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. 

My solution is only marginally more expensive than your solution.  I hate to even call either one ‘solution’ as there isn’t exactly a problem to be solved here.  And to be clear, neither myself or the others work for Sonos, so I don’t know who ‘you guys’ refers to.

Have I tried your case?  Yes and no.  It has always been the case that when playing TV audio, any Sonos grouped to the room the TV audio comes from will play stereo only.  It does not matter if the grouped room is capable of surround sound or not.  I cannot say that I’ve tried to group TV atmos playing audio with a room equipped with Era 300s to see if the Era 300s would play atmos specifically.  I have not done that test (I do have the right equipment) because I don’t really care about that as a potential feeture, and Sonos has given me no reason to think that it would work.  Sonos has specifically stated that you can group two atmos capable rooms together with a streaming atmos source, and it will play atmos in both rooms, as long as no other non-atmos capable room is in the group.  Not sure why they would not mention TV audio if that worked as well.

Another word regarding why I don’t care about this as a potential feature.  First off, my Sonos connected to a TV is an Arc not a Beam 2.  So I have the upfiring speakers already.  My Era 300s are in a different room, and I have no interest in TV atmos effects when there is no TV to give it the atmos effects any context  Atmos music?  Yes, give me that. 

Further more, I think there is a bit of an overemphasis on height channels when it comes to atmos music.  Audio appearing to come from above you is nice, but the reality is that the vast majority of audio should still come from the front, followed second by rear, followed further behind by sides, and then height channels.  In chasing having actual upfiring speakers rather than simulation from the Beam, I think you are actually chasing after the smallest aspect of atmos music.  And for someone who’s clearly budget conscious, that doesn’t make as much sense.  If you don’t want to do it right with at least getting an soundbar with upfiring speakers, I think you should just stick with the Beam and enjoy what you having, which is probably about 95% there in terms of atmos.

Also, “you guys” is not us.  Most posters are Sonos users.  Well read, longtime, and very educated users, but just users.  Any Sonos postings by employees will be marked accordingly in their user profile at the top of each post..

Danny,

Thanks for your clarification.  I thought you might be Sonos support, so sorry about the “you guys.”  I agree that upward firing is not worth $900 for a Beam.  (Plus my wife would kill me.). But my idea would turn the Beam into an almost ARC, for $450, if it worked.

Unlike you, I listen to my Spatial audio mostly from my Apple TV, in the same room as my Video.  If I were to get and Arc and 2 300 rears, what benefits, if any, would I get from the rears. Wider, higher and better sound stage? You don’t get “stereo” from the front channel, correct? The $100 Synphoniks are pretty good rears as is.  I value you opinion.  

My main room is an Arc + sub + sonos Ones. I have a second room with Era 300s + sub in my bedroom.  The main room sounds significantly better for atmos music IMO.   I honestly haven’t tried the Era 300s as rears in the main room, partially because I don’t want to do the setup and trueplay tuning for the test, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to prefer having a 2nd atmos room over one marginally better atmos room.  I don’t own a Beam Gen 2, but I do have Gen 1.

 So I don’t think there’s a big need to replace your symfonisks with Era 300s in the rear.  I would probably look at used Sonos Ones or Play:1s even for rear for a budget based improvement than going all the way to Era 300s.  I do think the Arc is a significant upgrade over the Beam Gen 2, but since I don’t own Gen 2, take that with a grain of salt.

I’m not sure what you mean by ‘stereo’ from the front channel.  Do you mean the front woofer on the Era 300.

I noticed you didn’t mention a sub.  If you don’t have one already, I would recommend that first before any other upgrade.  Even if just a Mini Sub, or bass isn’t really your thing, your Beam will reconfigure so that it does not play those bass frequencies itself and thus improving it’s overall performance.  And the Sub is on sale right now.  Tell the wife you have to mine it now or you’ll miss the sale.  Wives loves sales.