Sonos Arc Ultra Sound Test + Sub 4 and Era 300s in Ultimate Setup

[@ישראלאבייב-ק9כ]

A really beautiful and well thought out video. I'm interested in getting into the Sonos speaker field, I have a 24 square meter guest room, I should buy a beam 2+ With mini sub and era 100 or arc ultra white mini sub ?

[@motivatedtravel]

Thank you! My test room was 16m2, so not far off yours. Tough choice there - a fuller surround sound experience is good, but the Beam 2 is getting on. The Arc Ultra will perform a lot better with modern Dolby Atmos and spatial audio production values. I'd be tempted to get the Arc Ultra and maybe find a used Sub and 100s if you're on a budget.

[@ישראלאבייב-ק9כ]

Sub mini with arc ultra is good ?

[@Rigue2021]

I received my Sonos ARC Ultra yesterday and will say as follows. Set- up - Arc Ultra / ERA 100’s / Sub Gen 3 living room is open concept. Arc Ultra out the box without EQ adjustments you can hear the difference now this wasn’t done Arc Ultra solo it was combine with my setup. Once I adjusted the EQ wow huge difference all around testing movies from my Apple device / Netflix using Firestick Dolby Atmos and Movie from Prime Video huge difference and actually with sound being at 15 high. Cons: True Play I really don’t care for as my living room is open concept and True play won’t make a difference also my ceiling is 12ft high. Sonos by releasing the Arc Ultra I believe is making up for the update they released back in May / June 2022 that messed up the configuration of the ARC. That’s my personal opinion. Closing thoughts: I give the Arc Ultra 8/10 reason it’s just day one and need to see other settings. ✌️

[@motivatedtravel]

Great review! Sounds like you have a challenging space - I wondered what would happen if you had a high roof. Are you able to use iOS Advance Tuning, or just Quick Tune for Trueplay?

[@Ventus7777]

What's your settings?

[@sk857117]

What settings did you use?

[@Zuudloarn]

Forget Atmos and forget soundbars if you want more than better tv sound. Just go for Sonos Amp with some decent floorstanding speakers, add some Era 100 rear speakers and a Sub 3. You'll have a great Dolby Digital+ system for movies but also important (for me); You will have a great HiFi audio system for music no soundbar will even get close to. You just need some big frontspeakers for decent and well balanced music🤷‍♂️

[@juanvalera7272]

I have the Arc,dual sub and the era 300s plus two sonos one sl in front as right and left front sound you have to give it a try Now those sounds from front and left surround is much much better

[@ricardovilchessabalier1947]

My setup includes a playbar, 2 gen 3 subs, and 2 play fives. At one point, I tried upgrading to the arc, but I felt that the mids weren't even close to what the playbar produces. I thought that this would be fixed with the arc ultra, but from what I read in the comments, it seems not. Is this the case, or do you think it has improved?

[@motivatedtravel]

I need to spend more time with it mate as I've only had this brief experience thus far. I thought it was pretty balanced in my time with it. Need to swap in and out with the Arc 1 to see how it goes.

[@MrXyemoe]

Got mine today and coming from Older Arc new Ultra seems definitely louder playing music but so far I can’t say it’s big enough difference (more testing needed) but at least now seems like it can keep up with 300s in surround. But again if you already have 1st Arc it’s not gonna blow you away in anyway

[@motivatedtravel]

It's a fair point... it needs to be $1800 worth it (in AU dollars). Thanks for adding your experience.

[@yashduggal918]

Nice to see someone from Australia review the new arc ultra.

[@motivatedtravel]

Full review coming soon.

[@MrWozzafive]

G'day Chris. I have the Arc Ultra and 1 Gen 4 sub for 4 days now and I'm very happy with the results watching movies on Netflix. Could I ask your opinion? Should I add another Gen 4 sub or a pair of Era300 speakers. I can't afford both sub and Era300. Thanks Warren

[@motivatedtravel]

Glad you're enjoying it. The Era 300 is pretty great and does excellent surround, but note that you can't pair just one you have to pair two. I would rather have the surrounds than a second bass personally.

[@MrWozzafive]

@motivatedtravel G'day Chris. Thanks for your reply. I will take on board your suggestion re buying a pair of Era300 instead of a second subwoofer. Kind regards Warren

[@motivatedtravel]

@@MrWozzafive Just be mindfull, it's super reliant on the content. I was watching the cricket last night, for example, and the Era 300s were adding very little to the party. Dolby Atmos Star Wars on the other hand sounds great.

[@MrMctijn]

Tip: If you adjust the height of you tv (center tv must be at eye level), you can skip the strange tilt :) This way the tv is on the right height and looks way better / cinematic.

[@motivatedtravel]

I don't mind the tilt, but also, it was mounted on a bracket used for an older TV, and the VESA was in a different spot.

