how you find it.

My setup is Arc for front, SYMFONISK for rears, and Sub-Mini. I use the Soro app to create shortcuts for quickly switching between tunings for TV and Music. I’ve found settings for each that maximizes sound for both applications, including what someone mentioned above, which is setting surrounds to “Full” for music, vice Ambient. Soro is only available for iOS, but it’s a total game changer. And shame on Sonos for not having this capability native to it’s (horrible) app. 

How is setting the surrounds to “Full” for music using the Soro app any different from setting the surrounds to Full for music in the Sonos app?  

You’ll notice I said “including,” which infers other changes. The TV and Music shortcuts I created are vastly different from each other. Between the two “modes”, I’m changing pretty much everything that can be changed, which is obviously easier done with a single button-press than going into the Sonos app to do it all manually.

So what exactly are you changing?

I change treble, bass, surround level, ambient/full, sub level, turn on speech enhancement and night mode for TV (turn them off for music), and turn on loudness for music/off for TV. Each profile gets saved as a shortcut, which I have set as widgets on my home screen for quick and easy access. You can, of course, update other settings, and select, programatically or at run-time, which rooms/speakers to apply the settings to. And you can create numerous (as far as I know, unlimited) profiles to set as short cuts. So, for instance, you can create profiles for movies & TV, and different genres of music.

Considering Sonos pushes Trueplay as the definitive sound on their systems, I highly doubt you are going to see them automate all those settings which override their Trueplay optimization.  It’s also a hell of a lot of programming and maintenance for something that a lot of people probably won’t ever use (again, because of Trueplay).  

​@jgatie 

I Agree with you as to the necessity of such an app. However, I researched it found that it integrates with iOS shortcuts which does create special routines. It apparently can create routines for Sonos that may take several steps if you are constantly making EQ and mode adjustments. You can search Soro and get an AI  briefing. 

Oh I’m not saying it isn’t useful for some who like to tweak, I’m just saying that it doesn’t really fit Sonos’ philosophy, which has always been the opposite of “let the listener decide what sounds good to them”.

Sadly, you may be correct. Sonos doesn’t seem to care to give users what they want. Trueplay works poorly for me and I’ve read plenty other comments indicating the same from other users here and elsewhere. I’d also prefer a dedicated center channel and controls, vice the current simulated surround nonsense, but they won’t give us that, either. I see no harm in giving users an “expert mode” for people who prefer to dial in our own sound preferences. The ability to save profiles, IMO, is also not a huge ask. And really, that has nothing to do with Trueplay. A single sound profile for both TV and music is silly and unachievable. 

Definitely have to update the shortcuts if making changes, but that’s super-easy!

Correct, Sonos doesn’t seem to care what some users want.  No company can be all things to all people and still be profitable. 

Interesting how you chose to state that, “...some users...” Are they giving anyone what they want? Given the recent app-fiasco, it would appear not. And are they profitable? A quick Google search indicates they are not. There’s an old saying: “If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got.” Perhaps Sonos needs to start giving users what we actually want instead of trying to dictate. We don’t want Sonos as a content provider. And we want full control over the hardware we buy. They market products as audiophile-level, then do simulated surround? A dedicated and controllable center channel isn’t too much to ask for. And as for the ability to create multiple sound profiles, I work in software engineering, not costly or difficult. 

I used the term “some users” because I have no idea what all users want, and neither do you.   And the use of the royal “we” to describe your own personal use cases doesn’t change that fact.

But I see where this is going, and I will bow out now.  Have a good day, and good luck finding an alternative.