Beam (Gen 1) - Black

I recently purchased an 82" Samsung Q8 TV and researched the heck out of soundbars to use with it. For reference I have Martin Logan speakers with Parasound and Adcom electronics because I used to be heavily into audio, but I really wanted to simplify my life and clean up the clutter in the family room. Enter the soundbar search! I still had a little bit of the audio snob in me because at first I decided that I really needed Dolby Atmos, so I was close to pulling the trigger on a 1.5k Samsung or Sony system. But then enter a whole bunch of technical gobbledegook about needing eARC and current HDMI ARC outputs not being upgradeable and lack of streaming Atmos content and yadda yadda yadda - ok forget Atmos. So I decided to heck with Atmos, just give me a basic soundbar. Then I was about to pull the trigger on a $100 Yamaha when I realized it didn't have HDMI ARC. That was the one thing I wasn't going to compromise on - I wanted the soundbar to act like the tv's built-in speaker, and HDMI ARC allows the tv remote to control the volume of the soundbar vs optical requiring you to use the soundbar's remote. I wanted to simplify my life and getting rid of remotes was part of that! I had just gotten my first Sonos speaker for Christmas, a Play:1. So I started looking at Sonos soundbars. Sadly neither the Playbar nor the Playbase has ARC. But surprisingly their cheapest, smallest speaker - the Beam - does have ARC! Finally I pulled the trigger and got the Beam and another Play:1 so I could have a pair for surround. Ok finally the actual review - everything works flawlessly. Really, that's all you need to know right there. Setup was a breeze, my tv works fine with the Cox cable box connected via HDMI and the Beam connected via HDMI ARC. Alexa works fine for playing music and radio. Spotify and Pandora stream perfectly. The sound is good but obviously doesn't compare to my previous setup, but it's less than 1/10th the price so I can't complain. After the Sonos auto-tuning I did adjust bass down one notch and treble up one notch. The system sounded a bit closed-in at first, like it was buried under a few towels, but after a day or two either I've gotten used to it or the speakers have broken-in and now sound much lighter. The Sonos app confirms that they are receiving the Dolby Digital signal, so yay. For people that are true movie lovers that like to play at Dolby reference levels (i.e. really loud), this speaker will probably not do it for you in the bass department. For normal people, I think it's perfectly fine. The bass is not really deep, but is certainly adequate and definitely much better than the tv's built-in speakers. If Sonos offered a $200 sub, I'd be all over it. But I'll pass on their $700 sub. The little Beam does look puny sitting under my 82" tv, so if the larger Playbar had ARC I probably would've bought that instead both for looks and a wider soundstage. Yes, another small nit is that the soundstage of the Beam is not huge at lower volumes, so if that's important then maybe keep looking. For my purposes, it's just fine. The soundstage does seem to get larger at higher volumes which is nice when you're ready to sit and watch a loud movie, but it's not going to make you think you have a left-center-right setup. Note that since the Beam and Play:1 surrounds are all linked together into a single room/system, you can't stream to them individually. I'm not sure why you'd want to, but if you wanted to maybe pick up a surround speaker and take it outside and play it by itself without playing the rest of the speakers, you'd probably have to undo the surround configuration. Also fyi, the Sonos TruePlay speaker auto-tune software is not available for Android (iOS only). It's not a huge requirement but worth knowing. Bottom line - it has HDMI ARC, it sounds great, everything works as advertised. Highly recommended unless you're the type that needs a subwoofer and plays movies really loud.

I bought this Sonos speaker and my whole system fully expecting to spend the afternoon arguing with cables, instructions, and possibly my own sanity. Spoiler: none of that happened. Setup was so easy, I thought I did it wrong. I plugged it in, tapped a few buttons, and suddenly my living room sounded like a VIP section I’m definitely not cool enough to be in. Even my WiFi behaved, which never happens. Sonos must use wizard magic or something. The sound? Incredible. Crisp highs, deep bass, and just loud enough that my neighbors now know my entire playlist, including the songs I pretend not to like and dont even get me started on how Top Gun: Maverick sounds!!. My favorite part is how it connects every room. I can walk from the kitchen to the bathroom like I’m doing my own stadium tour. My dog didn’t sign up for this concert, but he’s fully committed now. If you want a stereo system that sounds amazing and makes you feel smarter than you actually are, Sonos is it. 10/10 would recommend — even if you only buy it to flex on guests when they ask, “Wait… how’d you set this up so fast?”

