Exchange Playbar for Beam or not?

I would keep your current setup, personally, but it comes down to a matter of personal preference really. My setup is similar to yours, with the kitchen located behind the living room in an open concept. I place the surround sound speakers (play:3s for me) in the kitchen area and would not replace the playbar with a beam

Are you planning on using voice control? If so, you may want to replace the play:1s with Sonos Ones, or you could just place an echo dot somewhere near the center of the space.

Your setup would not be airplay 2 compatible, if you're interested in that feature. The Beam is compatible, but you can a Sonos One setup as a separate room to bring in airplay 2 to your system.

I would keep your current setup, personally, but it comes down to a matter of personal preference really. My setup is similar to yours, with the kitchen located behind the living room in an open concept. I place the surround sound speakers (play:3s for me) in the kitchen area and would not replace the playbar with a beam

Are you planning on using voice control? If so, you may want to replace the play:1s with Sonos Ones, or you could just place an echo dot somewhere near the center of the space.

Your setup would not be airplay 2 compatible, if you're interested in that feature. The Beam is compatible, but you can a Sonos One setup as a separate room to bring in airplay 2 to your system.

Hi, Voice control is not a feature I would use much. 1) It's not implemented in our native language + 2) Even when it would we would not make use of it.

Actually the only thing for which I should do it, is because it's newer, will receive more updates and because it looks nicer and fits beneath the TV.
But if the sound quality is actually noticable less good in the 5.1, it still would keep the Playbar

Actually the only thing for which I should do it, is because it's newer, will receive more updates and because it looks nicer and fits beneath the TV.
But if the sound quality is actually noticable less good in the 5.1, it still would keep the Playbar

I own a playbar and while it is a good soundbar it is based on a design from 2013 and is already being left behind in terms of new features in comparison to the newer speakers. I think your concern about the playbar age is valid. I personally would not buy a playbar today.

But since you already own it not such an easy decision. You could wait and get a Beam and compare it to the playbar in your new house.

But if the sound quality is actually noticable less good in the 5.1, it still would keep the Playbar

They are both good in terms of sound quality, I just think the Beam is the better choice for a small to medium room while the playbar is better suited for a larger room.

But if the sound quality is actually noticable less good in the 5.1, it still would keep the Playbar

They are both good in terms of sound quality, I just think the Beam is the better choice for a small to medium room while the playbar is better suited for a larger room.

It seems you are saying they sound very similar/the same. But you are also parroting the Sonos marketing speak/talking points about room sizes so not sure if it is your opinion or sonos talking points.

Honestly if people who own both aren't raving about the playbar which costs about 2x as much get the Beam.

Thank you for the replies. I guess I'll wait a bit, first see what amount I still can get for the Playbar, but if the loss is too big, I'm keeping it.
Soundwise if I keep the Playbar I will not be let down, only a pity of the older design and the possible extra features who can still be added in the coming years to the Beam, that will not come to the Playbar. Will be a lesson to me, to not buy things too early.

Here is my 2 cents. I have a playbar paired with a sub in my kids playroom for many years. Yesterday I just purchased a beam for my workout room. Comparing the sound from just the soundbars alone (no sub) the playbar is the winner. Granted its huge in comparison and many more speakers than the beam. That said the beam is adequate as LCR for a surround setup using Ones are surround and a sub for 5.1 setup. The playbar 5.1 setup as described you will have a little more setup getting your TV remote or programmable remote to control playbar. Where the beam uses HDMI-arc if your TV has it and it should make volume control plug and play using TV remote. Also the added benefit of Alexa and Apple airplay is very cool.

Keep Playbar - Sound will be better overall with extra setup for volume control.

Sell Playbar and get Beam - Sound will be adequate since you don't know any better comparing the two and you get Alexa and airplay. I used the Alexa voice command to turn on my sony bravia tv. Also you can adjust volume by voice. Not sure when I would use apple airplay instead of running it on sonos app.

It seems you are saying they sound very similar/the same. But you are also parroting the Sonos marketing speak/talking points about room sizes so not sure if it is your opinion or sonos talking points.


It's not my intention to. The playbar has more speakers in, particularly more tweeters. In comparison of the two in a store environment, you can hear the highs better on the playbar, but it's not as if the beam is bad in that area. I think they both handle the bass well. All that said, when you combine the sounbars with subs and 1s, I think the bass is less important.

I do have both beam and playbar. I find the beam great in the bedroom, where I feel like the playbar would be too much. I've briefly tried the beam in my living room/kitchen area and I didn't care for it as much. The Beam would do well for people who just want the TV audio to sound better, and don't care to get much better sound. I've recommend both depending on what they're looking for.


Honestly if people who own both aren't raving about the playbar which costs about 2x as much get the Beam.

It's not possible to like both soundbars and recommend different speakers depending on the situation?

It's not possible to like both soundbars and recommend different speakers depending on the situation?

Lol I'm going to along and ignore your rhetorical question -and assume you didn't mean for it to be passive aggressive ?

Too many loose ends with the beam right now, my opinion. Out of sync, audio dropouts, etc. keep the playbar, it still sounds good.

It's not possible to like both soundbars and recommend different speakers depending on the situation?

Lol I'm going to along and ignore your rhetorical question -and assume you didn't mean for it to be passive aggressive ?

Fair enough. It wasn't really rhetorical. I just don't think your criteria was really a good way to judge the two products. They are not interchangeable, and thus I don't think you need to like the playbar twice as much to justify the cost. To my ears, the Beam just doesn't cut it for the larger room, even though I'd probably say I like the Beam better overall.

Too many loose ends with the beam right now, my opinion. Out of sync, audio dropouts, etc. keep the playbar, it still sounds good.

From what I can tell, the sync issues aren't unique to the Beam, and more tied to the TV used than Sonos. We are seeing more reported issues because there is a volume of new setups right now. The audio drops, a lot of that has to do with the new ARC interface. The optical connection seems fine and isn't really any different between the Beam and Playbar.

Still, there are problems with Beam and certain brands/models. My 2016 LG OLED for instance, LG is about to let that one go, aint expecting more softwareupdates for thatone, and certainly not because of the syncproblem. Im not that impressed of the beam. If i knew what i know now, i would have kept my playbar.