Contributor I

Answered

Sonos Era 300 wall mount positioning

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
March 25, 2023
56 replies
14040 views

Hello everyone, pre ordered a pair of Era 300 with wall mounts, I want to use them as rear speakers with Arc and Sub. Could you please help me? I’m not a native English speaker so please, understand me if I write something incorrect :)

Most of the people have te sofa against the wall, in my case I can leave 50cm to 1m space from wall to the sofa, but I’m so scared to do something wrong. 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? Over the speakers I’ve got a lot of space, it’s not a problem leaving 60cm above the speakers, same thing with the sides, I can leave 20cm at the sides of the speakers without problem. 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? Please guys, help me decide :)

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Best answer by Corry P

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!

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Majo133

Renowned Enthusiast I

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?

Yesterday, is not today.

Corry P

Sonos Staff

Hi @Majo133

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

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein

SarahN

Local Superstar

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.

Can you have too many Sonos speakers? 🤔 😆

Majo133

Renowned Enthusiast I

Hi @Majo133

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

Thanks Corry, appreciate it.

Yesterday, is not today.

Majo133

Renowned Enthusiast I

@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.

Yesterday, is not today.

Corry P

Sonos Staff

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.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein

Corry P

Sonos Staff

Hi @Majo133

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

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein

K

kendyman kenneth

Lyricist III

@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.

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!!

melvimbe

@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.

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.

Danny

Majo133

Renowned Enthusiast I

Hi @Majo133

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

I created a post

as u suggested

Yesterday, is not today.

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