[@georgevillalvazo9154]

My awesome home theater set up consists of a Sony master series a 90 J 83 inch big screen TV along with a Sonos arc and a Sonos GEN three and a pair of Sonos five! And my Blu-ray is a Panasonic UB 9000 4K THX Blu-ray player! It’s totally awesome!!👌

[@motivatedtravel]

Love it!

[@induction7895]

This may be a basic question but if you get Arc (ultra) with Era 300s and watch basic 2 channel audio like KZbin videos, do Eras play some form of virtualized sound? What about rest of the drivers/speakers inside Arc?

[@mcmurder8835]

Yes, and it isn't a ham-fisted implementation either, it's very subtle and really widens the soundstage for these sources. Sonos does an excellent job upscaling stereo to the surround speakers for both TV and music.

[@motivatedtravel]

As mentioned by MC, it will approximate it. The 300s are particularly good.

[@mrgold3591]

I have the v1 Arc, dual Gen 3 Subs, and Fives for a few years (purchased before Era 300 were available). I just don't know how much does the v2 Arc reduces the soundbar bass and how much is moved to the dual subs. I would hate to upgrade the v2 Arc and have the bass module reduce/turn off the soundbar bass (similar to the Era 300 turning off center speakers in surround duties).

[@motivatedtravel]

They work at different Hz range. So that add to each other. You get more rumble when you have the sub.

[@John-dk3wj]

Do you think the arc ultra and sub 4 will annoy and disturb the neighbors in an apartment ?

[@spicynoodles144]

You can do both but u will more than likely have to tone the bass down on the sub.

[@motivatedtravel]

I reckon as soon as you hit those lower bands, the neighbours will get upset. The longer sound waves of a low tend to converge way outside your property, so even when it's not loud to you, next door it can be horrid.

[@John-dk3wj]

@ you think it’s a good idea to buy the Sonos ace headphones for the arc ultra and sub gen 4 ?

[@motivatedtravel]

@@John-dk3wj They're good headphones in general - I love the rounded sound they produce and the premium finish. The TV audio swap features does work really well if it's something that would be of regular use to you.

[@gimmefries]

I have 12ft ceilings and very few walls. I ran the true play sound calibration and the entire system sounded tinny and it was hard to hear dialogue. Also music sounded really flat. I have 2 eras 300 the sub 4 and arc ultra. I'm pretty disappointed I don't know what I did wrong other than maybe my room isn't a good fit? I am going to try to redo the calibration with my daughter's iphone and see if it helps.

[@motivatedtravel]

Oh that's no good. I definitley didn't get a tinny effect. There was someone else on one of the videos' comments who had a 12ft ceiling and got good sound. I wonder if you got a dud device?

[@gimmefries]

Was kind of like I had barely any low end on the whole system. And the dialogue sounded echo-y. But I plugged it in tried one thing and ran out to trick or treating. Will have to experiment more tonight. I'm glad to see it's not the intended experience though. I was confused as to why people say these are good.

[@juanvalera7272]

You have an Apple tv?with apple tv it really make a loud and much much better vocals in which you can choose from 3 different volume sound for the voice.

[@Beer_Dad1975]

I have a 4 meter foot cathedral ceiling in my media room (which is about 6 meters by 7 meters) with Arc (not ultra), 2 Era 300's and 2 Sub Gen 3's. I DEFINITELY had to do some manual adjustments to get the sound the way I wanted it back when I first put it in. I turned up the height channels to +4, set the distance for the surrounds to 3+ meters and turned the subs up to +5, and that got it sounding how I like it. Also initially I only had 1 sub - adding the second sub made a huge difference (I got given it as a gift or I probably wouldn't have ever got another one mind you). Anyway have a play with the manual settings for the surrounds and sub - they work with trueplay, they don't replace it.

[@gimmefries]

@@Beer_Dad1975 I will definitely try that. Last night I did adjust the bass to like +3 and I messed with the surround distance and it got slightly better. But I didn't try height and the other values. Thanks!

[@GOLFADDICT65]

what are your thoughts ? BOSE ULTRA vs SONOS ARC ULTRA which is the better investment for adding a surround sound of speakers to ? great video thx cheers from Canada

[@motivatedtravel]

Wish I could give you solid advice on this, but never used the Bose Ultra. Hoepfully someone else has and can let you know.

[@induction7895]

I wish I could help but I am in an even worse situation for this, haven’t heard either.

[@5cent27]

I’ll stick with my current Arc. I’ve seen more than one review saying the Ultra is 15% better, at best. We will see if Sonos downgrades the Arc via update to make the difference bigger between the two. If that happens unfortunately I’ll have to jump off the Sonos ship.

[@motivatedtravel]

Surely not - that would be such a low act.

