Sonos Beam

Emmersons_BrazillianDong

Well-known member
Does anybody have one and would you recommend it?

There's some stuff we're watching at the minute and the sound level just isn't high enough (see previous post) I'd rather get something decent rather than a cheapo sound bar but I'd be looking for something relatively small.

Is the beam a good option? Is there a smaller sonos version that would do a good job or perhaps a better value option that isn't massive?

Appreciate your thoughts
 
We have a sonos beam. I bought it last year and paired it up with 2 smaller sonos ones for a kind of soround sound (I don't have the sub)

The sound is superb. That said after adding the 2 sonos ones it was nearly £550. I presume you pay for the name but I guess you could get similier for cheaper.

They are an absolute doddle to set up. It's all done through wi fi and the app you download onto your phone. The smaller speakers are linked via wi fi so no wires. The laughable thing is have them on roughly 10-15% volume and its more than loud enough.

Also alexa or Google assist inabled. You choose which one you prefer (or turnoff).

If you buy a bracket for wall mounting or stands for the Sonos ones then buy them off amazon. The official brackets cost a fortune and don't look any different (top consumer tip😉)
 

Attachments

  • 20210131_203103.jpg
    20210131_203103.jpg
    975.6 KB · Views: 20
Thought this was going to be some crazy Qanon theory about some deadly space beam sponsored by the Jewish financier George Sonos. :rolleyes:
 
Expensive if you create the surround sound with the optional units as mentioned above - we have it in Lounge 2, already had the Sonos Play1's in there and I got this at considerably less than half of the cost of a new Beam (Gumtree).

There are some options from Sony that have decent reviews but the non-Sonos under £300 leader in What HiFi has been the Yamaha YAS207 - I did hear it being demo'd in Boro's Richer Sounds shop when we were buying a TV as it was discounted if you bought a TV at the time, it was pretty decent in terms of soundbar sound.

The best soundbars today are those that support Dolby Atmos for better separation of sound into a surround sound like presentation, but you can't really beat a good surround sound system with all the trimmings - though they are expensive they provide real cinema-like entertainment.

Here's a link to a What Hi-Fi article - peruse at your leisure...

 
I've got one, and am very happy with it. Occasionally some of the bass sounds scare the ****** out of us!

I might add a couple of the ikea speakers (cheap & made by sonos) one day for surround sound, but no real need
 
Last edited:
Got a Sonos Beam a few months ago.

Went for it after reading a few reviews and really pleased I did, range is brilliant, easy to install and nice design too.

I'd definitely recommend it.
 
i've got the older sound bar and it is superb. no need for surround. also no real need for the sub. unless you want to blow your windows out :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
 
i've got the older sound bar and it is superb. no need for surround. also no real need for the sub. unless you want to blow your windows out :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
Defo don't need a sonos sub.... Its huge lol. I have my sonos set up on about 10-15% of its volume and still paranoid my neighbours can here it.

I watched Black Hawk Down.... That brings it to life😂.
 
How have people found the audio syncing? I always seem to have problems with this and sounders and in a review of the beams bigger brother the Arc they said it was hit and miss if you could get it to sync properly.

I am tempted with the beam mind, Already have a couple of sonos 1s so could easily just set them up as satellites.
 
Expensive if you create the surround sound with the optional units as mentioned above - we have it in Lounge 2, already had the Sonos Play1's in there and I got this at considerably less than half of the cost of a new Beam (Gumtree).

There are some options from Sony that have decent reviews but the non-Sonos under £300 leader in What HiFi has been the Yamaha YAS207 - I did hear it being demo'd in Boro's Richer Sounds shop when we were buying a TV as it was discounted if you bought a TV at the time, it was pretty decent in terms of soundbar sound.

The best soundbars today are those that support Dolby Atmos for better separation of sound into a surround sound like presentation, but you can't really beat a good surround sound system with all the trimmings - though they are expensive they provide real cinema-like entertainment.

Here's a link to a What Hi-Fi article - peruse at your leisure...


absolutely spot on there. I did toy with the idea of a soundbar for the TV room, but ended up going full ATMOS with an Onkyo 5.1.2 separates system, which was a faff to set up with hiding the wires etc, but its definitley worth it.

The opening 10 mins of Saving Private Ryan or the tank battle from Fury was absolutely amazing, and a little bit scary a well :sick:
 
Last edited:
I bought an LG one with a standalone bass speaker for about £250 and have to say, the sound quality and volume is incredible. We use it as the main source of playing music in our house now too. I weighed up the pros and cons between getting this and a BOSE or SONOS, and the difference in price was too much for me to justify when the LG one was so good.

Same with the garden bluetooth speaker, looked at both Sonos and Bose and for the price it just wasn't worth it. I bought a JBL Charge 3 and it's a fantastic speaker, and waterproof too.
 
How have people found the audio syncing? I always seem to have problems with this and sounders and in a review of the beams bigger brother the Arc they said it was hit and miss if you could get it to sync properly.

