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So I have an Arc + Sub gen3 + Symfonisk Bookshelves Gen 2 for surrounds. For Christmas I received 3 Era 100s (1 is being used as a line in for a turntable) and was wondering if it was worth swapping the other 2 of them in as surrounds and using the Symfonisks elsewhere. I know the Era 100s are better, and would also technically move my HT system from a 5.1.2 to a 7.1.4 using virtualization but it sounds like most people do not think it’s a noticeable enough upgrade to justify doin it. I watch a lot of movies and shows with Atmos and listen to a good bit of music. My HT system is in our great room and due to the layout I unfortunately cannot place the surrounds completely behind the listening area but they are just above ear level and about even with, maybe a touch behind it. Surround effects are still pretty solid despite the lack of ideal placement (thanks Trueplay). Would the Era 100s be noticeably better for creating rear surround effects and height effects with the virtualization or should I just leave the Symfonisk and utilize the Era 100s elsewhere?

Not sure what you mean by the Era 100’s “technically (moving your) HT system from a 5.1.2 to a 7.1.4 using virtualization”. As far as I know the Era’s do not ad anything for Atmos. Where have you found otherwise?

The Era 100’s are much better speakers, but I they are not used to their full potential als surrounds. Why not just try to swap your speakers to test both set ups. Trust your ears.

This is from the Ultimate Home Theatre guide on Sonos’ official site but I have never really seen it mentioned in the forums. But I think you’re right, I need to give it the “Ear Test”.

@sshiv,
As you have the speakers already available to you, I would simply try the Era’s in situ and see what you think of them as HT surrounds …and even switch between the Era’s and Symfonisk speakers to watch the same show/movie and listen to a favourite music playlist etc. and just see what you personally prefer in your listening environment.

As surrounds the line-in function on the Eras is going to be disabled.

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/play-line-in-on-your-era-100

I’ll try them out when I get a chance and report back. In the meantime does anyone that has been using the Era 100s as surrounds actually able to hear the virtualized rear sides and rear height? Like I said before, I really haven’t seen much about it other than in the screenshots I posted above.

I learned something today. I do not own Era 100’s, nor do I own an Arc, but reading this, the the virtualization stems from combining the Era 100’s with the Arc. The Era 100’s seem to make it possible for the system to do more than when only One SL’s are bonded. I didn’t know that! 

So I have an Arc + Sub gen3 + Symfonisk Bookshelves Gen 2 for surrounds. For Christmas I received 3 Era 100s (1 is being used as a line in for a turntable) and was wondering if it was worth swapping the other 2 of them in as surrounds and using the Symfonisks elsewhere. I know the Era 100s are better, and would also technically move my HT system from a 5.1.2 to a 7.1.4 using virtualization but it sounds like most people do not think it’s a noticeable enough upgrade to justify doin it. I watch a lot of movies and shows with Atmos and listen to a good bit of music. My HT system is in our great room and due to the layout I unfortunately cannot place the surrounds completely behind the listening area but they are just above ear level and about even with, maybe a touch behind it. Surround effects are still pretty solid despite the lack of ideal placement (thanks Trueplay). Would the Era 100s be noticeably better for creating rear surround effects and height effects with the virtualization or should I just leave the Symfonisk and utilize the Era 100s elsewhere?

The Era 100s are generally considered to be better sounding speakers than the Symfonisk Bookshelves Gen 2. They have a wider soundstage, more pronounced bass, and clearer highs. This could make a noticeable difference in the quality of your surround sound effects, especially for movies and music with complex audio mixes.

Update: So I had a buddy come over and we listened to some scenes (Baby Driver, Midway, Ford vs Ferrari, Star Wars IV, and the Dolby Atmos mix of Dark Side of the Moon) and put the Symfonisk and Era 100s through their paces. The Era 100s, as @ativadore mentioned above, the wider soundstage, bass, and clearer highs were all noticeably better. In the opening of Dark Side there’s an effect that comes directly over your head and then goes behind you and with the Era 100s I could really hear the virtualized height effect. The drop off from the height effect when it transitions from the Arc to the Era 100s was an obvious drop off but still it was certainly a noticeable effect especially since it’s nonexistent on the Symfonisk. Needless to say the Era 100s are now my surrounds. That said, in defense of the Symfonisk they offer probably 80% to 90% of the performance of the Era 100s as surrounds depending on the type of content you listen to at a touch over half the price. Thanks everyone!

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