Trending Lyricist I

Answered

Two pairs of surround

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Hi all,

I have a Arc soundbar, two Era 300 and a Sub Gen 3, I feel missing something in front like no power or big sound, is it a good idea add one or two Sonos Five in front and is it possible ? Thanks for your advice.

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RhonnyAnswer

Prodigy III

No, you can’t add two lots of surrounds, the function doesn’t exist. The only additional speaker you can add to the home theatre setup would be another sub.

You could add two paired speakers at the front, and group them with your home theatre setup, but that will completely ruin any surround sound work your other speakers are doing, as those two extra speakers will just play all your TV’s sound in stereo - plus they will add a 75ms delay to the sound, creating an echo. (Correctly-added surrounds are bonded to the soundbar via its own 5ghz network to keep the surrounds in sync - adding extra speakers will be outside of that, creating a lack of sync.)

So in short - no.

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jnelly

Enthusiast I

Replying to @Schlumpf and @MoPac.

Yes, I can confirm that „tv dialogue sync“ option can eliminate the delay and that the resulting lip sync delay to video isn’t remarkable.
But… imo such a setup just makes sense for stereo audio. As someone said before using that for multichannel audio ruins the whole channel separation, because the front stereo pair also includes the center, rear and even high channel information in a stereo downmix signal. So you would get these channels double… from their expected direction AND from the front.
For me personally a no go.

I just set it up this way today. So it will be interesting to see how I like it. Just a quick listen, to both Music and TV, sounded pretty good.

First I had the OneSL pair as the duplicate fronts
I then switched the E300 pair to the duplicate fronts; much wider sound stage
Interestingly, I had no issues in S2/3, unpairing the stereo pair that was in the “Kitchen” room; creating a new stereo pair room, and deleting and adding the surrounds to my “Main Room”. I was surprised the app worked so well!!!

I TruePlayed each room separately.

Schlumpf

Virtuoso

In the end it’s a question of what you individually like. More power, dynamic and wider front stage on one hand… and on the other hand correct orientation of the signals.

Ralf

Stanley_4

Grand Maestro

For stereo audio I really prefer to skip the soundbar and associated speakers outside of using to fill a room with sound for a party. I find a stereo pair of Play 5 properly positioned sounds far superior, particularly for positioning.

Ones or 100s or 300s with or without a Sub would also be on my list but I haven’t personally tested them.

My personal choice (that failed the spouse test) was going to be a Sonos Amp and some really sweet (and large) passive speakers and a matching sub.

I’d also consider a pair of 300s and a Sub or mini Sub for Atmos if I had a suitable room to place them in.

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HimMichAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

Hi all,

So my config is a Arc/Sub3 and two Era 300 in surround, like I say in the first post the sound Arc is little poor. I read many people have this feeling, I add one Sonos 5 in front and the feeling is really better and for the delay or echo it’s ok, perhaps my ear are not perfect 😄

Schlumpf

Virtuoso

@HimMich

Not MY choice of setup… and when looking at your photo my hands try to grab the Five for moving it to the center of the tv. 😂 The placement left to the tv imo makes sound orientation (especially voices) more bad.
But hey… it’s YOUR setup and what counts is what YOU like.
If you go with that setup I recommend to use the above mentioned option „tv dialogue sync“ (with level 2 or 3) to eliminate the echo/delay.

Ralf

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HimMichAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

If you read you can see I have a Arc and the Arc is in center of my TV, this sept is in test and for now it’s ok, I will buy an Era 300 for hear if it’s better, just I love play with setup and yes I’m satisfied 🤙

Schlumpf

Virtuoso

@HimMich

Yes of course I read you have the Arc. But could have been it’s wall mounted. 😉

I tried that setup some time ago with my Beam wall mounted directly under the tv and put a P5 Gen2 centered on a tv low board. So it was exactly in the middle of the tv together with Beam.
But even if I would have liked the sound, my wife would have „killed“ that setup because it was a pain to her eyes. 😂🙈

Ralf

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HimMichAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

I will try if the sound is better with one Era 300 and yes in center and mounted on wall it will be better , I’m very lucky I have no wife or I’m unlucky I don’t know 😂

jnelly

Enthusiast I

In the end it’s a question of what you individually like. More power, dynamic and wider front stage on one hand… and on the other hand correct orientation of the signals.

Field Test #1
“Condor”, streaming on MGM+ in… PCM 2.0 (2.0?)

Have to say for 2.0 content - the duplicate fronts just add volume and muddyness. I ended up turning off the duplicate fronts. “Correct orientation of the signals wins” here, if that was even the issue with 2.0?

Stanley_4

Grand Maestro

Different folks have different reactions to many audio issues.

Delay / echo drives some folks nuts. I can’t understand voices with even a slight echo, like trying to talk across the house, much less a 75 ms one.

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