Can you group one era 300 as front to a Beam 2, and still get atmos?

This is not how the speakers are designed to work. Even if you are able to group the Era 300 with the Beam, the Dolby Atmos metadata probably won’t play through the proper channels/drivers to achieve the height channel effects you are desiring. Plus, grouping the Era 300 will more than likely result in a slight audio delay from the Era 300 which will create an echo effect.

If you want height channel effects from Dolby Atmos audio, you either need to replace the Beam with an Arc or replace the SYMFONISK speakers with a pair of Era 300s. For the best results, get the Arc and use the Era 300s as surrounds.

Why would I get an Arc and spend $900 for rears when the the Arc has up firing and Symphoniks are good enough for surrounds. Are you sure about the Atmos issue, or speculating? 

Because the Arc only has two upward-firing drivers. Adding a pair of Era 300s as surrounds will give you a total of four upward-firing drivers and create a 7.0.4 setup. The Arc + SYMFONISKS will only be a 5.0.2 setup. The Arc + Sub + Era 300s setup is the best Dolby Atmos setup Sonos has to offer.

I am sure about it. But you can try it out for yourself if you don’t believe me. You might even like it and not mind or notice the echo effect.

Not only will the grouped Era not get any Atmos content, it’s only going to get stereo if it is grouped.  A grouped speaker, regardless of capabilities, does not participate in any surround duties whatsoever, and as stated will be delayed by about 70ms causing an echo.  That’s the big difference between grouping and actual surrounds.

I’ve seen you tube set up were 2 300s were grouped as front stereo pair to Arc and 2 300 rears and two subs. Set up seemed to work for movies and Atmos. Delay was minimal. I just want upfiring for my Beam. 

I don’t know how much simpler we can make it - There is no way to get upfiring speakers for your Beam using any number of grouped Era 300s. Zero. Zip. None.

But hey, if you believe YouTube over us, then go for it.  Let us know how it sounds (and pray for an easy return policy).

I’ve seen that YouTube video. That guy doesn’t really know what he is talking about it. He even mentions in the video that he has to turn the volume down on the grouped Era 300s to minimize the audio delay/echo effect.

But, as I mentioned before, you can try it out for yourself. The grouped Era 300 will probably play Atmos audio, but it won’t play the audio as it was intended to be heard by the sound engineer who mixed the soundtrack especially if the Era 300 is sitting right next to the Beam. But you might like it and not notice the delay. Everyone is different.

The grouped Era 300 will not play atmos audio from TV sources.  That will be limited to stereo, so you aren’t going to get any upfiring audio from the 300 in that scenario.  If you’re streaming spatial audio from Amazon or Apple, you will get upfiring audio out of the 300, and it will match the Beam to play in sync.  However, the Beam will still simulate all the atmos audio as if the the 300 wasn’t there, and the 300 will send everything to it’s upfiring channel as if the Beam wasn’t there.  This just isn’t a good solution.

  The smart plan is to to replace the Beam with the Arc.  The Arc is currently on sale for $180 off, putting the price, so the price difference between an  Era 300 ($450) and Arc ($900-$180=$720) is only $270.  You can repurpose the the Beam in another room, or sell it.  I think it’s rather conservative to say you could get $200 for the Beam easily, making the difference around $70 for a much better setup.

Danny,

Thanks for the info.  Your solution is too expensive to add upward firing to my Beam. You guys should build cheaper upward firing rears for the Beam. Also the YouTube video I mentioned showed TV sound going from grouped front 300s in Atmos.  Have you tried that set up to see if it work.  In my case, I’m not that interested in using one 300 for the wide channel but only height, so lip synch should not be a big problem if I can adjust the 300 separately for the height sound. Have you actually tried what I’m suggesting, or are you speculating based on specs. Let me know.

How many times does it have to be said?  The TV sound going to those “front” ERA 300s is in stereo only.  There is NO upfiring Atmos content going from the TV to those speakers!  Please stop trying to force us to answer differently.  Either you believe us or you don’t, and if you don’t, go buy yourself some ERA 300s and duplicate what the YouTube video does.