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switching between home theater and listening to music (on phone)

  • April 21, 2024
  • 11 replies
  • 779 views

Hi 

I am looking to buy the home theater package with era300 speakers and Arc. One thing that's important to me is being able to switch from home theater setup connected to TV and then listening to music in stereo via the app with just the two era300 speakers (via the Sonos app on phone) with ease. 

 

Is this easily. Any responses greatly appreciated 👍

Best answer by Schlumpf

@Afteraffect

As I wrote you can just use the WHOLE home theater setup for music (or only the Arc by toggling off the rearspeakers in settings), but you can NOT use only the rearspeakers. To get most of them you can set rearspeaker settings separately for tv and music mode. If you use „full“ for music mode and adjust the level for rears to maximum, the Arc will still play but much more quieter.

For tv mode there are different settings, so you won’t have to change anything from switching between music and home theater use. Just start music or a movie. 😎

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11 replies

buzz
  • April 21, 2024

Not a very convenient plan. You would need to remove the 300’s from the surround Room, then set them up as a stereo pair while playing music. Going back to surround, you’d need to remove the pairing, then add them to the surround. I think that this will become an unwelcome task after a few hours.


Schlumpf
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  • Virtuoso
  • April 21, 2024

@Afteraffect 

I totally agree with @buzz . It’s not a recommended usecase to change rooms configuration consistently. 
Also you for example would have to do trueplay tuning again each time reconfiguring. 
So you can decide to use the whole surround setup also for music or to use a different „room“ existing of a stereo pair. I would recommend 2x Sonos Five. 😎


  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • April 21, 2024

Not a very convenient plan. You would need to remove the 300’s from the surround Room, then set them up as a stereo pair while playing music. Going back to surround, you’d need to remove the pairing, then add them to the surround. I think that this will become an unwelcome task after a few hours.

Thanks for replying.  Well that's a bit crap.

 

So how do you switch to listening to music? 


  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • April 21, 2024

@Afteraffect

I totally agree with @buzz . It’s not a recommended usecase to change rooms configuration consistently. 
Also you for example would have to do trueplay tuning again each time reconfiguring. 
So you can decide to use the whole surround setup also for music or to use a different „room“ existing of a stereo pair. I would recommend 2x Sonos Five. 😎

Ah. So just listen to music via home theater "room". I'm assuming this can be done via the app. Thank you 🙏


Schlumpf
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  • Virtuoso
  • Answer
  • April 21, 2024

@Afteraffect

As I wrote you can just use the WHOLE home theater setup for music (or only the Arc by toggling off the rearspeakers in settings), but you can NOT use only the rearspeakers. To get most of them you can set rearspeaker settings separately for tv and music mode. If you use „full“ for music mode and adjust the level for rears to maximum, the Arc will still play but much more quieter.

For tv mode there are different settings, so you won’t have to change anything from switching between music and home theater use. Just start music or a movie. 😎


  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • April 21, 2024

@Afteraffect

As I wrote you can just use the WHOLE home theater setup for music (or only the Arc by toggling off the rearspeakers in settings), but you can NOT use only the rearspeakers. To get most of them you can set rearspeaker settings separately for tv and music mode. If you use „full“ for music mode and adjust the level for rears to maximum, the Arc will still play but much more quieter.

For tv mode there are different settings, so you won’t have to change anything from switching between music and home theater use. Just start music or a movie. 😎

Thanks mate. I'm sure I'll get my around it all 😂👍


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  • Avid Contributor I
  • July 17, 2024

So I’ve set to full mode but where does one adjust the level of rears to max?


Schlumpf
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  • Virtuoso
  • July 19, 2024

So I’ve set to full mode but where does one adjust the level of rears to max?

Using Sonos mobile app go to room settings of your ht setup and choose surround settings. There’s a toggle bar to set rear speaker level. 


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  • Avid Contributor I
  • July 19, 2024

Thanks! I’m in the HT room settings and surround audio but couldn’t find a rear speaker level. see screen shot.

 


melvimbe
  • July 19, 2024

The surround audio level is the rear audio levels.  The volume you’re setting here is the relative volume between the front sound bar and your two rear/surround speakers.  The surround distance setting will also have an impact on the relative volume.

 


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  • Avid Contributor I
  • July 19, 2024

OK, got it. I cranked Music Level up and can hear the difference.

 

thanks everyone.