* Official SONOS Thread *

signs · 11 Oct 2018 at 13:35

if you don't mind wires , go second hand and get an amp and speakers , much better field of sound

TALON1973 · 11 Oct 2018 at 15:05

Depends on space as well. I can’t put hifi speakers in my room . The beam is perfect for my current needs. Ordered it via my works scheme , so I pay it off each month in my wages. Arrives in 9 days

kinger8938 · 11 Oct 2018 at 15:08

TALON1973 said:
Depends on space as well. I can’t put hifi speakers in my room . The beam is perfect for my current needs. Ordered it via my works scheme , so I pay it off each month in my wages. Arrives in 9 days

Nice. I do think a full 5 speaker wired set up wouldn't suit me really for space reasons etc

Admiral Huddy · 11 Oct 2018 at 15:31

I love my Sonos setup (sound base + 2 x Ones). I'm no audio geek but the setup is punchy and crystal clear when needed, particularly in voice. With the benefit of no wires, and portability of the ONE's they are a no brainier.

I've been reading great reports about the Beam. If it's better than the Base, you won't be disappointed.

Psycho Sonny · 12 Oct 2018 at 10:32

avforums has a best buy section for soundbars. none of sonos's stuff has ever made it into the list.

they do however make the wireless speaker list.

your best bet is to use their best buy guide to pick a soundbar.

lucid · 12 Oct 2018 at 11:25

Psycho Sonny said:
avforums has a best buy section for soundbars. none of sonos's stuff has ever made it into the list.

they do however make the wireless speaker list.

your best bet is to use their best buy guide to pick a soundbar.

And yet Sonos remains one of the most popular sound bar brands. IIRC, there was a point where Sonos Playbar was outselling every other single-product sound bar on the market.

In techncal terms, Playback and Playback are well off the pace for connectivity and audio processing. God knows I have argued enough times that the bar + sub + rears is an expensive way to do surround, and that much better results can be had with a receiver + speaker package. Having said that, there's a lot of people that don't care and that don't read AV Forums or any av/hi-fi sites. They've been buying Sonos.

The new Beam product addresses some of the shortcomings of Bar and Base. The inclusion of HDMI with ARC is long overdue. Maybe AV Forums will catch up with what the general public is buying; or maybe it won't. I suspect that either way it'll make little or no appreciable difference to Sonos sales.

kinger8938 · 12 Oct 2018 at 19:32

What is ARC then in basic terms? I have a ks7000 not sure if it supports ignore not I'll have a look

lucid · 12 Oct 2018 at 22:25

ARC stands for Audio Return Channel. It's a way of getting sound from a TV via the HDMI connection.

It's the newer version of Optical Audio if you like, but it adds some control functionality via HDMI Control (HDMI CEC / BraviaSync/ Anynet+/ etc where manufacturers have their own name for it) that isn't possible with Optical. For example, linking the power command so everything comes on when one device is woken, and volume control of the sound bar via the TV remote or some other device remote.

kinger8938 · 14 Oct 2018 at 16:59

lucid said:
ARC stands for Audio Return Channel. It's a way of getting sound from a TV via the HDMI connection.

It's the newer version of Optical Audio if you like, but it adds some control functionality via HDMI Control (HDMI CEC / BraviaSync/ Anynet+/ etc where manufacturers have their own name for it) that isn't possible with Optical. For example, linking the power command so everything comes on when one device is woken, and volume control of the sound bar via the TV remote or some other device remote.

Thanks for the info! Sounds like it solves some of the hassle I found with a sound bar in the past. Constantly switching remotes, turning it all off and on separately etc.

So close to pulling the trigger on a Beam just get mixed feedback on better systems for the money but at £350 (with a bit of discount) it seems a fair price for what it is.

lucid · 15 Oct 2018 at 08:56

I think with Sonos the value depends on whether you want their solution to home multiroom.

There are competing products that sound on a par for less money, or that offer more features e.g. a wireless sub in with the price, but no other company has yet been able to match the way the Sonos ecosystem works and how easy it is to use and to grow without it costing more.

As I wrote before, Beam is the first Sonos soundbar product with HDMI, and that's a long overdue feature at this price point. It sounds good too. So for the money, and IMO, it's a sweet spot product.

kinger8938 · 15 Oct 2018 at 11:15

lucid said:
I think with Sonos the value depends on whether you want their solution to home multiroom.

There are competing products that sound on a par for less money, or that offer more features e.g. a wireless sub in with the price, but no other company has yet been able to match the way the Sonos ecosystem works and how easy it is to use and to grow without it costing more.

As I wrote before, Beam is the first Sonos soundbar product with HDMI, and that's a long overdue feature at this price point. It sounds good too. So for the money, and IMO, it's a sweet spot product.

I'm in a funny spot as I Have a Sonos One. I don't really need multiroom but I'm tempted to go with the Beam and spend another 200 in a few months time to get another One and use them as Rears. But if there's better out there for the money I should maybe look elsewhere. It Just seems as I'm already one steam towards the rears I may aswell go that route, I don't know

M1k3H · 15 Oct 2018 at 11:36

Admiral Huddy said:
I love my Sonos setup (sound base + 2 x Ones). I'm no audio geek but the setup is punchy and crystal clear when needed, particularly in voice. With the benefit of no wires, and portability of the ONE's they are a no brainier.

The only downside I found is, if you move the Ones you then have to re-do the Trueplay calibration, so I've stopped moving them.

Do you do that every time you move them?

kinger8938 · 15 Oct 2018 at 19:57

Screw it ordered the Beam this evening for collection tomorrow

I'm sure it will be plenty good enough for me!

kinger8938 · 16 Oct 2018 at 21:28

Got my beam.. currently trying to set it up to a Samsung KS7000. It's connected to the ARC HDMI slot both ends, and CEC Is enabled in the TV settings but the Beam just isn't detecting it. Keeps failing at the CEC section on the settings. It says it can't detect the make/model of my TV even.

So not really sure what's wrong. I've tried turning it all off and on, 're doing the connections etc but it's just not happening

any tips?

*for now I have used the optical cable instead of the HDMI Arc and it's now working. The guy in Twitter talked me through setting up my remote for volume etc.

So other than voice controls, what would I be missing if I can't get ARC working?

ChrisD. · 17 Oct 2018 at 11:01

Are all the outputs on the TV CEC enabled?

kinger8938 · 17 Oct 2018 at 12:14

ChrisD. said:
Are all the outputs on the TV CEC enabled?

I don't know tbh! It only has one HDMI ARC socket so that's the one I was trying it in for that reason, when I plugged it in, it did auto switch the tv to display that hdmi cables channel if that makes sense. So its picking up something i guess!

ChrisD. · 17 Oct 2018 at 12:17

Have you tried a different HDMI cable?

kinger8938 · 17 Oct 2018 at 12:31

ChrisD. said:
Have you tried a different HDMI cable?

Yeah that was also suggested by the Sonos chap on Twitter so did that but still no luck unfortunatly

TALON1973 · 17 Oct 2018 at 13:18

My beam is turning up Friday.... Does it come with a hdmi lead?

kinger8938 · 17 Oct 2018 at 13:21

TALON1973 said:
My exam is turning up Friday.... Does it come with a hdmi lead?

Do you mean Beam? If so it does indeed

I love the look of the unit but given the issues above I barely got to try it last night. For now I've settled on Optical connection (it comes with a converter) until I can find out how to solve it not working via ARC

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