Sonos soundbar comparison

Has anyone any experience of a Beam and mini-sub combination, versus an Arc?

I don’t have a sub but have the most recent beam with 2 Ones as surrounds. Tbh even without the sub it can punch enough to royally pee the neighbours off 😁

I guess between it and an Arc the question is which one can fill your room with sound, so room size dependent.

I have the beam, a sub and 2 rears.

I can’t compare to the arc but by god they’re good.  I answered the front door the day as someone knocked on it. They didn’t, it was the rear left speaker.  🤦🏻‍♂️

I have an arc and sub2in my living room, and beam with mini sub in my bedroom (both with the ikea/sonos lamp speakers as surrounds.

The full size sub is way overkill (I suspect unless you have an absolutely huge room, and I mean **** huge not jus big) and frankly when the sound mix of films or music has a bit too much base, it just becomes distracting rather than immersive. I wish the sub mini had been available when I set up my living room, and I will probably sell the sub2 and replace it with a sub mini.

I have Beam 2 and two Sonos ones as surround sounds.  It is in a room 5m x6m and probably 3.5 m tall.  It works well, plenty loud enough – and doesn’t really need a sub.  

My only real complaint is, as all surround sound systems, the fizz, bangs and crashes tend to dominate and the voice track gets lost.  On  the Arc I believe you can tune this better.  On the Beam you have basically got a clear voice setting that is on or off

Thanks all! We currently have a beam gen1, which I love. Room is a decent size but I think would benefit more from the added overall complexity an Arc would offer, rather than the added punch of a mini sub

Beam and Sub Mini in a medium sized room (4.5m x 4.5m). The pseudo-acoustic surround is generally OK, and occasionally incredibly impressive. I wanted something that could handle movies, TV, and music equally well and the Beam / Sub Mini combination does this.

Without the sub the soundbar has to work hard to deliver the bass, which can lead to voices getting lost. I genuinely can’t imagine a case where you’d need more bass than that provided by the Sub Mini unless you have a home theatre or something.

I have Arc + Sub + Ones as rears in living room and Beam + Mini Sub + Ones in the kitchen.
I’d say the beam based setup gives 80% of the performance at 50% of the cost. Echoing others, mini sub is more than enough. If I was doing it again, with the models now on offer I’d ditch the sub in place of mini sub and put the savings towards the new upward firing rears (300’s ?).

As always, if your spending decent money on Sonos, make sure you use the 30% upgrade discount hack.

Room is a decent size but I think would benefit more from the added overall complexity an Arc would offer

If You haven’t got any rear speakers I would definitely prioritise that over changing from beam to arc (or adding a sub)

30% hack?

Sub mini designed for 20x15ft rooms and below

I added a sub mini to a Beam with rear satellites. Did find that adding the sub mini cleaned up the sound a bit. If you do have a large room I guess the Arc would be better for front stereo separation for music than the beam. Wish you could have separate front facing satellites.

30% hack?

Maybe ‘hack’ is too grand a word, as it’s pretty obvious. But you buy a bit of old kit off eBay that qualifies for their 30% upgrade discount (see list on Sonos website – some is only 15%) and use the the discount towards whatever you are buying. Serial numbers can only be used once so you need to specifically ask the seller if it’s already been used (some state in the advert, others won’t have a clue what you are talking about). I’ve generally had to spend around £50-60 on a suitable device to ‘upgrade’. You could risk buying much cheaper ‘sold as spares’ type stuff, but it does need to be functional enough to be able to turn on and register to your Sonos account via their app. If you can be bothered you can then sell on the old kit at around £20-30, depending what it is (even when you state the code has been used).

I’ve saved around £900 on my two systems using this method.

Or if you already have any older speakers you can do it without buying old kit. Log in at https://www.sonos.com/en-gb/myaccount/user/offers/upgrade with your Sonos account to see. my Sonos play:1s give me 15% each atm.

Thanks – was aware of the 15% discount, have a couple of older Play speakers that are discount eligible, but 30% was the number I was wondering about, not seen any product with that level of discount

Beam 2 and sub over a stand alone arc for me and I have these

Thanks plumber!

30% was the number I was wondering about, not seen any product with that level of discount

Play:5 (Gen 1)

Connect (2006 version)

Connect:Amp (2005 version)

I’ve always gone for the Connect, the model number is ZP90. Now I’ve checked the last one cost me £20 as was advertised as having “intermittent sound”.

Interesting, thank you. Think my 5 is a Gen2, so only mu old Play 1s are giving me upgrade points currently.