WHY DID I GET THIS? DID I NEED IT? I already had the basic Sonos Play:1 Speakers (without Alexa built in). I already appreciated Sonos’ no-nonsense setup for the speakers I already had and thought that the Sonos Beam would be a simple way to add Surround Sound to my TV audio setup (using the Play:1 speakers as my rear speakers). I’m really pleased with the way that I was able to simply set up the beam as my front speaker and the quality of sound is as good as most other surround sound setups that I have used in the past. While I don’t consider myself an expert audiophile, I certainly enjoy good sound for music, TV, and movies and the Sonos Beam is a great way to upgrade sound quality for any sound needs that I have. I’ve used high-end systems running wires through walls connected to expensive amps and quite frankly, the Sonos setup is the most elegant, simple to set up, all without compromising on great sound. Even though in the past I’ve gone to great lengths to have good sound (cutting drywall, running lines, adding power), I don’t think I’ll ever have to do that again now that I’m invested in the Sonos ecosystem. [ Side Note: philosophically, it’s as important to me to be invested in a good ecosystem as much as just having good equipment - I think Sonos’ ecosystem is super stable and scalable as industry leaders in the smart/wireless speaker world] WHAT DOES IT DO? Obviously, Sonos has built its reputation on providing solid, great sound experiences. The Beam is no different and Sonos once again nailed it through this product. I think the most important feature of the Sonos Beam is that without compromising on great sound quality, the set up is so simple and all I needed was plug-in outlets and voila! It was all set up to use seamlessly with my TV, smart home setup, Apple Music (or Spotify), etc. DOES IT WORK AS IT SHOULD? I think any reviewers complaining about difficult setup must have gotten a faulty product. We have 3 different Beam set ups and they were so easy to install and then optimize through the Sonos app. IS THERE ANYTHING I DISLIKE ABOUT THIS PRODUCT? Of course, I wish everything in life was cheaper, but the price is ultimately worth it. The only thing that I wish Sonos did better was provide simple solutions to hang under TVs. We have the Beam shelf, but we don’t find it worth the price. IS THERE A BETTER PRODUCT? I’m sure there are better sound quality products out there, but probably none that are as easy to set up and just work straight out of box like Sonos products. Obviously, I’m a big fan here now, but I’m always on the lookout and have tried several different products over time (Samsung speakers and sound bars that are just as expensive, Yamaha set ups, different 7.1 setups), but frankly the ease of use and the ecosystem that Sonos provide make this the superior product for our family’s needs with music, TV, and movies.

This sound bar is compact, sleek, easy to install, and, above all sounds great! I needed something smaller and HDMI connected for my TV and this fit the bill. The SONOS Playbar is bigger but is only optical and would not have Alexa or ability to use only my TV remote to control audio. It synced almost immediately with my TV (a 7 year-old Samsung with HDMI-ARC). I already had Sonos Play:1 speakers and a Play:3 and I wanted something to give my Family room a full and rich sound for both music and television. This does the trick. My Family Room is not huge (20 ft. x 12 ft.) but this thing is more than loud enough with volume set at less than half. When you add in the 3 other Sonos speakers, it is like having a symphony in your home (especially after a little TruePlay tuning which is included in the Sonos app for iPhones. If you have a Play:3 speaker in the setup, you may not even need a subwoofer. I'm still debating whether to add one. That is why I give this a 4 on versatility. If you want a wireless sub, you have to buy Sonos. No other sub can be connected without being wired or used with a Connect:Amp. Even if you could, there would be the problem of syncing audio and video. Since the Beam does NOT come with its own remote and on-screen menu, I don't know how you would do that. Also, it only has 1 HDMI connection which can be converted to Optical with a provided converter cable. But, you can't have both HDMI and Optical at same time. Not a big deal if your house is all SONOS. I used to have a Sony Soundbar (HTCT-790) and wireless subwoofer that worked pretty well with my Samsung TV but it allowed syncing via a remote and on-screen menu. It was very difficult, however, to get it to play well with my Sonos speakers connected to TV via a SONOS Connect device. Hence, I opted for ALL Sonos for ease of connection and great, synchronized sound. A few more bucks but worth it. Besides, I'll sell the very good Sony sound bar and SONOS Connect on E-Bay and make most of my Sonos Beam money back. So, then, I will be thoroughly satisfied.

