Sonos Beam - Views?

[KungFuPanda]

Just been looking at the new release from Sonos. Single under tv unit. £399 with Alexa and Apple Airplay connectivity.

My TV has got HDMI ARC so connecting it should be easy enough.

Anyone got one yet?

[Bobajobbob]

Yes I picked one up at the weekend. I've got it synced with two Play 1s for a semi surround setup connecting via ARC. I haven't had a chance to test all sound sources yet but first impressions are pretty good. It fills a medium sized room pretty well and I don't immediately miss the Sub I have hooked up to a PlayBar in another room. If you already have other SONOS speakers then the quality is comparable from a relatively small box.

One thing I am not 100% clear on yet is whether connecting via Optical rather than ARC on my TV would sacrifice the 5.1 output from the TV. On my Playbar setup in the other room I have an optical switch to hook up Sky, Apple TV and Blueray as the TV wouldn't passthrough 5.1 DD from the attached devices via optical. For the Beam setup I only have a Skybox hooked up currently and use Amazon Video and Netflix from Apps on the TV itself so I'm not short of HDMI sockets but in the future I might want to free up an HDMI and use the optical out as long as it doesn't compromise the sound.

[pete]

I've just installed one in our playroom to replace an old basic Sony soundbar. It's more than up to the job for TV and gaming, and sounds like it has as much bass as the simple passive sub that the old Sony used (but much better controlled). Stereo imaging is good with streaming sources or from a PS4, even though mine's connected via optical to a TV with no HDMI ARC, so I suspect it isn't getting 5.1 passed through from the TV. Airplay 2 works well for streaming podcasts from my Mac.

All in, for £400 I think it's good value compared with the very expensive Sonos Playbar, plus it provides Alexa functionality. I'm sure the sound quality won't match up to something like an Arcam Solo and sub, but the convenience of the Sonos integration is worthwhile for me.

[Bobajobbob]

You can check what your Tv is outputting in the Sonos app -> Settings -> About my Sonos System while something is playing.

[matjk]

I’m thinking of getting one, I have Sonos sub and 2 x play5 gen2 that I use for music, the play5’s are in perfect position for rears BUT I hear that if you pair the play5 as rears in 5.1 it’s overkill and then they won’t work properly as stereo speakers so have to be taken out of 5.1 ! Not sure what to do

[Welshbeef]

How much “better” is the Sonos playbar v the Sonos beam?

[pete]

Bobajobbob said:

You can check what your Tv is outputting in the Sonos app -> Settings -> About my Sonos System while something is playing.

Thanks! That will teach me not to read the manual :-)

[Bobajobbob]

pete said:

Thanks! That will teach me not to read the manual :-)

Try a few channels and sources because BBC1 SD is probably just stereo but if you have skyHD/Netflix then the audio is more likely to be DD 5.1. The Sonos app will show you whatever audio output the current program you are watching is playing in. You may also need to change the TV audio out settings. I think I needed to select Dolby Digital to make it work.

[juggsy]

Welshbeef said:

How much “better” is the Sonos playbar v the Sonos beam?

I’m told the Beam is better than the soundbar from a sound quality perspective, but the soundbar can go a bit louder due to larger transducers. But the Beam being cheaper, smaller/sleaker and with Alexa built in makes it a better overall package IMO.

Very pleased with mine so far, although was a pain to set up as wouldn’t add to my system over wireless, so had to faff around wiring it into the router initially.

[Accelebrate]

Pleased with mine. It doesn’t sound quite as good as the Playbar, but HDMI ARC is slick and the Alexa TV integration is handy. It’s physically a better size if you’re not a fan of gigantic TVs. Also much cheaper - cost me £330 with a couple of offers applied.

The night sound feature is handy for watching stuff with excessively quiet speech and loud music.

[whoami]

Accelebrate said:

cost me £330 with a couple of offers applied.

That's a good price. How did you manage that?

[Accelebrate]

Now expired...

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/sonos-beam-with-u...

But there have been a few similar eBay promotions. Worth setting up an alert in the HDUK app.