Hi. This is Brian from World Wide Stereo coming to you from our showroom in Montgomeryville,
PA to talk about the new, Atmos-capable Sonos Beam Gen 2 compact soundbar.
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I'll be diving into what's new about this second-generation model,
how it differs from the original Beam Gen 1, and also, how it differs from the Sonos Arc soundbar.
Sonos is known for its streaming, multi-room audio speakers and components.
When Sonos entered the TD Audio arena with the Playbar, it became one of the best-selling soundbars
of all time.
The Playbar was discontinued and replaced with the Arc, a sleek, beautiful soundbar measuring 45 inches wide
and designed to fill up large rooms with high-performance, home theater audio.
Enter the Beam.
The Beam is Sonos' answer to the compact soundbar, measuring only 25 inches wide and designed for small-
to medium-sized rooms.
Like the Playbar, it was also one of the best-selling soundbars out there.
In 2020, Sonos released the S2 platform, a new version of their app and operating system that
powers the next generation of Sonos product and experiences.
S2 basically lets users update and welcome the new features that Sonos will be releasing
in the coming years.
With the S2 update came an impressive list of new features that they released with the Arc soundbar,
and now, Sonos is working their mastery by loading many of these features into the new Beam Gen 2.
So, what's new with Gen 2?
Let's start with form factor.
The Sonos Beam Gen 2 is available in new, monochromatic black and white finishes.
Sonos got rid of the cloth grill and replaced it with a sleek, more rigid, polycarbonate grill with precise
perforation that allows a speaker to still sound great.
I think it gives it a sleeker, cleaner look, and in impractical manners, it's easier to clean.
To further refine the look and feel of the Beam Gen 2, Sonos has color-matched the power and HDMI cables
to the rest of the soundbar.
The Gen 2 is slightly lighter than the Gen 1 model at 6.2 pounds, but it takes up the exact same footprint,
measuring 2.72 inches high, 25.63 inches wide, and 3.94 inches deep.
So, if you're upgrading from your old Beam to the new one for access to Dolby Atmos, it will fit right in.
You can use the same accessories and mounting hardware as the Gen 1.
The Beam Gen 2 features a new processor that is 40% faster than the previous generation, and the new,
HDMI eARC connection enables support for uncompressed, higher-resolution audio formats including Dolby TrueHD,
Dolby Digital Plus, and Dolby Atmos.
eARC is important because, without eARC, you won't get a true Atmos experience.
Just remember, your TV must have an HDMI input capable of the higher-resolution audio formats.
If you don't, you'll still be able to connect to your TV with a standard ARC or an optical connection,
but you'll be limited with the audio formats that you can use.
So, how does the new Beam Gen 2 deliver this incredible, new, spatial audio experience from such
a small package?
The new Beam features five-speaker arrays compared to the three arrays in Gen 1.
So, instead of the original that shared the left or right audio with the surround counterpart,
the left or right audio will have their own array, and the surround and Atmos height array will be shared.
The two new arrays for surround and Atmos apply time and frequency-based psychoacoustic techniques
to provide separation between ear-level and overhead audio.
Don't know what psychoacoustics means?
Basically, humans experience audio location based on perceived frequency.
Set it to a certain way, it can sound like it's coming from above or
from behind you or from your left or from your right.
This concept allows them to process the Dolby Atmos signal and mix it with Sonos' signature software,
and they can use the same speaker array for surround information and Atmos height information.
Atmos creates a 3D soundstage, so you're being placed in the sound sphere where the
audio will appear all around you.
To test it, I set up the Beam Gen 2 in our installation test area at our headquarters.
It's a small room similar to a modest family room or bedroom.
That's about 8.5 feet tall, 9 feet wide, and 14 feet deep.
Since there aren't height-firing speakers and the Beam utilizes a front-facing speaker array to create the
spatial audio, I didn't have to worry about the shelf above it.
I added some Play:1s for rear surrounds to fill out the room's audio and started to play some Atmos movies.
I watched a movie I know very well, "The Matrix," and one I knew was going to be
stupid exciting, Godzilla vs. King Kong, for some brainless, fun action.
While watching "The Matrix," I was excited to hear the spatial feel I hadn't experienced
from the original releases. With Godzilla vs. King Kong, I was looking for a movie that was designed for
Atmos, so I thought I was part of the environment. The sound designed for
Godzilla vs. King Kong was well done, so there was effective, quiet parts to the dynamic boom and crashes.
The Beam Gen 2 handled a lot of the action very well but will need some assists if you're looking
for some serious low-end.
I mentioned I was watching this in our headquarters, and I may have gotten a little over-zealous
with the volume, and I was reminded I may want to try the late-night mode that Sonos offers.
This purposely reduced the dynamics of the system but still allowed for crystal-clear audio
without disturbing our finance department.
I was impressed by the spatial audio the Beam Gen 2 was able to create with the Atmos support.
You won't notice much of a difference when it comes to dialogue because it shares the same center speaker
tweeter and array.
The most noticeable difference is how the left and right arrays are separated from the Atmos
and the surrounds.
This allows for more depth in the front stage speakers and the Beam Gen 2, which is where it can shine
with the new two-speaker arrays to handle the Atmos and surround sound.
The midrange drivers do a good job with bass, but I personally enjoy more low-end,
so I would recommend pairing a Sub Gen 3.
For a full surround experience, I'd recommend adding surrounds as well.
Although it's on the smaller size, it will pair nicely with a screen of up to 49 inches.
And when you're finished, be sure to run Trueplay with a iOS device to balance
your room's audio and get the most out of your new Sonos Atmos system.
You will hear the difference, and if you're skeptical,
you can turn it on and off so you can A and B the sound.
Thank you for joining me for our review of the Sonos Beam Gen 2 compact soundbar.
You can learn more about this online at worldwidestereo.com, or if you're in the area,
you can stop by our showrooms in Ardmore or Montgomeryville, PA.
We offer 60-day returns, free shipping on all orders, and we're authorized dealers for everything we sell.
If you have any comments or questions, leave them in the comment section below,
or you can call or email us at any time.
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on our latest videos.
This is Brian from World Wide Stereo.
I'll see you next time.
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