This is a review of the Sonos Beam. Previous to getting the Beam, I had a Samsung HW-FM45C 2.1 Soundbar. It had great sound and bass was excellent because it had a wireless and separate sub-woofer module. The sub-woofer is what really made this a standout soundbar for me and also the thing that I hated the most about it because it was just one more piece of equipment that had to fit somewhere in my room. A strength of the Samsung soundbar was that not only did it have an optical input, Bluetooth connectivity which I used all the time. But we moved and in the process of moving and dismantling everything, I never hooked the soundbar up in our new condo. Time passes... I purchased 4 Sonos One speakers in December 2017. I was and still am frustrated that there are no line-Ins for the speaker because having a line-in would have enabled me to use these with my HDTV without having to order still more Sonos components to allow such a hookup. And of course, there is no Bluetooth with the Sonos One. They are WiFi, using either your router or their own mesh network for connectivity. In a recent development, Sonos made it possible for my Sonos One to use AirPlay2. This somewhat mitigated the issue that the lack of line-in created since using AirPlay2, I was now able to stream music and other sound (YouTube videos for instance) to my Sonos One speakers. The Beam is also able to use Airplay2. Most of the time I do not notice any lag while watching streaming movies from Netflix or YouTube. I do have significant lag when playing back screencasts in Screenflow v8 (for Mac.) We're talking major lag of maybe 2.5 seconds. I don't understand why there is such significant lag. MP4's that I play from my laptop suffer no lag. It might just be something about Screenflow that is causing the lag because in all other situations so far, there is no lag. I made the decision that maybe the Beam would be a good choice for me as far as my HDTV sound was concerned. It would play nice with my other Sonos One speakers it would not only be a soundbar for my HDTV, but I could also use it just like a Sonos One speaker with the added bonus that it is a stereo speaker, not a mono speaker like a single Sonos One. The other big benefit is that has Alexa built-in and I love using Alexa for Spotify music streaming. So I got the Beam. Hooking it up was easy. The Sonos app walks you through the entire process and it took just a few minutes before it was connected and working. Since I got the speaker the day it was released, I had to hope that the sound would be satisfactory and at least as good as the Sonos One. There weren't many reviews to read prior to my actually getting the Beam, so I just took a chance with it. Happily, the sound is as good as I was expecting and I'm quite happy with the soundbar. I was hoping for sound that would be very close to the Sonos One. It is and actually better since it is a stereo speaker. Two paired Sonos One speakers provide more full sound than the Beam and the stereo imaging (soundstage) is something that can be adjusted depending on how far apart each Sonos One is from each other. However, the Beam has a decent soundstage particularly considering that you will be generally seated in front of it, a set distance, more or less, from your HDTV. The bottom line for me is that I am largely quite happy with this soundbar. I believe that the sound you get from two Sonos One speakers is superior to the sound from a single Beam. But you can't simply connect two Sonos One speakers to your HDTV. It's great to have Alexa integration and it's also great that because it is Sonos, it integrates with the other Sonos speakers I own. Any other misgivings I might have are not specific to the Beam but to the limitations that Sonos places by not including Aux In, Bluetooth, etc. and limitations to Alexa integration which is the fault of Amazon, not Sonos. What's cool though is that if you have numerous Alexa capable Sonos speakers grouped together, you can speak to Alexa on one of them and only that one particular speaker will play Alexa's response. Final thought is that if you don't think of this as a soundbar strictly for use with a HDTV you might be thrilled to discover that you can have a great sounding stereo speaker that is sleek, well-built and can be placed in places you might not immediately consider such as the top of a hutch or possibly mounted up high on a wall. The possibilities are intriguing.

I am a stereo HiFi enthusiast who got tired of looking at the wires and components cluttering up my small living room. I had been considering going wireless with Sonos for living room listening for a long time, but hesitated because I thought the sound would not be as good as having good, separate components, and I was wary of "listener fatigue" if the Sonos speakers sounded too harsh or digital. But the Beam with two Sonos One speakers as surround set up are just great. I started out with only the Beam as my first Sonos product, hooked up to TV and streaming Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, Showtime, etc., via Fire TV and Apple TV, and listening to music via Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Prime Music. I use the Sonos app as well as the independent apps for each streaming service on my iPad. I just wanted to see if there was a big difference in sound, so I added Apple Music for a month to compare with Spotify, which is my primary streaming service. (I'm sticking with Spotify for various reasons.) I took a chance buying the Beam without having tested one out at a retail store. It turns out I was so happy with the Beam that I figured building a system to have a surround experience would be even better, and after buying two Sonos Ones a few weeks later, I can say that it it truly is. I would recommend this system to anyone who wants to de-clutter without compromising sound. Super easy to set up and use. Makes me want to listen to music even more than before. Beautiful speaker design as well. Top quality in every way. I have to say that those who have commented that the volume is not loud enough must not know that you can raise the volume, one lever for TV, one for Music, which applies to your TV sound, in the Advanced Audio setting, which is different from the general volume control on the app. Then there is another setting for Music listening only, with a choice of either Ambient or Full. The default setting is Ambient, which is softer and not as full as Full! Big difference in sound. Full will give you a richer more well rounded sound. Once you set those volumes and exit Advanced Audio, you are good to go, and the general volume control of the app is the only one you have to use from then on. I rarely have to go as high as even half way because the volume is very loud and clear. Another thing is that TruePlay is essential and makes a significant difference, so if you don't take that step to customize the sound to your surroundings (takes 5 minutes or less), you are missing out. The sound is full, detailed, and warm, emits what you get with stereo hifi listening. I hear details in music that have not heard when listening to music in my former streaming set up, which was an Echo Dot connected to an integrated amp, listening through speakers hooked up to the amp. I also had a cd player and turntable connected to the amp. Those are now all packed away. Now I have only the Beam connected to my TV and the Sonos Ones in two different spots away from the TV. I still love albums, so next I might have to get the Play 5 and input the turntable to it, but for now I am very satisfied solely with streaming. The overall excellence of the Beam was a great surprise to this music listener!

