Sonos Beam ears-on: Compact $399 sound bar with Alexa – CNET

Sonos has expanded its line of multiroom audio speakers with a compact, more affordable sound bar called the Sonos Beam. It will be available on July 17 for $399 (£399 or AU$599).

Like the Sonos One, this is a smart speaker that will include support for Amazon Alexa voice control and eventually Google Assistant. It also has support for Apple’s AirPlay2. The speaker will be available in two color options — black and white. 

The Beam has an improved, five-microphone array to better “listen” for voice commands when music or movies are blaring. Sonos touts its sound despite the compact size, including newly designed woofers and a series of passive radiators for deeper bass. There’s also a night mode to reduce the impact of explosions when you don’t want to disturb the neighbors.

Interestingly the speaker has but a single input — HDMI — with no optical or 3.5mm ports to be seen. “But my TV only has optical out,” you might say. Aha! Seemingly taking its cue from Apple, the company will include an optical-to-HDMI dongle in the box. 

Like the Playbar and Playbase, the Beam is Dolby Digital only, not DTS, not even Dolby TrueHD. The Beam name is not accidental either, as it shares its siblings’ ability to “beam form” and bounce sounds off your walls. This potentially expands the sound stage to the size of your room — not bad for a speaker only 25 inches across.

Sonos says the Beam will be able to support wireless rear speakers for surround effects — for example, a pair of Play:1s. if you want more bass than the compact enclosure can handle, the Sonos Sub is also available.

Perhaps the biggest innovation, however, is the price. The diminutive Beam costs $300 less than Sonos’ existing PlayBar (which lacks microphones or Alexa support), allowing it to compete directly against other mid-priced sound bars. Unlike such competitors however, including the Vizio SB3621 and the Yamaha YAS-207, the Beam lacks a separate subwoofer. 

At this stage. the speaker’s closest competition is the Polk Command Bar, which is essentially an Echo Dot sound bar. Polk’s lack of a Google Assistant option could become a limiting factor, though.

Ears-on with the Beam

Sonos treated us to a demo of the speaker’s capabilities and based on initial impressions it appears to nail the “big as a house” performance that we loved about the company’s earlier sound bars. At one point the company put on Radiohead’s Reckoner and the vocals were not only clear but the sound stage was huge — the ride cymbal appeared to be coming out of the wall.

The other noticeable thing about the speaker was how crisp dialogue was. During a spoilerific scene from Westworld, Bernard is talking with his [REDACTED] Dr Ford and his speech was clear and locked to the screen. Though the company played some more energetic scenes, the only thing the speaker seemed to lack was (unsurprisingly) deep bass. Though you can add the Sub, it does almost triple the cost of the system.

We look forward to reviewing the Sonos Beam when it gets its worldwide release next month.

Originally published on June 6 at 12:43 p.m. ET.
Update, 8:06 p.m. ET: Added ears-on impressions.