SONOS Era 300 stands and stereo placement advice

Assuming those are not surrounds and dedicated to music I think they are perfect for your space. Era 300’s don’t need to be angled for Spatial Audio. The drivers will use all available surfaces to reflect the sound.

Some may suggest moving them away from the windows. I’m not too concerned about that aspect as your space is what it is. Trueplay has accounted for the room surfaces.

In the end if it sounds good to you that’s all that matters 😊.

Tips for trueplay if it’s a large room? Stay more in listening area? Or whole room more evenly?

And height audio is preference?

Don’t over think your setup. Honestly, in some situations TruePlay is better left off. Again that depends upon what you hear. Trueplay is not a silver bullet “cure all”. 

As to your setup the only other option I see would be to place the speakers on either side of the cabinet below the TV… either on stands or resting on the cabinet itself. If on the cabinet itself you might want to invest in risers such as those used to elevate a computer monitor.

Once again you can experiment with positioning for days on end. At the end of the day you have to decide what’s practical as well as what sounds good to your ear.

EDIT:

Sorry I didn’t answer your question about TruePlay tuning as you stated it. Short answer…limit your movement to the main listening area. If the room is 20 feet in length but the seating area only covers 10 feet then stay within the 10 feet (maybe only 1 or 2 feet beyond maximum).

The height channels can be frustrating to set, finding music that has enough content there is difficult. Playing the Dolby Labs test tones is a good starting place, some music services host them making it easy to do.

Thanks guys!

another question. Just alternate testing between placements in my living room. I put them beside my tv console now. However one side is now blinds (right side) and left side is more open towards hallway but has a tall cabinet about 3-4 feet to its side. Does having walls to reflect off of on sides matter more? Or does true play take care of that? Noticing a slight difference in immersion. Not totally bad but leaving near blinds raised some questions, as to whether sunlight/ heat would affect it and if people would knock them over when the living room is a bit more populated.

thoughts?

On sidewalks.

I have an Era-300 Pair in my kitchen up on the cabinet tops, so the height driver is almost blocked but side to side placement adjustment is easy. I have about 15 feet of width to play with and my primary listening position is about 12 feet from that wall.

Tried them at 3 feet in from each side wall and they sounded decent, moved them to four feet in and the Atmos image seems better. Tried five feet but that left them a bit close for stereo imaging on non-Atmos tracks so I went back to four feet. Atmos wasn't noticeably better at five feet so I lost nothing.

A second 300 Pair is in a small office, not a lot of flexibility in placement as they are on top of a computer workstation. About four feet apart and stuff blocking both out-firing drivers at a foot or so. I sit about three feet from them most of the time.

Stereo imaging is very good, Atmos isn't bad but noticeably poorer (still a nice improvement to stereo) than the kitchen set. The height driver has just over two feet to the ceiling and I get decent height imaging on the few things I listen to that have content there.

Sonos recommends minimum distances in the guide, I think they are less than optimal, with more  eing better. As always move the speakers around and trust your ears to find a sound versus convenience compromise that all involved can live with.

First…let your ears decide what sounds best regardless of the room topography. Standard recommendations are fine as long as the end result is to your liking.

As far as traffic is concerned…only you can decide how vulnerable the speakers will be to accidents. You probably already know..just trust your judgement.