Replace One SLs with Era 300 as surround with couch against the walll

  • 2 December 2023
  • 9 replies
  • 281 views
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I saw a number of other couch against the wall posts but they were too specific to others situations, so here’s mine. 
 

I have a movie room with the Arc, Sub and 2 One SLs. Our couch is against the rear wall and can’t be moved forward. 

I’m considering upgrading the One SLs with two Era 300s for atmos surround. Our ceilings are low (about 8’) and the Arc sits on a media console pulled to the front edge.
 

The couch does have a healthy width back and arm rests so we do get pushed forward a bit but not enough to have the speakers actually behind us. 
 

i have the One SLs mounted ear height over each arm rest and angled towards the center of the couch/slightly down and they sound good.  They’re mounted to the drywall with the Midlite mounts with in wall hidden cable system. 
 

Would you recommend mounting the Era 300s with wall mounts near the same place but just have them square and level to the front of the room?
 

One issue is they need to be stud mounted, so the right speaker (right when looking at the back wall) would need to move 4” to the right towards the side wall (it would be 24” to the right wall) but the left (facing the read wall) would have to move 8” to the left towards a curtain (42” to a blackout curtain that covers a wall and window).
 

That would have the speakers slightly unequal distances to the MLP by a few inches so maybe not ideal?
 

Questions:

  • Do you think we’ll experience a decent improvement in sound even though we don’t have the couch pulled forward more? Or because we don’t it wouldn’t be worth it?
  • is there any concern that one speaker would now be 4” further from the center of the TV than the other? Besides aesthetics would we notice?
  • With this config would you recommend the same height (about 40” off the floor) and positioned straight forward and level?

 


 

 

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9 replies

Dogdad
Userlevel 6
Badge +14

I don’t know if I’d call that a couch…very nice. I have the same setup as speakers as you and bought the 300’s to replace the Ones. I personally wasn’t impressed with the 300’s so put the Ones back and returned the 300’s. Others enjoy them but I’ve seen several users post that also returned them. Let us know what you think after you get them. 

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That post may just save me the trouble 😀

Dogdad
Userlevel 6
Badge +14

That post may just save me the trouble 😀

You should still give them a try..you might like them. You can always return them. I buy at Best Buy where returns are done in minutes. 

P
Badge +4

I’ve replaced the One SLs with the Era 300 a few days ago and I’m seriously unimpressed. It’s so disappointing. I had issues with the setup before but now it’s even worse. I thought the Era 300 were going to be the solution but they just make things worse. they are very quiet even with surround + 10 height + 10 in a medium sized room with trueplay on or off. what’s worse it seems since adding them the arc is worse too which doesn’t make sense. it’s like it’s not as crisp now and many sounds are lower. i was watching indiana jones 5 and in a scene you are supposed to hear David Bowie’s Space Oddity from the apartment next to the one in the scene but couldn’t hear anything. All very disappointing. Don’t know what to do now. Return I guess.

Sonos Arc | Sub (Gen 3) | Era 300 || One SL
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That’s disappointing. 

Dogdad
Userlevel 6
Badge +14

I’ve replaced the One SLs with the Era 300 a few days ago and I’m seriously unimpressed. It’s so disappointing. I had issues with the setup before but now it’s even worse. I thought the Era 300 were going to be the solution but they just make things worse. they are very quiet even with surround + 10 height + 10 in a medium sized room with trueplay on or off. what’s worse it seems since adding them the arc is worse too which doesn’t make sense. it’s like it’s not as crisp now and many sounds are lower. i was watching indiana jones 5 and in a scene you are supposed to hear David Bowie’s Space Oddity from the apartment next to the one in the scene but couldn’t hear anything. All very disappointing. Don’t know what to do now. Return I guess.

Unfortunately..Sonos seems to have lowered the  overall volume with these constant updates. What used to be a nice volume at 20 is now at 35-40 for me. Three years ago, the sound was awesome …But supposedly, the Sonos engineers know better than the people buying their speakers. 

Airgetlam

To me, a number is merely a number, and what sounds good to my ears is ultimately what is important. Although it’s good to know that even when set to 100, the Sonos planners have made it so that the amplifiers in their speakers won’t ’blow out’ the speakers. 
 

 

Bruce
Dogdad
Userlevel 6
Badge +14

To me, a number is merely a number, and what sounds good to my ears is ultimately what is important. Although it’s good to know that even when set to 100, the Sonos planners have made it so that the amplifiers in their speakers won’t ’blow out’ the speakers. 
 

Can you verify or do you know that  Sonos users were “ blowing” speakers ?  My system does not sound like it did when I bought it. Again…. We never know what surprises the SONOS  engineers have for us monthly as they never seem to be able to settle on a final sound. I’m not talking bug fixes…, but sound enhancements. 

 

P

Going back to the original post here as I have the same issue. What suggestion would have for looking to upgrade from One SLs to 300s when have sofa tucked between three walls?

Note wife is not going to let me pull the sofa out.

 

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