Era 300 inverted surrounds

Hi @Jackdforme 

That’s a good point. I found a stick and used it to poke - I’ll let you know if I hear anything.

However, given that inverted mounting does work as intended, but TruePlay is unavailable for that configuration, I would say this is not in contravention with what has been mentioned in the manual - many of our users (those with Android) simply don’t have the option of TruePlay in any situation, after all.

My choice of language may have been less than ideal in saying that inverted mounting was “officially unsupported” - perhaps saying “it’s just not fully implemented as of yet” is better. I can’t actually now find the word “unsupported” in any of my reference material, so I’ll remove the word “officially” from my post above - I apologise for any misunderstanding, as it will be my fault alone.

It bears repeating so I’ll repeat it one more time: the only problem with inverted mounting of Era 300s is that TruePlay doesn’t currently work (though I think it can still be performed). The speaker(s) will operate correctly.

I hope this helps.

So we know that it is not fully supported as of now, BUT what about inverting left and right channels?

I’m going to wall mount my two Era 300 in a larger area. I tried to inverted them (unmounted) while playing a dolby atmos channel test. The problem is, that the surround and the surround back channels are not being flipped as I rotate the speaker. So basically this means, that the channels are incorrect when flipped.

Any thoughts?

Hi @gentrylord 

Was something playing when you flipped the speakers? I would imagine that you would need to stop playback and restart after inverting the speakers.

It was my understanding up to this point that the only part of inverted mounting of Era 300s that did not yet work was TruePlay Tuning, so if the above is not the answer, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports.

I hope this helps.

Hi Corry,

thanks for your quick reply.

I ended up disconnecting the two Eras as surround speakers and re-added them. But the channels or not inverted. Strangely enough it now plays both surround channels (on either side, i. e. the surround and the surround back) are played on the then “inner” speakers.

The following was before I disconnected and repaired as surrounds:

I only once got a message within the Sonos app while sound was playing that I have to rotate the speakers in the way, that the touch elements are facing upward.

And also TruePlay Tuning is being suggested in inverted orientation. When I rotated them back Trueplay was back set up.

I have got no other way of placing the speakers but as heigh as possible because the MLP is in the middle of the room. Mounting them on ear height is not an option for me, since they will be to close to the dining table AND there is a shelf on one side. So maybe the Eras are not the best option for my room layout, but now I have them :)

Hi @gentrylord 

I happen to know a senior audio engineer, but he won’t be back until the second week of the new year - I’ll try to remember to pick his brain about this for you then.

In the meantime (and probably for some time after), I think you’ll need to put up with it as it is - I don’t know what else you can try (other than removing and adding the surrounds, which you’ve already done). No-one else has reported this issue, though that could easily be because the few users that have done the same haven’t used a test video to verify the channels.

That would be really great. If he needs some kind of log files, just let me know. It seems to me that the speaker doesn’t recognize its orientation since I only got the message in the app once. I cannot replicate it and I don’t know why.

Maybe you are right, that the others didn’t confirm channels using a test video. I am using “Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 test tones” which can be downloaded from Peter Pee’s Website. It is good since it uses all the channels my setup should be capable of (Arc, Sub Gen 3, 3x Era 300s)

I tried to repair them again as surrounds and did a TruePlay tuning (just to verify things). Channels are still the same. I find that the back surround channel add more sound to the height channel as well. I don’t know how to explain. The regular surround channel sound seems to come more from the side of the speaker while the back-surround channel seems to be more lifted.

I really would love to see the channels being inverted, so I can set them up almost under the ceiling. This should also be better for distribution of the sound whilst listening to music (“full”). 

Thank you

Hi @gentrylord 

One thought - as it’s TruePlay that hasn’t yet been finalised for inverted mounting of Era 300s as of yet, perhaps things will behave differently (better) if the TruePlay Tuning profile for the room is erased. Although you can disable TruePlay with a toggle switch in the app, it may be better to alter the setup (remove Sub or surrounds and add again) so the TruePlay profile is erased completely.

If that doesn’t help, please submit a support diagnostic while playing an Atmos stream and reply here with the number given, and I’ll pass it along to my colleague - it probably will be of great use. Thanks.

I hope this helps.

So I disconnected the sub and the Eras from the setup and added them again. This did not change to the better.

I did a step in between: I played a stereo test track from youtube to one Era 300 to check the channels. With the controls facing up (normal orientation) everything played as it should. I then inverted the orientation with no change (channels were inverted). BUT I could reproduce the message within the app. When you flip the Era just by 90° a red light comes on and the message appears in the app reminding of the right orientation. So this message only pops up when the Era is vertically (which is completely wrong). This one I understand and is more of a FYI for you.

Here is the diagnostic while I played the Atmos file (App was showing Dolby Atmos). Every channel seems to be alright when every speaker is in normal orientation.

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To be sure here what I mean: In normal orientation the yellow marked speaker (= surround left) should be firing the outer speaker (away from the area between the two surround speakers). In inverted orientation this speaker still fires the same speaker on the Era 300 but it is now the inner speaker since its 180° inverted orientation (controls showing to the floor).

Hi @gentrylord 

I did assume that’s what you meant, but it’s good to get confirmation - thanks.

Thanks for the diagnostic too - just to confirm, the diagnostic was submitted while the speakers were inverted, yes? I only ask because you mentioned normal orientation on the same line, and I forgot to specifically mention that when I initially asked for the diagnostic.

The Era 300 were in inverted orientation when doing the diagnostic. But speakers upside down, so yes.

I don’t know if this is of any interest: The Eras are standing on a flat surface and are not mounted to the wall yet. This final orientation will alter the height of the final position. I was checking before measuring and drilling ;) Just giving you every information there is.