I had a Sony receiver with the Polk RM6750 compact speakers and subwoofer which sounded great but I’ve been looking for a soundbar for a few years now for simplicity and visual appeal. I purchased a Sony HT-ST5000 shortly after its release and ended up returning it a couple days later. The dialogue was particularly awful and the lack of surround channels really made it flat sounding. I was originally disappointed that Sonos released a small soundbar instead of a “playbar 2” but decided to try out the Beam with Sub and two One’s after many 3rd party review sites ranked the Beam especially high. It sounds excellent. Together, it sounds just as good and even better than my previous wired system. Movies and music both shine on this. The Beam itself sounds full and produces a wide sound stage although it’s important to note that it produces little bass so I would not use the Beam by itself unless its on a secondary TV in a very small room. Add the One’s and you get much better bass. Add the sub and you get rumbling thunder. If you can only get one, I’d say get the two One’s so you also get the surround. Note: I’m using the system primarily in a 10x12 ft living room but it will easily fill my 700 sqft apartment with music. Dialogue in movies is always very clear and sounds full. I do not use the dialogue enhancer either - no need for it. Night mode works well but I’ll probably never use that. Alexa works well. The microphones can hear me speak in a low tone from 20 ft away in my kitchen around around a corner which was surprising. Big fan of the app. You can adjust all of the speaker levels or turn on enhancements there. You can play iPad music through it. I just wish you could ask Alexa to play XYZ from the iPad like you can with the other music services. You first have to start playing from the iPad in the app and then you can tell Alexa to pause/play or skip the song. I think I’ve been experiencing some audio delay with XBox One X Blu Rays only... I think because its very slight and only noticed in a C movie and then a movie primarily with CGI so I can’t trust either one. But there is no delay when streaming from apps on the XBox, apps from my TV or my FIOS cable box. The Xbox and cable box are both routed separately through my x900e then HDMI to the Beam. Need some more Netflix DVDs to come in to further test that. Its nice being able to adjust the volume of the system using Alexa or your TV remote. All in all - loving the system. Was thinking I’d replace the Beam when Sonos does release a playbar 2 in the following years but there’s really no need. I’m very happy with it. I’d suggest it if you can get it along with two Ones, the sub or most definitely both - alone though, it lacks bass needed for movies and music. Update: 7-31 - I watched another Blu ray on the xbox and there wasn’t a perceivable audio delay on that one... Update: 8-29 - Experienced more audio delay on Blurays through the XBox. Bought a new Bluray player - no audio delay so far. I'm wondering if it was only DTS movies that the Xbox had to convert to Dolby. No converter on the new player tho.

Sound: You will be surprised with how good this bar sounds. It has just enough bass to let you know it's there, but also has a single voice enhancement function allowing you to make background noise quite while enhancing the voice. Build quality: I believe Sonos has some of the highest quality built speakers on the market today. I have a Sonos 1 that has been dropped multiple times yet still continues to sound great and all functions remain intact (wifi,volume control through phon/physical buttons and connecting to all wifi items. One of the best parts about these speakers is all they need to function is a phone, power and connection to wifi thru the bridge. No speaker wire to tangle with. Set up: This is one of two reasons I believe Sonos does not own the speaker market. If you are not tech savvy, these could be an issue. The Sonos app does a pretty good job walking you through set up, but, they do not have a good troubleshooting section in the case your speaker loses connection to the wifi bridge. They also say you can connect the speaker directly to your home wifi, which is not true. You need to purchase the Sonos wifi bridge in order to connect the speaker to your home wifi. If you can get past those two things you will have no problems. Lastly, the last thing that may turn people away are updates. Sonos sends out regular updates so prepare for that. All updates are started by allowing them via the app on your phone. Oh, and the 2nd reason is $. These are not cheap and if you want a crazy tricked out system it's going to cost you well over 2k. Finally, User Interface: let me tell you this, its freeing to only need one controller to control the TV, sound bar, and set top boxes (cable and roku). The minute you turn on the tv, the sound bar turns on automatically. Believe it or not, the beam does not even come with a controller, nope, just the bar, power cord and hdmi. All sound control is done with which ever controller you use for your tv. It also connects to Alexa and Google for voice activation, which works great. You can use the beam with or without the tv on, connect to your phone for fine tuning sound, connect to multiple music services and did I mention no need for another remote? The wife loves that fact.