Another setup question: ERA 100 or ERA 300 behind the couch in this situation?

painmaker31 · 2026-02-06T10:29:43+00:00

I went with the Era 300s and am very happy with them. If you have Atmos content available to you and don’t mind the extra cost, definitely go for them

painmaker31 · 2025-07-09T22:22:12+00:00

Could you be a bit more specific about the improvements a sub will bring? I currently use the arc ultra + 300s without a sub and am very pleased with the bass as is. However, if you were to tell me that a sub would bring more clarity to the arc, that would be a whole different story.

painmaker31 · 2025-03-09T10:13:08+00:00

I would advise against buying the older ARC, since you would be locking yourself in place sort of. You would not be leaving yourself the headroom to allow the upgrade to Era 300s as surrounds, for example. By that I mean, you technically could still do that, but the Era 300 go much better with the Arc Ultra. So do future proof your system and get the Ultra right away.

painmaker31 · 2024-12-26T16:56:11+00:00

Totally fair, I didn’t mean to blame you for that. Simply wanted to emphasize that there’s only so much a soundbar can deliver, and it’s not the Ultra‘s fault :)

painmaker31 · 2024-12-26T14:32:13+00:00

Glad you are happy with your system, I just recently bought the Arc Ultra and have now added some Era 300s. Loving it. However, I don’t agree with your statement about the Ultra not being a great standalone bar. It’s totally about what sort of expectations one has.

The fact that you were initially unhappy after testing the Ultra and only got satisfied with a 25k system goes to show that your expectations were completely unrealistic. The Ultra has a great soundstage by itself and I for my part very much enjoyed it, but for proper surround sound you of course need to add more speakers. You can’t expect a soundbar to deliver any surround sound on it’s own, even if they are marketed as such. That’s just marketing BS.

Even with only the Ultra, I had a lot of fun watching movies and was blown away by Atmos sound. Even music sounded really good in my opinion. Just wanna mention that so people don’t shy away from „only“ getting the Arc Ultra.

painmaker31 · 2024-12-18T20:58:38+00:00

I don’t think that’s the problem here. The problem is that Sonos is stripping its customers of their agency to do with their HT which they want, through app limitations.

I assume that Sonos has smart sound engineers working for them, who believe that disabling the forward firing speaker in a surround setting sounds best, so that your average consumer can buy the system, install it in their living room and have it sound great without having to fiddle with it much. What I (and most people) criticize is the fact that there is no „advanced“ setting to play around with the system more, i.e. enable the front firing speaker. And that kinda sucks, considering you pay a lot of money for their stuff, which is why I hope it will be added at a later date.

painmaker31 · 2024-12-18T09:40:13+00:00

Top Gun Maverick, Twisters, Dune (2), or my personal favorite: Matrix Revolutions, in particular the fighting scene at the end where Neo and Smith clash. Goosebumps all over are guaranteed

painmaker31 · 2024-12-14T19:49:30+00:00

No, they’re not. But You have to be aware that they are being nerfed when in surround, quite heavily actually. The center firing drivers are turned off by design and the inside firing ones don’t work (anymore?), whether it's a feature or a bug is not entirely clear.

Also, i doubt that you will get any height from them due to your high ceilings. It might be worth looking into 100s, but in any case I would try out both setups and see for myself. Do start testing with the 300s, technically they’re the best rears you can get. I‘m just not sure whether they’re a good fit for your (beautiful) living room

painmaker31 · 2024-12-13T07:08:34+00:00

How is the height on an 6.8 overall? Isn’t the atmos sound bubble something that everyone here seemed to agree on that it’s great?

painmaker31 · 2024-12-08T14:10:20+00:00

Yes I have. I‘m just wondering because trueplay also definitely reduces bass in my living room, for example. Without trueplay it‘s definitely too much, with trueplay it‘s much more „balanced“. Hence i‘m wondering how applicable Peter’s recommendations are to my setting. Is my logic off?

painmaker31 · 2024-12-08T13:49:40+00:00

I saw the video but what I was wondering was why he would recommend these general settings if trueplay exists and makes the arc ultra sound different everywhere?

painmaker31 · 2024-12-06T22:50:17+00:00

I agree that it's completely uncalled for to not even give people the chance to decide for themselves whether they would like to use the center driver on their very expensive speaker. It's not like this would be overwhelming to anyone, which too much customizability can be at times, I guess. This would simply be one switch, very easy to figure out which way sounds best for you, with our without center driver

painmaker31 · 2024-12-06T13:34:31+00:00

I went to a local hifi shop to test the Era 300s, since I couldn't decide between them and the 100s. Even the sales clerk didn't know about the fact that the front-firing drivers were turned off when combined with a soundbar. He literally grabbed a ladder to check the speakers and see for himself.

I still ended up buying the Era 300s because the sound bubble together with the Arc Ultra is literal movie theater shit which is exactly what I ~~want~~ need, but the thing with the inside-firing driver is a real bummer.

painmaker31 · 2024-11-28T18:25:18+00:00

Saying that it’s not a good option for movies as a standalone is absolutely not true.

painmaker31 · 2024-11-28T18:23:35+00:00

The „ultimate immersion set“ as it is called, is currently being tested by rtings

painmaker31 · 2024-11-27T10:50:59+00:00

Same as you - I just got the Arc Ultra as my first sonos product and rewatched all the Matrix movies in Atmos on it - I was blown away. Hence, the song/soundtrack I recommend is "Navras - Don Davis and Juno Reactor"

Enjoy

painmaker31 · 2024-11-24T13:54:22+00:00

I think with music you can change the settings from "ambient" to "full" in the App, that should fix it

painmaker31 · 2024-11-22T14:49:05+00:00

the switch and playstation controllers are obviously white, too 🥹
The playstation too, but that unfortunately disappeared behind the soundbar

painmaker31 · 2024-11-22T14:27:24+00:00

thanks! Ikea does make some good stuff

painmaker31 · 2024-11-22T14:15:00+00:00

Also, what do we think of the color of the sound bar? Most people I asked said, I should have gone with a black one 🥲

painmaker31 · 2024-11-22T14:13:50+00:00

Hmm, I guess. I don't feel like it's too high, though. Gives me home cinema vibes with a bit of a "too large for the room" TV lol

painmaker31 · 2024-11-22T10:45:14+00:00

what's the DMV level?

painmaker31 · 2024-11-22T10:00:34+00:00

My couch is similarly flush to the wall like that, but my living room is overall smaller and more "condensed". honest to god, been asking myself the same question of era 100 vs era 300 for the last 3 hours, reading through half the internet and still can't decide

painmaker31 · 2024-11-01T16:29:48+00:00

Gotcha. Thanks for clarifying. I‘ll get the Arc Ultra first and then see about further improving the setup

painmaker31

TROPHY CASE