Sonos Beam

Scotland11

Established Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2016
Messages
221
Reaction score
142
Points
79
Age
37
Location
Glasgow/Fuengirola
Couldn’t see a thread on this one so hopefully not duplicating anything. I see Sonos have announced a new soundbar. The Sonos Beam.

Beam: The Smart Soundbar for Your TV | Sonos

Have to say I’m pretty disappointed by this. Finally a Sonos soundbar with HDMI support but it’s ARC only. Currently only supports PCM and Dolby Digital. No DTS. No Atmos/DTS-X.

Might be ok for the TV upstairs but was really hoping they would release something with at least support for Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio.

Hopefully they are waiting to see how e-arc turns out and then more features might be added. Will wait for the reviews/demo before fully judging but seems outdated already.
 
Last edited:
Can’t fathom your surprise given their more expensive offerings don’t even have hdmi. They’re hardly likely to make a cheaper soundbar that plays more codecs than the Playbase/Bar.

They’re playing to the lifestyle market who more often than not will not even read a review never mind care about DTS et al.

This is the Sonos way.
 
I never said I was surprised but I can still be disappointed that they are, in my opinion, missing a trick here.

I don’t think your point about price/codecs in comparison to their other products is relevant. This is a much smaller unit than the Playbar/Playbase. To me it’s priced more like a Play 3 vs. a Play 5 based on size than codecs.
 
Its a pretty good mass market device but not one for enthusiasts. Would be great if there was some kind of Sonos Atmos system, but it was never really going to happen - their focus is voice control which will be more appealing (and cheaper) than an Atmos system would be to most Sonos customers. I was surprised the price was relatively reasonable and would have thought the Playbase is pretty threatened by it.
 
I'd have thought the one with the problem was the PlayBar not the PlayBase, as the latter has the extra Sub which moves it further ahead. Also the PlayBase supports Apple AirPlay 2 and has touch controls, both of which the PlayBar doesn't, making the PlayBar more trailing edge and more shaped like the Beam.
 
One of the tech sites asked about Atmos and Sonos stated that they didn't think it was established enough...which doesn't explain why there's no DTS support. To be fair though, they are stating that this isn't aimed at being a home cinema sound bar - it's merely a way of getting a single speaker that will play back music well, enhance TV audio well and act as a smart speaker (and I've heard rumours it will eventualy support Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri)- perfect for people like my parents.
 
Last edited:
Last year Yamaha presented the budget soundbar, YAS107. It has DTS Virtual X and HDMI in and out ports so no need to sacrifice a port to connect the soundbar. The price has risen sharply in Currys - now £229 when it was first released it was just £169. Stock is low everywhere because it has quickly gained a strong reputation for no-fuss great sound. We love ours which has replaced a class D amp and separates system. Its available now and is £180 cheaper than the Beam.
 
Noticed this bar is getting some very good reviews right now. Will be interesting to see how it actually sounds in the flesh.
 
Friend has one on order and it's already shipped from richer sounds, arriving Monday. Have to say I'm tempted with the beam

That's cool; mine is still just pre-ordered with Sonos themselves. Looks like I'll have to be patient
 
That's cool; mine is still just pre-ordered with Sonos themselves. Looks like I'll have to be patient

RS showing it available from 17th
 
Took the plunge and pre ordered with Currys, had some credit to use up. Looks pretty perfect for my small room.
 
I have just had a play with the Sonos Beam in a local John Lewis. The sound is pretty amazing for the size of it. The detail in sound from the demo video was very clear, though there wasn't much dialogue.

It was on a Sonos demo stand like the playbar and has the same demo content.
 
Did exactly the same this afternoon. I’ll definitely be purchasing.

