What are people's view of the Era 300s as surrounds

A lot is dependent on how the ERA 300 surrounds are set up in the room.  Mine are around 7 feet behind me on stands away from the side walls.  They sound great with Dolby Atmos music & movies.

It’s true the front driver is not active when the 300s are set up as surrounds.  A number of folks in this community have complained about that.  I personally don’t want to hear anything coming directly out of the surround speakers.  
 

I have created several Dolby Atmos playlists in all genres.  When I listen to Atmos albums to see which ones I want to add to a playlist if I hear sound directly coming out of a surround that album is rejected.

My favorite genre is classical orchestral music.  Most Dolby Atmos albums of orchestral music are mastered correctly.  All the surround ERA 300 surrounds do is make the stage much larger as it would be if you were at the concert.  Other genres can be all over the map with the Atmos mastering.

I don’t think it will ever be easy to change the two 300 surrounds into a stereo pair then back to surrounds.  I do know when Surround Audio in settings for the surround room is set to Full stereo music sounds pretty good.

i agree that the surround steering should allow for the addition of L/R front speakers.

“They seem just too quiet and I find I have to push all the levels up to max to get any real impact.”

Are you maybe expecting to much? Shouldn’t surrounds just be there at the right time? Like subwoofers.

They should but these seem a bit too weak without all the speakers active.

For example, if you put your ear right up to them you can hear detail, background talking etc. But there seems no point that noise being there if you can't hear from the normal sitting position.

I'm starting to think that Sonos had the edge for a long time but other companies are catching up. I may sell my stuff and try Lg, their new setup seems to allow you to do whatever you want with the speakers and have more. I have loved cinema for 5 decades so the dream is to get it in my home.

I think sonos is going to need to adapt. It's a shame because there are just a couple of things I feel I am missing from the experience.

If you want loud sound from your surrounds you are pretty much discarding what Atmos brings to the room. I never hear my surrounds outside of test tracks.

Having the front driver enabled for Atmos is also going to disrupt the Atmos experience. Building a sound-field for Atmos is very similar to building one for stereo, a key point being you don't want to hear the speakers.

Back in the 70s discreete Quad provided that sort of listening experience and it got old quickly. Most moved on to a surround design where the room was enhanced, far less a gimmick and much more pleasant to listen to long term. Better electronics gave us 5.1 and now Atmos, bringing us closer to a live listening experience, and less of a "mommy look what I can do" sonic trick.

I have loved cinema for 5 decades so the dream is to get it in my home.

I love my sonos home theater setup. It works well for our space. But, if this is the goal, that’s never going to happen with a soundbar. You’ll need to move up to higher end systems for that.

You can certainly get more out of a higher end system, this (first link) is lower mid-range at $3500 and doesn't include a powered sub. Larger speakers, more speakers, more channels and higher power are all options.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_700R5151E/Klipsch-Reference-5-0-2-Bundle.html?tp=184

BUT that may not be what you really want. I had a slightly better (than the example, just not Atmos) system and have never regretted swapping it for my Sonos setup. I never used the full capabilities of the old system other than to impress friends, it was so complicated the spouse and grandkids refused to use it, and the Sonos sound is more than adequate. 

Still if I was 20, single and foolish:

https://www.klipsch.com/products/r-800f-7-1-4-home-theater-system

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_958MHT300/McIntosh-MHT300.html?tp=179

And to really go top end you need THX speakers and a pro installer. A winning lotto ticket to pay dor it would be nice too.

Thanks everyone for engaging. Some good fodder for thought.

I think I may have been expecting too much of what rear speakers are meant to do. I still wish sonos let me decide what sounds good or not, and let me use the centre drivers on the era. 

I will

Probably stick with Sonos as I am deep in the ecosystem at  this point and I had to sell my kidney to get that 😆.

I just started the conversation due to recently watching the release of LG, Samsungs and TCLs new attempts at the new Dolby wireless setup that looks very versatile. If I was starting again I would probably give LG a go as my TV is LG.

I do love my Sonos though, have plenty of speakers and the headphones. I was just thinking as the market is catching up they may need to innovate a bit. I was looking forward the the TV box that was rumoured, was it Pinewood.

Everyone’s surround expectation is different. Some viewers expect to be smacked in the back of the head by the surround. Perhaps this is the case with some action films, but this is the minority of films. One of my favorite DVD’s is Seven (special addition). It’s an older format, not HD or ATMOS, but it was very carefully optimized for its era. With respect to the surround, it’s a very subtle ambience, not smack in the back of the head. During the initial viewing you might think that there is no surround, but if you turn OFF the surround, the film experience collapses.

If you want constant smack in the back of the head surround, perhaps SONOS is not the product for you.

I really like mine, I think they give a fantastic sound image with surround. I watch a lot of movies and love that I can sense when the sound is coming from the sides or from behind, my Arc Ultra and Sub4 of course also help a lot. However, I have set them to +2 because I like to catch all the small details from the side/behind.

Also have +2 with music but have them as background, very rarely play loud, mostly cozy music and there they are really good at setting a relaxed atmosphere. If I want a little more speed across the field, I set them to full.

At least those systems would be Dolby Atmos gapless unlike Sonos.

Looking at other brands you see a lot of flash, but go back and look at their hardware from 2005 and see if it is still supported today. With Sonos the support is there and you won't be replacing speakers that go unsupported and soon become unusable. Look for their support policies, see how long is promised, but also look at what is actually happening.