SONOS Era 300 stands and stereo placement advice

How big is the room?

10ft ceiling, 10.2 x13 ft

The Sonos stands for the Era 300 are excellent IMO. I have a stereo pair and two surround setups using Era 300’s on Sonos stands.

Although less expensive I’d caution against using the Sanus adjustable stands for the Era 300’s. The speakers themselves prove to be too heavy and override the locking mechanism causing them to slide downward.

A spacing of 6 to 8 feet apart is best. Follow the recommended instructions found in the online product guide for the Era 300’s reference clearance behind and on either side.

FYI, your ceiling height offers no problem which is the maximum height IMO based upon the nominal 8 feet.

Okay cool. Thanks. Just didn’t know if them being on stand would sound less good with immersion. 
 

I put one on a living room doorway console and it didn’t sound as good as it does in my room where it is on a lower table.  But the living room is much bigger with dining space combined. in an apartment. 

The Sonos stands are excellent for seated listening a d not bad for standing. Ceiling height really doesn't enter into the stand question, it does for wall mounts.

https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/sonos-era-300-stand-pair-black

https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/sonos-era-300-wall-mount-pair-black

Distance apart is a more flexible issue than when you had the hard rules for the stereo imaging triangle as Atmos does better with different positioning. Usually a bit further from the side walls to accommodate the side drivers.

As always try a few different positions and a good stereo and Atmos track to see how each sounds. Then pick what your ears like that is livable.

 Both my 300 Pairs are too high, one on kitchen cabinets and one on a tall computer desk with multiple shelves. Both sound great, the Atmos height is better in the computer room, about 3 feet from the ceiling than the kitchen, about 4 inches. Both are impressive and a nice upgrade from the smaller Sonos, and from the Play 5 for Atmos content.

Just to add…

The Era 300’s mounted on stands IMO creates more open air flow resulting in a 360 degree pattern all around (i.e. top, bottom, left, right, front, rear and all points in between. When playing Atmos audio that is what you want to suggest the illusion that you’re inside the music (so to speak). 😊

Not a fan of the Sonos stands or any other stand that has a single skinny post like the Sonos stands.  I prefer those stands that have more than one support.  The best supports are hollow tube or hollow square supports that can be filled with sand or steel shot.  The heavier the stand the better.  You want to play the speaker, not the stand.
 Spikes help, but may not be something you want to use on your floor unless the spikes are used with those little disks with the notch in the center for the spikes to sit in.  The little disks would only apply if the speaker stands were on a hard floor.  Last a triangular base is best if using spikes.  it is more difficult to get four spikes to be on the same plane to keep the base from rocking.  Hard to find stands with triangular bases though.

i know it ain’t popular but carpet helps a lot.

Gotcha so for stereo format stands are fine. I only have a 4 ft apart option now if I leave on tv stand

4 ft. Is really too close.  If you can, use stands and keep the speakers away from all walls within reason of course.  Placement of course is something you can experiment with.  When you have found the best spot run TruePlay.

Okay thanks. Guess I gotta spend on the stands too. Reviews say two era 300s in stereo atmos is mind blowing so. Here’s hoping I made a good investment 

Does anyone have the package weight of the era 300 stands pair

It’s not listed on the Sonos sales page. Have you called Sonos Support to discuss it? Why does the package weight make a difference? 

I’m curious as well as to why the weight of the stands matters? However for what it’s worth here’s what I believe to a reasonable write-up seemingly that Reddit has been mentioned as a contributor:

I have to import. No SONOS dealer in my country. So shipping weight matters if Simeon is bringing it for me for a fee 

Spikes are good for wall-to-wall carpet, particularly thick ones with a thick pad. They add a lot of stability with four or more spikes, the hassle of adjusting them is hopefully a one-time thing. Three spikes are easier to adjust but offer less stability than four. Not sure about audio differences, haven't heard enough to have an opinion.

For area rugs, not so good as if the rug shifts they can leave nasty scratches in the floor. 

For hard surfaces, using pads/disks under the spikes, that can reduce stability as a bump that would have only slid a speaker an inch can knock it off tne pads, tipping and scratches are then likely.

I've used spiked feet on larger, floor standing speakers in the past, stability wasn't an issue but I wanted to minimize the carpet deformation at the front of the room. I bought spikes just a fraction taller than the carpet depth so nothing but the spike touched. When the speakers came out the spike holes disappeared at the first cleaning. That advantage might also be worth considering.

I’m not going to disagree with you regarding the general premise of your assessment regarding stand design. However if you click on the first link provided by ​@Stanley_4  you’ll notice the top portion that looks like a “T” lying flat. When the speakers are mounted they actually become part of the stand acting as counter-weights in conjunction with the base.

That said can the stands be tipped over…the answer is “yes”. However it takes significant force for that to occur. Trust me I know by experience due to my clumsy sister-in-law after a few drinks. Incidentally she’s been banded from my media room 😂.

Seriously, for an adult environment and barring kids and adults having too many beverages of a certain type the Era 300’s on stands are fine.

​@AjTrek1 

I was not necessarily suggesting heavier stands would be harder to knock over although that is definitely the case.  I was more suggesting a heavier mass loaded stand would not move as much when the driver cones move.  The front driver cone movement would be the one that would be of most concern.  The side & up firing drivers would not move the thin stand post as much.  So I suppose if the 300s were used as surrounds the Sonos stand might work just fine, but as stereo speakers where the front driver is active I would prefer stiffer, heavier stands.

Other brands are heavier, you may not like the design as well, but as the weight is at floor level it doesn't add a lot to the anti-tippimg picture.

If tipping is a major concern just extend the base of whatever stand you have by mounting it on a solid, and larger base. Cutting boards offer some interesting materials, are inexpensive and easy to work with. Mom had a clocking a skinny, wobbly table and a nice bamboo Cutting board screwed to the existing legs made it pretty solid.

Bigger (and four legs) and more weight is ideal, but I'll say size trumps weight.

​@MoPac 

I’ve not noticed any movement caused by drivers in my Era 300’s mounted on the Sonos stands. If speaker movement is present it’s occurring at a cyclical/vibration rate too fast for my old eyes to detect 😂.

The vibration issue directly relates to the entire device's mass versus the voice-coil/cone mass. A heavy speaker cabinet and light cone/coil will have little cabinet vibration given the relitive masses.

A heavy stand has some impact but compared to speaker mass the impact is reduced by the lever the stands pole acts as. There is also a vibration reduction from being braced on the floor (hence the carpet spike idea.) 

Vibration of the stands column depends on the stiffness of the column, more flexible allowing more movement at the top but less at the base, reducing the effectiveness of a solid base. My Play 5 stands, while hollow, are stiff enough and the base is large/heavy enough I see no room for improvement and haven't experimented.

My recommendation is to buy a stand you like, one with good reviews, and if there are problems treat them as you would any other audio issue. There are unlikely to be any.

So I just setup my second era 300 as a pair. I moved the first speaker into a stereo right position. They are currently sitting on two metal ikea computer tables. However I am noticing less immersion than a single speaker… does that make sense? Or is it the positioning? It’s sitting a little higher than usual but not as high as the stands would be.