Hi @JackThr1ll3r 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

I don’t see why not - sounds good to me (pun intended).

If you can somehow test things before drilling holes in the wall, I would recommend it. Compare locations and decide based on what sounds best to you.

I don’t think you’d need a full metre. Again, I recommend trying things out and sticking with what sounds best to your ears (those are the ones that count). The following picture from our product page certainly doesn’t show a metre’s separation:

Remember not to angle the 300s towards the listening position - they should both face the wall the TV is against (as shown) as they are capable of channelling sound in the correct direction themselves.

I hope this helps, and I hope you enjoy your new speakers!

Hi

In addition to @Corry P excellent advice you may find the link below useful that describes proper wall mounting for the Era 300’s.

https://www.sonos.com/en-us/guides/era300

Hi Corry P - thanks for the guidance - I have a similar situation / question. 

I have a Beam Gen2 and two Sonos 1’s as surrounds. I am considering upgrading my surrounds to the ERA 300’s.

My surrounds are currently mounted on the side walls, pointed at the listener on the couch, which sits in the middle of the room. My family room is an ‘open setup’ with no rear wall (the back of it opens up into the kitchen).

Would I be better off mounting the 300’s on the side walls pointing at the couch (the way that my Ones currently are), or would it be better to hang them inverted from the ceiling in the back of the room, facing the front wall that has the TV/Beam?

Thanks for your advice!

Hi @Paul0521 

No - this isn't even recommended for the Ones.

Yes - this is probably the way to go. The only recommended alternative would be to have them on stands behind the sofa as shown in the picture above.

I hope this helps.

Edit: inverted mounting is not yet supported, but will be coming soon.

Hi,
thank you a lot @Corry P !
Just another question, would it be better to mount them at the same height as the Arc?
Anyway, I’d like to do some tests before drilling the wall even because after this thread I’m a bit scared of the front facing driver (center channel) of the 300s and I hope it’s just a bug that can be solved with a firmware upgrade (Many users have encountered this issue, in my case I still waiting for put the Era on the wall).

Hi @JackThr1ll3r 

You are very welcome!

The best height for any surround speakers would be at head height for anyone sitting watching a movie.

As for the centre channel not firing, this is by design for when Era 300s are configured as surround speakers - nothing to worry about. Note that the centre driver is a tweeter, so you’re not missing out on any oomph.

I hope this helps.

@Corry P 
Thank you again.
Well, I’d like to put them at head height but I can’t because of the headrest, so like I said in OP I’ll put them over the armrests of the couch, above the head rest (since you also confirmed it to me), then i’ll try to leave 30cm from speakers to the sofa like in the photo you sent me.
For the centre channel I hope in a future update to be working in surrounds as it works in a stereo pair.

Hi @JackThr1ll3r 

To be honest, I think that would still count as “head height”, so no worries there!

As for the centre channel, it is by design so I wouldn’t expect any changes - the speakers are designed to work in concert with Arc to deliver 7.1.4 sound, and the centre channel tweeter not firing will be a part of this collaboration.

I am the OP the of “ERA's 300 center channel not working if connected as surrounds to ARC/SUB” 

So could u please explain, why marketing materials are stating, that there are 6 drivers, specifically, center, side left, side right, upfiring, and 2 side woofers and yet u are knowingly omitting the center channel in the surround setup? I am kinda really not fan of this fact.

Hi @Majo133 

The decision was made after extensive user testing and feedback determined no front speaker audio provided the best sound, when the Era 300s are configured as surrounds.

The advertising materials state what they state because that is what the speakers have. When not configured as surrounds, the centre channel driver is active, whether the speaker is operating alone or with another in a stereo pair.

I hope this helps.

Well thanks for your reply.

Wouldn’t be good to inform users about this decision somewhere in the app after ERAs are added as surrounds? I guess i (and few other users who already noticed this) won’t be the last. I get it when the creator decides what is best for the user, but when user is testing the feature and the feature doesn’t work as it should and user is not informed anywhere how it should work, well then the confusion occurs. 
 

So wouldn’t u consider adding this information somewhere to the ERAs surround setup?

Hi @Majo133 

Point taken - thanks for your feedback! I’ll pass this along to the product team.

And @Corry P - maybe add some info on the pinned Era 300 Post on this site?

