Upgrade Play:1 surround speakers paired to Beam 2 on entertainment center

Which soundbar are you using? What do you want to achieve? Are you after “the best” Atmos performance, for example? 

I’m using Beam 2 with a subwoofer.  Useing it mostly for Prime, Netflix, etc.

I’m a little intimated by the price of the ERA 300s - but I’m only going to do this once . . .

Well, we don’t know how price sensitive you are, so it’s hard to recommend, but given you have a Beam gen 2, and aren’t looking to upgrade to an Arc Ultra, I’d go with the Era 100s. For surround duty with a Beam gen 2, you’ll be quite happy, both aurally and fiscally. 
 

If you were upgrading to an Arc Ultra, I’d recommend the Era 300s for better Atmos response. More expensive, too. 

To add…you probably haven’t really experienced a lot of Dolby Atmos with your current setup even though you have the Beam 2. I use Era 100’s with a Beam 2 and the experience is much better than when I used Sonos One’s with it which were the successor to the Play:1.

I’m happy with the Era 100s as surrounds with my Beam 2. I upgraded the surrounds from OneSLs. Not a huge difference, but noticeably better. The Era 300s are all about Dolby Atmos. Using them with a Beam 2 and its virtual atmos isn’t going to give you the full affect. (As opposed to real up-firing speakers of Arc Ultra). I’m sure they would still sound great, but only you can decide if it’s worth it.

So it sounds like if I’m not going to upgrade from Beam 2 I should go with the ERA 100s.  But upgrading to the ERA 100s will make a significan difference from Play 1.  Does that sound right?

Not a great difference as surrounds, more noticeable if playing music in Full Mode. The surrounds just don't contribute enough to make a huge difference. That said, I made the 100 upgrade on, my Arc Ultra and don't regret it, no spot for 300s. My Play 1s went to one of the kids as the house is full.

The 100 / 300 difference is huge with an Arc, my Beams are gen 1 so I never considered 300s for them. I did change one from Play 1s to One SLs and think that was a good choice.

I’ve never had Play:1s, let alone as surrounds. “significant difference” would be in the eye (ear) of the beholder, as they say. *But I think Era 100s are a better match for your Beam 2.

*advice from an anonymous source on the internet :)

Biggest advantage when changing the Play 1’s for Era 100’s would be you are ready when you want to change the Beam for an Arc Ultra (that does not work with Play 1’s as surrounds).