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Hi all,

I am hoping to get some insight on appropriately placing my era 300s as rear surrounds.  I have followed the help guide from Sonos to get started (I.e. both speakers have at least 8” of clearance on either side, at least 1” from the behind and are approximately 8 ft apart from each other).  Also, the era 300s are about 1 foot back from the seating area and offset about 1-1.5 ft to either side.  
 

My main question is should the era 300s be less offset and closer to the chairs or is this good?  My understanding is that rear surrounds should be slightly behind and offset from the listening area.  Hoping to get some input here.  
 

Lastly, are era 300s too much for this space? Would it have been better to opt for the era 100s? No complaints on the 300’s performance as I did notice an improvement over the One SLs that I had has rear surrounds before this.


Many thanks in advance for your help and input.

The best setup is the one that sounds good to you. The guidelines are just that - a guide. Try out slight variations of position, width, angled-in etc and decide which sounds best in your room to your ears. And (my view) keep the 300’s. 

Tried both 100 and 300 surrounds here and the 300s really are good particularly on Atmos content. Ended up using the 100s as surrounds as we just couldn't fit the 300s into our space, they sound pretty good so we aren't unhappy.

I agree the positioning guidelines are just that, a place to start, then adjust until you are happy.

Do the Era 300s have to be over 8 feet apart? I am considering these but they would be placed about 7ish feet apart and closer to the sofa than in your photo. Also only about 8 feet from the Era 300s to the Arc Ultra up front, should I go with Era 100s instead?

You are getting way too wrapped up in placement, there is perfect, where the sound will be as good as it can possibly get, then there is close enough to sound great.

My 300s sit with about 3 feet between them, 3 feet above my ears, and sound great. Compared to 100s in the same spot, the sound is far superior, particularly on Atmos content.

In the other room, my 100s set as an Arc Ultra surround pair are under 3 feet apart, on top of a six foot bookshelf, stuck in a corner. Sound pretty good to me, far better than no surrounds. Spouse refused to accept the 300s in any workable location, tolerates the 100s.

 

Go with the best speakers that you can possibly fit in.

Place them as close to the optimum position as possible.

Don't agonize over them being a few inches, or even feet, away from perfect.

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