[@kevinmckenna2559]

Mine arrives today! Thank you for your insight

[@motivatedtravel]

Would love to hear your thoughts once you set it up.

[@vdb008]

I am really looking forward to seeing a setup with Sonos pair of Fives with new Arc Ultra and Sub Gen 3

[@motivatedtravel]

Can't help you with that one sorry.

[@Irritategaming]

I live in a 65m2 apartment, I'm set on getting the ultra and no rears. But do I need a sub mini? Would I be satisified with just the ultra on its own?

[@Oscar97-]

Hi, I bought the ultra with era100, without sub, the bass is better than the arc, but not enough for my taste, I will choose the sub mini if I were you

[@Irritategaming]

@ thanks for your advice. Will have to pick it up.

[@motivatedtravel]

The bass from Sonos is always more even (I find) than other speaker brands. Makes for a more rounded, balanced sound imo, but if bass is your thing, it can feel underwhelming. Sub Mini makes a difference for sure.

[@Irritategaming]

@@Oscar97- Thanks for that, i did end up buying it just waiting for it to arrive now :D

[@Oscar97-]

@@Irritategaming It’s good to hear that, you won’t be disappointed

[@shaneallen4042]

Very much an incremental step forward. I upgraded and have another spot for the old arc but if you were looking at it purely as an upgrade you'd probably give it a miss.

[@motivatedtravel]

Good feedback. It's a bit investment, so you need a huge leap to justify.

[@Hardrock-Craig-B-Good]

Thanks for briefing, i have watched a couple of your videos, really don't need tha background music while you are speaking, looking forward to your next one, did you try the Ultra with just the 300's yet

[@motivatedtravel]

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah I'm half-half on the backing music. Seems to play at different volumes depending on the device. When there's none, it sounds really empty and weird... need to get the perfect balance perhaps. Didn't try Ultra and 300s specifically, but you'll just lose the low rumble without the Sub. The Sub isn't doing any surround efforts. Good call though, I should of. Was trying to squeeze this video into time I really didn't have, lol.

[@Hardrock-Craig-B-Good]

Your voice is coming thru clearly and carries the video perfectly 👌, I like listening to my own music while viewing the Tube, I got my Ultra yesterday and I have the 300's as my surrounds, loving the difference from the ARC, More bass and simply beautiful sound, I don't even want to join my Sub yet cause I'm enjoying so much without

[@MisterNoRng1]

I don’t see the reason to upgrade the sub. Literally doesn’t change anything

[@motivatedtravel]

Yeah, it's hard to see where the value is on that one,

[@garym3817]

Thanks for this video I'm sitting here waiting for delivery this morning for my new Ultimate set up,

[@motivatedtravel]

Awesome, would love it if you would share your experience.

[@garym3817]

Excellent, I just can't wait now. much appreciated enjoy the camping

[@Rigue2021]

One additional comment when setting up the Ultra ARC. Make sure to remove the ARC from your Sonos App before installing the Ultra. Just disconnecting the ARC to then connect the Ultra ARC will mess up your surround speakers to include Sub Gen if you have one. If you do install and mess up the configuration you will need to RESET the surrounds and sub Gen then reinstall like new. Hope It makes sense ✌️

[@garym3817]

@@Rigue2021 gonna set up today thanks for the advice on that, I was wondering about that. I will delete all the old system arc sub gen3 and One’s SL and the connect all the new system and then watch movies for weeks😂

[@garym3817]

@@Rigue2021 How do I delete the arc Sub and one's from my account

[@Baros4444]

If this is twice the bass of the arc. Then i guess the arc has zero bass. My first time with sonos soundbar...and I'm not imoressed with the arc ultra, it's like im forcing myslf to assume it sounds nice..but my samsung Q950T sounds better and way louder.

[@Oscar97-]

I guess you right, I had the Sonos arc, has not bass also in they said in the specs, to get the best performance for the ultra also you have to add a sub and era 300, this is a good setup better than Samsung, but if you want a refine sound and you room has the perfect shape, the best sound bar at this moment is the senheiser ambeo max

[@Zuudloarn]

Samsung soundbar is great (for a soundbar) but much less flexible.

[@motivatedtravel]

As in, anything times zero is zero? I think Sonos is much more willing to temper down its bass for an even sound that some other manufacturers. Which always feels a bit underwhelming out of the gate and isn't for everyone.

[@juanvalera7272]

This will not be better than my actual setup ARC,dual sub gen 3,2 ERA 300 and front lefr and right 2 sonos one sl,yes guys you read it right now the sound is much better for the front and left front effects you have to give it a try

[@markhamill8016]

How did you get the left and right working on the system?

[@jjermaine33]

First

[@motivatedtravel]

Indeed!

[@MeLucky-KuNGPaO]

Nice shoulders Real afleet

[@motivatedtravel]

All the better for listening...