@mrmoofo

My only real complaint is, as all surround sound systems, the fizz, bangs and crashes tend to dominate and the voice track gets lost. On the Arc I believe you can tune this better. On the Beam you have basically got a clear voice setting that is on or off

Beam v1 and 2 x One SLs as surrounds here. I had my mates over at the weekend, one of whom works in live sound mixing for world class concert venues. As soon as Top Gun Maverick started up he asked for my phone, and used the Sonos app to turn the surround level for TV audio down to -5. Basically this setting lets you turn the whole lot up without being swamped by the surrounds which are probably nearer you than the actual Beam so as to avoid this problem.

In the iOS app it’s System > Room Name > Surround Audio (under Sound).

I’ve just ordered a sub mini and I can’t wait for it to turn up, but in terms of bang for your buck I reckon adding the One SLs as surrounds made by far the biggest and best difference.

Think my 5 is a Gen2, so only mu old Play 1s are giving me upgrade points currently.

A 5 Gen 2 should be showing a 15% discount, details here (eligible products section); https://www.sonos.com/en-gb/upgrade

As soon as Top Gun Maverick started up he asked for my phone, and used the Sonos app to turn the surround level for TV audio down to -5. Basically this setting lets you turn the whole lot up without being swamped by the surrounds which are probably nearer you than the actual Beam so as to avoid this problem.

Out of interest had you previously used Trueplay to tune your system? That issue is exactely the kind of thing it should sort out for you.

Out of interest had you previously used Trueplay to tune your system? That issue is exactely the kind of thing it should sort out for you.

I had yes, but apparently it didn’t tune it enough for his tastes anyway. Even by ourselves we had found ourselves riding the volume for movies with a high dynamic range so hopefully this might mitigate that a little.

I’ll be re-tuning once the sub turns up as well so might reset everything and start again then.

How about a used Sonos Playbar? Sound is way better than Beam (not sure about Arc).

I have a beam and two ikea speakers. To one of which i hacked and wired a sub woofer from a charity shop. Works perfectly.

But you buy a bit of old kit off eBay that qualifies for their 30% upgrade discount

I think this only works if the original owner hasn’t used it to upgrade.

But Sonos are doing 25% off this weekend

https://www.sonos.com/en-gb/shop/promotional-offers

And they have an official eBay store, selling returns, like this play 1 for £79.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/195927444478?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=yb9uwmjfs_y&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=-9CEYPINQzG&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

How about a used Sonos Playbar? Sound is way better than Beam (not sure about Arc).

Gen 2 gets better reviews than the playbar

I think this only works if the original owner hasn’t used it to upgrade.

Which is exactely why my post specifically says “Serial numbers can only be used once so you need to specifically ask the seller if it’s already been used (some state in the advert, others won’t have a clue what you are talking about).”

Gen 2 gets better reviews than the playbar

Of course they do. It’s all about getting you to spend money on new stuff and none of this ‘legacy’ stuff you can pick up for half the price and is much better.

The Playbar without sub is a great piece of all round kit for tv and music and can be picked up used for ~£200

I’ve just ordered a sub mini and I can’t wait for it to turn up, but in terms of bang for your buck I reckon adding the One SLs as surrounds made by far the biggest and best difference.

I think you are in for a pleasant surprise adding a sub mini to that set up

In case it’s of interest, just noticed that Costco have the Beam Gen 1 for £240

I’ve got a Beam Gen 2 on order, but based on the above, would I better adding a sub mini or 2 Ones to that for better sound? I’ve been struggling recently with dialogue in films/ shows (speech is too quiet and bangs are too loud) – which would help more with that?

I’ve decided to keep the beam gen 1, and add a sub mini. Roll on Monday!!

I’m running a beam 2 with a sub mini in a fairly large room with a 65g3 oled. Sublime. Was shockingly great with just the sound bar and at first I decided I didn’t need the sub mini.  I added the sub just so I could buy something and it takes it to another level. The soundbar doesn’t have to do the heavy lifting so then does a better job of dialogue and creating a bigger sound stage. I’ve had to pad the back of the mirror in the hallway as the bass was making everything vibrate.

I wouldn’t say it fires sound out in all directions like all the Atmos claims but from someone who just enjoys a good quality output with a load of powerful bass, I’m very pleased.

I purchased them under the Sonos return program and plugging the arc and beam in separately the difference was very small. The beam 2 seems to have stronger bass and a more punchy sound. The arc a bit wider but more fuzzy/tinny sound. Didn’t have the sub at the start which maybe the arc needed

nicko74Full Member
I’ve got a Beam Gen 2 on order, but based on the above, would I better adding a sub mini or 2 Ones to that for better sound? I’ve been struggling recently with dialogue in films/ shows (speech is too quiet and bangs are too loud) – which would help more with that?

The Ones for sure.

Sub for sure. This allows the beam to focus on improving dialogue and the overall sound stage rather than having to generate bass too.

There is also an option in the Sonos app to increase dialogue volume which I always have on.

also the rear speakers focus on rear/side sounds and no dialogue will come out of them unless the person talking is behind you