I am tempted with the beam mind, Already have a couple of sonos 1s so could easily just set them up as satellites.

on Sky, in the settings you can offset the audio to syn with the video in 10 ms increments I think. Just a bit of playing around with either the news (so you can sync with the lips of the news reader) or something like cricket or tennis where there is a distinct noise of ball hitting bat to sync up
 
I’m a home cinema geek and have Sonos products in the house, but not part of the home cinema setup

They serve a purpose if you;

Aren’t bothered about best sound quality and future proofing
Like the aesthetics
Don’t like wires / renting so can’t do work to hide the wires
Aren’t bothered about surround sound
You’ll get other devices round the house and benefit from music sync

If so they can be alright. Wait for a sale though or try find someone that can get you discount. I can get 15% through work If that helps

That said, I find them very hard to recommend. For the price they are poor value for money and are a limited product. To add full surround sound you’re looking at well over a grand and that would buy you a great system with av receiver with far more functionality. You’ll still have wires unless it goes on a tv stand instead of the wall. It’ll just never sound as good as even a mid range stereo setup, let alone a 5.1 one - simple physics for stereo seperation. Sonos doesn’t have the best track record with bringing new products out and they basically shat on their user base when releasing the new s2 ecosystem, and there is no support for lossless or HD audio codecs - which at the price it’s pitched at is a bit mad. For those you need to buy the larger and more expensive Arc.

When they did the whole s1/s2 thing we sold our two play 5’s for £200 each, would have been worth more if they weren’t going to be compatible with future systems. We bought a connect device that links our main Atmos setup with Sonos which was expensive for what it was but plugged the gap. We have Sonos portable in the kitchen, a 3 in the office and 1’s in every other room. It’s great for music sync around the house but again nowhere near the quality of a decent stereo a setup, but plug and play and good aesthetics

Go try it out in richer sounds if they still sell them, and get them to compare it to a good surround sound setup - it will be night and day.
 
I bought a Sonos playbar last year when it was on offer with a new TV. The quality of it is superb but I’d have to admit that it’s way over the top for a 3 bedroom semi detached house!
 
I’m a home cinema geek and have Sonos products in the house, but not part of the home cinema setup

They serve a purpose if you;

Aren’t bothered about best sound quality and future proofing
Like the aesthetics
Don’t like wires / renting so can’t do work to hide the wires
Aren’t bothered about surround sound
You’ll get other devices round the house and benefit from music sync

If so they can be alright. Wait for a sale though or try find someone that can get you discount. I can get 15% through work If that helps

That said, I find them very hard to recommend. For the price they are poor value for money and are a limited product. To add full surround sound you’re looking at well over a grand and that would buy you a great system with av receiver with far more functionality. You’ll still have wires unless it goes on a tv stand instead of the wall. It’ll just never sound as good as even a mid range stereo setup, let alone a 5.1 one - simple physics for stereo seperation. Sonos doesn’t have the best track record with bringing new products out and they basically shat on their user base when releasing the new s2 ecosystem, and there is no support for lossless or HD audio codecs - which at the price it’s pitched at is a bit mad. For those you need to buy the larger and more expensive Arc.

When they did the whole s1/s2 thing we sold our two play 5’s for £200 each, would have been worth more if they weren’t going to be compatible with future systems. We bought a connect device that links our main Atmos setup with Sonos which was expensive for what it was but plugged the gap. We have Sonos portable in the kitchen, a 3 in the office and 1’s in every other room. It’s great for music sync around the house but again nowhere near the quality of a decent stereo a setup, but plug and play and good aesthetics

Go try it out in richer sounds if they still sell them, and get them to compare it to a good surround sound setup - it will be night and day.

The thing that appeals to me is the relatively small form factor Fair. I'm not particularly set on this as we're due to undertake a whole development of the living area in the next couple of years and I'd like to have something a bit better but at this moment in time, space for a device is limited and I don't want to add a separate bass device.

It's there anything else you would recommend within these limits?
 
Does anybody have one and would you recommend it?

There's some stuff we're watching at the minute and the sound level just isn't high enough (see previous post) I'd rather get something decent rather than a cheapo sound bar but I'd be looking for something relatively small.

Is the beam a good option? Is there a smaller sonos version that would do a good job or perhaps a better value option that isn't massive?

Appreciate your thoughts
I love Sonos! We had a cheaper sound bar originally (trying to avoid the high cost) until we bit the bullet. So glad we did. You need to make sure you have HDMI ARC return cable to get the best out of the system. 2x One speakers were a great addition to the experience. It all allows us to enjoy surround sound for films/TV as well as good concert tracks. Love it!
 
The thing that appeals to me is the relatively small form factor Fair. I'm not particularly set on this as we're due to undertake a whole development of the living area in the next couple of years and I'd like to have something a bit better but at this moment in time, space for a device is limited and I don't want to add a separate bass device.

It's there anything else you would recommend within these limits?

How big is your space? For me the sonos beam is a device more suited to a bedroom or kitchen where it isn’t the main listening space but it will do a job.

Do you have the tv wall mounted or is it on a unit?

All depends really on your use case, if you’re just blasting Corrie and the off but of sky then soundbars are probably fine but like I mentioned the beam don’t support modern hd audio codecs which to me is disappointing. People pay good money for massive oled tvs, bluray players and games consoles and then put a sound bar on there which is then the weakest link imo if it cant decode modern formats.

Seperate bass devices aren’t too be feared, they can be quite discrete. But like the beam if you don’t have one the speakers will pick up the low frequency sound it’s just you’re then asking them to do more so they don’t do it as well.

Best advice is contact richer sounds give them your budget and ask them to see what they can do and demo the difference.

Sonos is addictive and it’s easy to start off with a beam, add 1’s as rears and whack a sub in but then you’ve paid out money that would build an amazing system but by then you’re locked into the system through your spend. Speakers can be individually upgraded and are agnostic to formats so you just need a receiver. If it’s a temporary solution I would just go with a well reviewed cheap soundbar until you finalise your plans.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top