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

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.