Before placement, you need to know how the sound is distributed from the Era300 when they are set up as surround speakers. The sound will come out from the sides and top and NOT from the front speaker.
The best setup for watching movies would be on stands slightly behind the sofa and angled towards the middle of the sofa.
You can place them on the wall and angle them so that they point towards the sofa but that would not be optimal, but I think it would still be fine.
You must NOT place them too high up on the wall as the sound will not be distributed very well and you will not take advantage of their properties.
They should be placed at about ear height where you sit and watch movies or listen to music. If you buy stands, these can also be moved to the wall if you wish.
If you choose to mount them on the wall, they can be angled up/down and to the sides. However, you have to consider that if you angle them too much to one side, the sound will hit the wall and spread differently than if they had free air on all sides.
I have read that the Era300 can be mounted upside down on wall brackets and thereby closer to the ceiling, trueplay should be able to detect this and adjust the sound accordingly, but I don't know how well it works and personally I wouldn't do this as it goes against the design of the speaker.
If you ONLY want to use them for Music and as a stereo pair, I would place them around the yellow cross and then angle them slightly in the direction you primarily sit and listen to music.
I’d go low on the side but rather than a wall mount I’d use a stand for more flexibility in location.
https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/sonos-era-300-stand-black
If you want to use the Era’s for surround, the right speaker is not pointed right, so this may be another discussion coming……
I have read that the Era300 can be mounted upside down on wall brackets and thereby closer to the ceiling, trueplay should be able to detect this and adjust the sound accordingly, but I don't know how well it works and personally I wouldn't do this as it goes against the design of the speaker.
I wouldn’t say it goes against the design of the speaker as Sonos state in their user guide
- If you are mounting Era 300 within 2' (.61m) of a ceiling, place it upside down for the best sound.
https://www.sonos.com/en-us/guides/era300
along with instructions on how to use the wall mount for upside down installation.
For home theatre use they recommend behind the seating position though. Unfortunately real world vs manufacturer world rarely coincide well.
Thank you for all your messages. I should have specified that right now we are using the Era 300 only for listening to music and that’s what we want to keep doing. We may consider using these devices for home theater by adding a Sonos Arc Ultra later. Most of the time, we are seated at the table where I took the picture, or in the couch (or walking around).
In this situation, do you think to the two speakers (the right one as in the picture above and the second one at the yellow cross level) would work for having a surround effect ?
If you want to use the Era’s for surround, the right speaker is not pointed right, so this may be another discussion coming……
Where do you think it should be pointed ?
For the most balanced sound, even with the Era 300s, they should positioned at the same height at each side of the room. Playing a track in Dolby Atmos (if not now then in the future) will be affected by being placed high near the ceiling because of the Era300’s upfiring speaker configuration. This can be mitigated to a degree using Trueplay, but an even distribution of sound would be helped by having them at an equal height if you can, on a stand. Try not to point them at each other though as sonic wavelengths might cancel each other out on occasion...
