I just unbonded the Sub and surrounds, did the ‘add a product’ process, then added back in the surrounds and Sub, this time to the Arc. Took about 3 or 4 minutes...but I was slightly distracted. I didn’t even look for an ‘easy swap’ option. 

Thank you!

There isn’t an ‘easy swap’ option, but it is a simple enough process to unbond the surrounds and sub from the playbar. There maybe no need to factory reset the playbar either, unless you’re selling it on/giving it away etc). You could just change its room-name and use it elsewhere in the home.

Then setup the new Arc via ‘Add Product’ within the App and bond the surrounds/sub. 
TruePlay tune the room and setup a voice assistant too, if required.

Sit back and enjoy what I imagine will be great sounding TV/Music audio.

I too will be looking to replace my beam with the arc, sorry for the probably obvious question, but by ‘unbond’ do you mean remove sub and remove surrounds in the app or am I missing something?

Yes, just goto “Settings/System/yHome Theatre Room Name]” and remove its surrounds and sub… if you are going to move the main HT device elsewhere in your home, you can also rename the room here too. Power off your device and move to other room, if required, or you can go onto factory reset it if you have decided to sell/give it away etc.

Then I would close/reopen App (just to refresh all settings) and once you have Arc ready to go, power it on, wait for it to boot and when you see the flashing green status LED open the S2 Sonos App and goto "Settings/System/Add Product" and follow the onscreen instructions to setup your device. Post setup you can add surrounds and sub, TruePlay tune the room all from within the Arc’s room settings and then (if using) install the voice assistant (Alexa/Google) from within "Settings/Services & Voice”.

Hope that assists. 

Thank you ken for the informative reply. Does it matter that I’ve already upgraded the beam system to s2?. Also I factory reset the beam from within the app post un bonding?

cheers.

Yes, It is much easier to have upgraded your system to S2. You can only install the Arc onto an S2 system anyway, as it’s not compatible with S1.

I’m not quite sure what you mean when you say ‘I factory reset the beam from within the app post un bonding?‘ … you cannot actually do that from within the App. The factory reset procedure is outlined in the link below, but that’s only ever required, if you plan to sell/give away the Beam.. no need to factory reset it if you plan to use it elsewhere around the home.. but if you have done that, not to worry, as you can just set it up again as a new device, that’s if you plan to continue to use it.

Factory resetting a Sonos product

Thanks again!, I look forward to hearing the difference with the arc, as the beam is in a fairly big room, and excellent as it sounds, there is the impression the beam is the weak link in terms of separation and transparency, with the play ones and sub doing a great job!.

i will be selling the beam to a friend so will be factory resetting.

Keep us posted mate. I too have the beam with rears and thinking whether its worth going through the hassle and spend to upgrade to arc 

I certainly will do mate, I know exactly what you mean re hassle, especially when things are working seamlessly, I do have high hopes however!, I’m expecting a much bigger frontal presence with music and more immersion with tv/movies.