I’d been tempted by an Atmos soundbar but this will fit the bill in the living room and ill focus the Atmos in the ‘play room’ once I get the projector set up in there
 
Anyone got one yet?
Yes, mine arrived this morning. I haven't had much of a chance to play around with it, other than adding it to the Sonos network and watching The Chase. It appears to do what they claim, it's typically Sonos in that it's very easy to setup. It's in a 6m x4m lounge sitting under a Panny 50EX700, which is exactly the environment that I think Sonos designed it for. A brief play with the built in Alexa function shows that it picks up voice commands that are spoken at normal level even while the tv sound is quite loud, which is impressive. Once I've linked Alexa to Hue and Nest I can see it being useful if I suddenly become a completely lazy git who can't even lift himself off the sofa.
 
Mine arrived this morning. It was originally meant to go in a new room we're having built but that's not ready yet so I've popped it under our main TV instead of my Yamaha sound bar. Its a cracking little unit and sounds nice for the TV.

I then grabbed two play 1's from the kitchen along with the sub and set it all up in the lounge....it's cracking for what it is and sounds way better than the sound bar. So much better that I think I'm going to stick with it.

OK, it's not a high end 5.1 set up but for what I want/need it's pretty darn good.
 
Got mine setup last night. Had a little play with it.

It sounds nice. Though having gone from a soundbar with a sub, to just the Beam you do notice the lacking bass. However, everything else, treble, mid tones etc are a substantial step up. Speech clarity is absolutely top draw. Sonos must prioritise that in their sound profiles. They even have a setting to further clarify speech, you definitely do not need to use that though.

The setup with alexa was a pain though. I've never used alexa before and it took an hour for me to get that part working. So be warned, it isn't something for the technologically challenged. Two complex apps, sonos and alexa, both with lots of menus and settings to navigate.
 
I have the Samsung-HW-H450 2.1 Soundbar at present.

Is the Beam likely to be a decent upgrade?
 
I have the Samsung-HW-H450 2.1 Soundbar at present.

Is the Beam likely to be a decent upgrade?

I had the E450. So a year or two before yours. Yes there is a good upgrade in most of the sound. But of course you're going from a sub to no sub so you may find like me that the bass isn't quite as good (and adding the sub is not exactly trivial cost wise). Treble and mid-tones are beautiful though.
 
I have a Yamaha YSP 2200 soundbar and much prefer the beam for TV viewing. As said above, speech clarity seems much crisper and it tends to have more of a "punch" to the overall sound.

Deffo prefer it with the sub and rears added in though...movies sound like movies again.
 
I had the E450. So a year or two before yours. Yes there is a good upgrade in most of the sound. But of course you're going from a sub to no sub so you may find like me that the bass isn't quite as good (and adding the sub is not exactly trivial cost wise). Treble and mid-tones are beautiful though.

Cheers for that.

I'm moving into a new build in a few months time and the layout means that where the sub normally is (next to the sofa) won't be an option and with the new furniture coming in means the sub won't really be in an optimal position to get the best out of it.
 
having had enough of windows and andriod i went out a couple of weeks ago and purchased a Macbook, iphoneSe and a Apple TV
on saturday I went to johnlewis to look at a apple homepod and adding to the home.
The assistant took me over and suggested looking at the beam
I hve recently moved an have an inigma Amp and Bose speakers, which i used to have attached to the TV but not going to work in the new room
I was very impressed - compared with the sonus playbar and sub - at £1400 and for £399 the beam was pretty incredible in the shop.
I said i would have one, but had to wait until Tuesday 17th -
so read some reviews all impressive and picked one up yesterday
added to the TV HDMI Arc and setup - not interested in alexia and siri etc
so played with it and then switched OFF

not played as much as i would like, but sounds good on TV channels
I have a lot of bluray music dvds and those sound good to

first impressions , excellent value for money
works well with iphone and macbook
once i have setup up my NAS for music i think i will be pretty pleased

the demo had a great cartoon with a sound stage with the sound coming from all around in the shop
now need to see how to replicate that at home - not sure what settings to use on the players DVDs

I may get a couple of sonus 1 as rear speakers at some time

I have a older panasonic 32" TV which had top reviews a few years ago

anyone suggest the best way to setup for sound on TV and PVR and DVD
 
Anyone had any issues with their Beam and Sky Q?

Since adding the Beam to my setup - Sky Q will cut out and give me a black screen for a second or two.
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom