Contributor I

Can the Sonos Beam help simplify my home theater system?

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I have an older home theater system that is fairly complicated, not to mention bulky. I'm considering a Beam to help simplify things and conserve some space. When I first set this up 6 years ago, optical media was king, and loud, bombastic movie night was our thing. But, the kids are older, and the AppleTV is now the primary source.

So, here's what I currently have:
TV: 2013 LG 60PV450. Might support HDMI ARC, but most likely not.
AVR: Denon 7.1
Sources: Dish Network Hopper, gen 4 AppleTV, PS4, Nintendo Switch
Current speakers: Velodyne 12" sub, Polk Monitor series 7.1
remote: Logitech Harmony Hub

So - I'd like to keep the TV and sources, but swap out the large speakers and older Denon AVR.

I currently have 2 Sonos Play:1 speakers (love 'em!) that I can use for surrounds. If I get the Beam, I **might** get lucky and find my TV supports HDMI ARC, or most likely need to use the HDMI to optical adapter, leaving me with 2 available HDMI ports on the TV. I'm thinking the Hopper goes to 1 port, and the other 3 devices share an HDMI switch.

At this point, I know I'll be taking a step back in audio quality, but since we mostly watch TV shows now, I'm okay with that (besides, after rearranging furniture, I've needed to recalibrate the Denon for months now...). I will definitely free up some space.

What about the convenience? If HDMI ARC does work, could I use the Dish remote or AppleTV remote to control the volume on the Sonos speakers? I'm assuming that I can still use Alexa (via the Harmony Hub) to switch TV inputs.

This would be much less of an issue if I didn't hate the remote that comes with the Harmony Hub (no backlighting, small buttons, so easy to accidentally switch sources, problems like that). I like the idea of using Apple HomeKit eventually to control the Beam, too.

So, am I just trading one set of problems for another?

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Chris

Lead Maestro

Actually our TV should have HDMI Arc. My 2011 LG does and works great.

Yes you can use the Dish remote to control the volume of the Beam.

I think the Beam is lacking without subwoofer. Either get a Sonos sub to - or get the upcoming Sonos Amp instead and use your current front speakers and sub.

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Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)

G

grizfanAuthor

Contributor I

Thanks Chris - that's great news on the HDMI ARC.

I've read that the Beam is pretty light on the bass, which makes sense given its size. Still, it sounded pretty good in the store, and given the size of the room and seating position, I'm hoping that won't be too much of a problem.

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HvLee

Collaborator I

It won't rumble your room, but in all fairness, combined with the 2 1's it actually delivers enough bass, especially for it's small footprint I was actually surprised and amazed. Love my Beam. (I also replaced my clunky Onkyo 5.1 setup, which was better, but I do not actually miss it yet.)

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melvimbe

Just adding that if you purchase through Sonos directly, you get a 45 day return policy. I'd highly recommend that approach as you may not be as ready to downgrade as you think. You may find a playbar or playbase is a better fit for your room size.

And I did a quick search on your TV. The user manual is actually dated 2011, and the word "ARC" isn't found anywhere in the document. I don't think that's a big issue for you though, as you already have the Logitech setup for control of the TV.

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Danny

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