Sonos Era 300 Drivers Not Working

T
Userlevel 3

 

I know that the front tweeter is disengaged when the Era 300s are set up as rear speakers in a surround sound configuration (which needs to be changed for stereo music playback)  but a big issue I have is when playing regular TV only one of the two side tweeters are working. And the tweeters that are working on each speaker are the ones pointed out and not in towards my listening/sitting position. This seems backwards. I’ve tried to set it up three times with no change. Is this correct??? 

Also there has to be a way for the front firing tweeter to be used when playing stereo music. For stereo music I much prefer the sound of my ones as rear speakers and it’s not even close. It also seems like my SUB is outputting a lot less sound as well since I added my era 300s no matter if I’m playing a movie or listening to music. Can someone at Sonos address this? I appreciate any help as when they are playing Dolby Atmos content they are amazing for music and movies. 

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32 replies

F
Userlevel 4
Badge +4

Hi @flybyme 

Would be very appreciated if they could tell us:

-we will enable the front driver with a SW update soon (and people that have purchased them could keep them instead of returning them)

I don’t know if this decision has been made yet.

-we think the sound is better as they are

We do. After extensive testing, it was determined that the sound was better with the front-facing driver not working while in a surround configuration.

- we can't solve this issue with just an SW update.

We can, but as I said, I don’t know if that decision has been made as of yet. What’s more, it will take some time to turn a feature from something that just happened into something that can be configured as an option in the app.

Come on SonoS , lots of people here are waiting a reply/ please do understand us and do another extra mile customer service...please!

I hope this goes some way to answering your questions.

 

Thank you endeed Corry.

Would be really great having the “center driver” enabled when listening to music and not in “TV audio” when in surround mode.

We really hope this feature will be implemented  and announced soon.

 

thanks for the fast reply ;o)

 

N
Userlevel 1

Still, when is listen to music it auto stops the inside and front firing speakers?! Thats not the way you should experience music. 

 

If youre watching a atmos movie they sound great. When playing atmos music onze de outer drivers work as for normal music too. 

I think this is a Total scam. 

They could use the inside firing speakers to create more depht in sound, make the transition between the even smoother, fade out on de left side inner speakers, en fade in on the right inner tweeters and to the outside again. This would create a so much beter sound stage. 

Or Atleast give us the option to use all of the drivers also when using them as surround speakers. It shouldnt be that hard. They made the choice to turn them off, now make the choice to turn them on again. 

I think its a pretty ** move. I payed for the whole Package not Just one side of it. 

They should update this asap. Many forums and video's can be found complaining about this issue, make it like the highest priority in order to keep the premium sonos feeling 

*Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.*

F
Userlevel 4
Badge +4

Correy (from SonoS) has replied that:

-they are aware of customers complaining

-they have not enabled that front drivers because after several tests they decided that the sound “when paired in couple in a surruond system” is better without the central driver

-they are not sure, at the moment, if they will up date the SW so to give us the choice to enable it.

 

As you a listen more to music than Amtos movie/music and I would really like to have that central driver enabled.

 

They give us 2 options:

-return the ERA300 and wait to see if they will make that up date

-keep it like this…

 

WOuld be apreciated they have listened to our request and announce that they will up date it ( so we do not need to send back the speakers)….

S
Userlevel 3
Badge +3

I just posted the below in another thread but found this specific thread afterwards so will post the same thing here as I see this was a topic raised >2 months ago.

I just upgraded my Play 1 surrounds (paired with an Arc + Sub) to the Era 300’s a couple days ago so haven’t had a chance to fully test out everything (time for such things is hard to come by when you have a 13 month old baby in a NYC apartment). 

I know the front drivers are disabled when using them as surrounds, which I’m fine with as I have them right behind my couch and always felt the Play 1’s sounded too in my ears given proximity. When I play Atmos music everything sounds pretty great and it’s a nice upgrade with all 5 other drivers firing.

When playing non-atmos stereo music from Apple Music however I notice only the 2 outer firing drivers on each of the 300’s are used. The inner facing side and top firing drivers are not used at all. So only 2 of the 6 available drivers are used. 

Is this a design decision by Sonos or is this not expected behavior? I suspect it’s the former but would like others to confirm theirs behave the same. I’m assuming the idea is to emulate a right and left speaker but why not have the other drivers utilized? After all doesn’t the Arc still use the upward firing and other drivers to spread the stereo sound around? Not sure why the 300’s wouldn’t do the same.

F
Userlevel 4
Badge +4

I just posted the below in another thread but found this specific thread afterwards so will post the same thing here as I see this was a topic raised >2 months ago.

I just upgraded my Play 1 surrounds (paired with an Arc + Sub) to the Era 300’s a couple days ago so haven’t had a chance to fully test out everything (time for such things is hard to come by when you have a 13 month old baby in a NYC apartment). 

I know the front drivers are disabled when using them as surrounds, which I’m fine with as I have them right behind my couch and always felt the Play 1’s sounded too in my ears given proximity. When I play Atmos music everything sounds pretty great and it’s a nice upgrade with all 5 other drivers firing.

When playing non-atmos stereo music from Apple Music however I notice only the 2 outer firing drivers on each of the 300’s are used. The inner facing side and top firing drivers are not used at all. So only 2 of the 6 available drivers are used. 

Is this a design decision by Sonos or is this not expected behavior? I suspect it’s the former but would like others to confirm theirs behave the same. I’m assuming the idea is to emulate a right and left speaker but why not have the other drivers utilized? After all doesn’t the Arc still use the upward firing and other drivers to spread the stereo sound around? Not sure why the 300’s wouldn’t do the same.

Hello Starlan,

 

have a better look, it seems weird.

I uese them as surround and:

-never the center front driver is activated (hope they will implement this option on the next SW update)

-the lateral and upper driver are firing althougt with non Atmos music.

Try the “Atmos sound test” you can find on line….

 

Keep us up dated.

Good luck

S
Userlevel 3
Badge +3

Thanks all 5 drivers work fine with Atmos content. I tried the Dolby Labs tracks on Apple Music too and yes all 7.1.4 channels work as they should. 
 

With stereo music from Apple Music only the outside facing two drivers on the 300’s are producing sound. The inner two and top firing driver are not. 

Is that expected behavior when using the 300’s as surrounds or a bug? I will try removing them as surrounds and reattaching again to see if that fixes it if they are meant to. 

S
Userlevel 3
Badge +3

Removing them and adding them as surrounds again has fixed the issue. Now I get sound from all 5 drivers when playing stereo music. Must have been a bug.

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