Hi,

I recently bought an Arc with a SubG3, however I have decided to return it for a number of reasons, some of these include:

• Narrow soundstage - the sound feels very directional to me in the sense that it is very soundbar-centric. In comparison to standard stereo speakers which appear to do a better job of filling the room with sound.
• The sub kept getting disconnected and sometimes the Arc would not play from Apple Music or load properly (I have an iPhone 15 Pro so it’s fairly new).
• Both the Arc and the Sub consume a constant 4w of power even when not in use (I only use my TV for about an hour or two a day so this is a waste and not great for the environment - I can charge my iPhone with my wireless charger at about 5w, haha!)

Anyway I have decided that the Arc Ultra may be better for me as the Ultra looks like they have designed more sound dispersion into the drivers towards the ends and I think they have also commented about things like power consumption as well. The addition of the woofer is also interesting to me, as for general TV use I would not need the sub, only have to switch it on for gaming or movies. However I do strongly suspect that to get the best ‘room filling’ experience I would also need two Era 300’s hence why I would opt for the Immersion bundle.

I’m curious what Sonos users think it might compare to the Sony Bravia Theatre Quad with the SW5 though - I have heard nothing but good about this system with most reviewers thinking it is amazing and almost comparable to separates (and way better, in their opinion, that sound bar systems - though of course they won’t have heard the Ultra). My biggest concern with the Sony was losing multi-room, however Apple Airplay will soon support Atmos over airplay so that is no longer an issue for me.

In terms of price the Sonos Immersion bundle is £2426 here in the UK, whereas the Sony is more expensive at £3198, although Sony do offer bundles when you buy a TV (though I wasn’t really in the market for one but could be persuaded). You could actually have the Immersion bundle with two Sub Gen 4 for the same price as the Sony Quad system.

I am really curious to hear what Sonos folk think - am I missing something? I know nobody has an Arc Ultra yet but posting this now in case someone gets their hands on one! Also open to speculative posts, as you will all know more about Sonos than me (this was my first Sonos experience).

Thank you for any comments!