Chromatic Producer II

What possible change I think will make the new "Beam" a game changer in home theatre

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The Beam (new soundbar announced today) is like the little brother to the Playbar, with HDMI ARC instead and less drivers. But in my opinion, It can be more than just a basic bedroom soundbar. I think it could well be the core of what could be an extremely amazing, great sounding, modular and versatile true smart home theatre system.

Why?

The ability to add two more Sonos Play speakers as front channel LR and make the Beam a centre channel speaker.

Need I say more? How amazing would that be? It can be a true 5.1 or 3.1 setup with HDMI support for Dolby DTS and more.

Sonos are targeting the mid-range smart speakers on the market. And I think they've done a great job. But what really earns Sonos the money and is a key selling point for many is being able to expand the Sonos ecosystem in a modular fashion.

What most people do with their typical Samsung or other branded soundbar is upgrade it - replace the entire thing. With Sonos, there could be no need to upgrade the Beam. You can add two more Play 1's or One's to the left and right side to upgrade, improve the sound quality, create fuller and richer stereo, and make a true 3.1 setup with the addition of two more speakers on top! Do you want a Sonos soundbar for £400 and not break the bank? Get the Beam. Do you already own the Beam and want something more? Add two more speakers and make the beam a centre channel speaker. Do you want a true 5.1 or (even 7.1?) surround sound system? Then add more speakers.

People can build their Sonos system starting with the basic "we rival smart speaker competitors" to "we want to give you the best, simplest, great sounding home theatre system" WITHOUT replacing the soundbar!

The idea fits into Sonos's current strategies so well, and I really hope they think about being able to add more AIO speakers instead of just the three limiting you to basic "5.1" surround sound. The potential for this thing is endless!

Anyway, am I missing something bad about this? What is there that could prevent Sonos from considering this as a future update?

Surround Sound

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djsgrant

Enthusiast II

That’s the point my friend. It is advertised as a product that plays everything, not bits and pieces of codecs, everything. That’s why I bought mine and that’s why I am disappointed. Far from everything, it plays next to nothing.

The ads I've seen have stated 'everything' in terms of music, tv, movies...not specifically in terms of home theatre codecs. Maybe you've seen different ads. That said, I can see where the context isn't clear, particularly when you're preconceived expectations and assumptions. Not a problem with that in itself, I've really just trained myself to always look at the details of a product before buying. The tech world is too complex, too many formats and such out there to make assumptions any more. That works for me since I'm relatively tech savvy, but not as good for the average got who doesn't even really know what a codec is, much less the various formats out there.

I do think the home theatre audio segment/industry has done a slight disservice to the customers. There are many codecs out there that customers are not aware of and don't know what they really mean, how they differ. Many/most receiver amp companies kind of make it easy for customers by just supporting everything under the sun, maybe at extra cost to the customer. So it's not surprising that customers don't expect Sonos to do the same.

But regarding the volume of codecs, it would be great if there were better established and communicated standards out there. For video, it's been more straight forward. You had beta, then vhs, then dvd, Blu-ray, now 4k. I don't think there was much confusion about what player you needed to play these formats, and what the advantage of each format was.
There have been some failed (relatively) formats over the years too, like laser discs. That's partially do to the physical form of the media and partially do to a lot of communication and labeling. The same is somewhat true for music, going form LPs, 8 track, cassettes, CDs, and now mp3s (basically). There wasn't a whole lot of confusion about what media formats you could use on your player and why you wanted a particular format.

But HT codecs are different. It has no real physical form you can hold in your hand. People don't really know the differences between formats or why one is better then the other. There isn't one format that has clearly won out over the others (it seems) to make customer choice clear. Although players maybe marked with what formats they play, media isn't, or the labeling is small and ignored (or maybe that's just me). You're mostly just looking at the video format you're getting, not the associated audio format.

So I get the desire to have Sonos play all the different codecs, but I also think the industry in general has done a poor job of educating the buyers on formats, what they mean, and 'picking a winner', a standard across all. Again that maybe hard for HT audio codecs since they are more complex and lack a physical form that customers can clearly see.

I think I’ve just been very politely called stupid! 😉

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David

melvimbe

Not at all my intention, and I don't know which part you're talking about.

For the record, I am no expert on codecs myself. In my head, it's mono, stereo, a bunch of HT codecs, then atmos. I couldn't tell you the difference between DD 5+1, DD+, DTS, DD HD, etc. I probably even got some of those wrong. Like you, I'd rather it just work. I don't want to know the difference. For the most part it does with my playbar, although I'm sure I'm being downgraded to stereo when I don't realize it.

So perhaps I'm the stupid one. I don't really care. I generally try and look at issues from different perspectives on these boards, to put myself in the shoes of the average customer, Sonos decision makers, etc. Sometimes that's right, sometimes that's wrong.

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Danny

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djsgrant

Enthusiast II

Ha ha. No, your posts are very helpful. Thank you.

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David

T

Tururu

Contributor I

In my opinion stereo separation is the the only thing missing. In the playbase is practically unnoticeable. Most modern people stream so DTS is irrelevant and who wants to have 20 speakers hanging in a normal family room so you can say it support Atmos? I must say stereo separation makes music feel better. I was really keen to get a 5.1 but there are very few scenes in very few movies where I say wow.

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djsgrant

Enthusiast II

In my opinion stereo separation is the the only thing missing. In the playbase is practically unnoticeable. Most modern people stream so DTS is irrelevant and who wants to have 20 speakers hanging in a normal family room so you can say it support Atmos? I must say stereo separation makes music feel better. I was really keen to get a 5.1 but there are very few scenes in very few movies where I say wow.

I am delighted for "modern people" for whom a fast internet connection is within their providers gift. For the rest of us DTS remains thee most relevant issue in a Sonos 5.1 system. I don't want 20 speakers in my living room either that's why I tried the Sonos Playbase + 3 to achieve 5.1 in a more discreet manner, sadly it has been a disappointment from start to finish. People really need to stop sticking up for Sonos for no good reason. Do their speakers reek of quality and deliver good stereo sound? Yes they do. Do Sonos advertise a 5.1 system that will play every source? Yes they do. Do they actually provide one? No they don't. Do they listen to their customers? No they don't. Did Blackberry make the best mobile phones? Yes they did. Where are Blackberry now?

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David

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