SONOS BEAM soundbar

The smallest and newest TV audio solution from Sonos, the compact Beam didn’t win us over with music, but delivered very impressive sound with movies, and proved itself far smarter than the average bar...

The newest and smallest TV audio solution from Sonos, with Alexa and Sonos ecosystem abilities.

Sonos is not a company that throws out new products willynilly, nor does it update its hardware every year, preferring to delight existing owners by adding new abilities via firmware update. This has its limits, of course — the ability to have voice control, say, requires a microphone, though Sonos has been quietly building those in since the Play:5 refresh in 2015. One of the headlines for this Beam release is AirPlay 2 compatibility, again rolling out also to a limited number of existing Sonos models.

The company has obviously taken a liking to the TV audio space, the Beam bringing the number of TV-centric Sonos models to three — the existing Playbar and Playbase, and now the Beam, which is smaller and cheaper than either. Sonos suggests the Beam to be suitable for smaller rooms, while the higher driver count of the Playbar and Playbase are capable of filling larger spaces.

Equipment

The Beam looks nicely unobtrusive in the black of our review sample, while the white version may be preferred by those with modern minimalist décor. It’s 65cm wide and precisely 10cm deep, its top just 7cm above a table-top, which should keep it clear of all but the lowest current television models.

It is wildly minimalist in its connections, having no inputs at all except power and Ethernet, while a single HDMI output connects to the ARC-equipped input on your TV. It lacks an optical or analogue connection as a fall-back position, so should you not have an ARC-equipped TV, the Sonos Beam is clearly not for you.

Its driver count is somewhat mysterious — it takes quite the reverse tack to some competitors which have separate tweeters and a single woofer for bass. The Beam has a single tweeter and four full-range elliptical woofers, in a three-channel configuration, with left and right far out on the curved sides, and the centre getting two woofers and the tweeter — a good approach for dialogue clarity. But there’s more, with three passive radiators delivering extra bass under the power only of the reverse pressure within the cabinet from the active drivers. These we found by running our ear around the perimeter — two on the front, and one at back right.

It has five microphones as well, all the better to hear your Alexa (and later Google) commands when the Beam is already making a noise itself. This works well.

Of course being Sonos, you can build up your system beyond the solo Beam. While it is designed to operate on its own, it also wirelessly pairs with the $999 Sonos Sub for added bass, and/or with a pair of Sonos speakers to act as rear speakers, giving the potential of a genuine 5.1-channel surround system, though obviously at significantly increased cost.

And while it sits by your TV (or can be wallmounted, with an optional kit), it has all the abilities of any Sonos speaker, able to access the many many music services which are made available through the Sonos app, and to interact fully within a system of multiple Sonos speakers around the home.

Performance

We will note briefly that although our Beam arrived in what appeared to be pre-release packaging, we were assured it was a full production unit with no beta elements involved. We had an initial fail during set-up, apparently from a malfunctioning rear switch, but it eventually decided to play ball, accepted a firmware update, and behaved nicely during the rest of our fortnight spent with the Beam.