Just so those who are using them in this way, don’t think there is something wrong with their speakers.

Thanks Corry, appreciate it.

@Corry P 

I don’t want to “reach”, but couldn’t there be a toggle to enable the “center driver” for example only for music?

Something like the Surround Audio — Music Playback feature.

So at least in music scenarios, ERAs are not “crippled” in surround setup. Because in “stereo” standalone mode without ARC, they sound much better in my opinion.

Hi @Paul0521 

Apologies - Inverted orientation (mounted upside-down) for the Era 300s will be supported soon, but currently is not.

Apologies again for any confusion, and I’ll be altering my original reply to you so as not to cause further confusion for anyone else.

Hi @Majo133 

Perhaps - I recommend you start a new topic making this point and it will be marked as a feature request. Thanks!

I think this is a very strange feature of the era 300, been testing for two days and couldn't figure it out until I put my ears to the speaker and had no sound with the front driver Sonos fix this!!

I understand why someone would want the center channel always in use, whether it’s objectively or subjectively better audio or not, simply to fully use what they paid for.  However,  I’m not exactly crazy about the prospect of development spending a lot of time setting up an alternate mode for these rears where it processes the audio differently, send different audio to different speakers, as well as the impact on trueplay tuning.  It does seem like it would be a good idea to use the front speaker for ‘ful ‘ stereo streaming sources.  I’m of mixed mind on this, but not having heard the speakers yet (arriving today) and intending to use the speakers as a pair rather then surrounds, I suppose I don’t have much of a dog in the fight.

I created a post

 as u suggested 

Thanks Corry - appreciate the clarification.

One follow-up question - when inverted orientation is supported, will it be on a ‘per speaker’ basis, or will both speakers in the pair need to be oriented the same way?

In my room, one of the two surrounds is going to need to be mounted up high, but on the other side it will be most easily place on a counter at normal height. Do you know if this will be possible, or if both speakers in the pair will need to be inverted together?

Hi @Paul0521 

No-one has thought of putting that in the reference material, but I think I’m safe in saying that both units would need to be in the same orientation, and, importantly, at the same height. Please also note that in the inverted orientation Atmos rendering will not be as immersive, so even once inverted is supported, we’d still recommend the normal orientation wherever possible.

Hi @JackThr1ll3r 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

My room is quite big, my sofa height is 1.10m with headrest included. I was thinking to put the speakers above the armrests of the couch (wall mounts), a little over the ear level (this because of the headrest, I think it will “block” the sound somehow) so from 1.10m up, would that be a good thing to do?

I don’t see why not - sounds good to me (pun intended).

If you can somehow test things before drilling holes in the wall, I would recommend it. Compare locations and decide based on what sounds best to you.

Then it comes the distance from wall to the couch, I can leave up to 1 meter of space. What would you do if you were me? 

I don’t think you’d need a full metre. Again, I recommend trying things out and sticking with what sounds best to your ears (those are the ones that count). The following picture from our product page certainly doesn’t show a metre’s separation:

Remember not to angle the 300s towards the listening position - they should both face the wall the TV is against (as shown) as they are capable of channelling sound in the correct direction themselves.

I hope this helps, and I hope you enjoy your new speakers!

Doesn’t having these speakers setup this way contradict almost every Dolby and Sound calibration guideline?

https://www.dolby.com/siteassets/technologies/dolby-atmos/atmos-installation-guidelines-121318_r3.1.pdf

https://youtu.be/zLxVEHjWrt4

I fail to see how the above position would replicate center/side surrounds in a proper setup and would not want audio bounding on my left/right walls in this manner for left/right surrounds.

@Corry P Two questions:

1. Will the current Era 300 wall mounts support inverted mounting or will there be a different wall mount that accommodates this?
2. When you say “inverted is not yet supported”, does that mean if I mount them inverted today, they just won’t work at all?

Thanks

Hi @Music Nut 

The current wall mount for Era 300 makes this possible.

Quite possibly. If the speakers are tilted too far, they will stop playing. As support for inverted mounting hasn’t yet been added, the inversion will likely be seen by the speakers as an invalid tilt angle.

Also, TruePlay Tuning for inversion hasn’t yet been coded for.

I hope this helps.