Meet Sonos Beam (Gen 2)

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We’re happy to introduce you to Sonos Beam (Gen 2), a new version of our industry-leading compact smart soundbar for TV, music, gaming and more. The new Beam delivers an upgraded, more immersive sound experience with greater depth and clarity, as well as support for Dolby Atmos.

Enjoy panoramic sound on the latest generation of Beam, now with support for Dolby Atmos

The new Beam is upgrading the home theater experience. Compatible with more than 100 streaming services available in the Sonos app, you can expect exciting improvements across sound, design and packaging, including:

3D Audio with Dolby Atmos: Immersive sound technology that places you in the center of the action, whether it’s experiencing planes as if they were flying overhead, hearing footsteps moving across the room, or feeling the score all around you.

Enhanced Sound, Same Size: With more processing power and newly developed phased speaker arrays, Beam steers and localizes sound around the room for a lifelike experience. The speaker is also now compatible with HDMI eARC on your TV, so you can experience your favorite movies and games in even higher definition sound with support for new audio formats.

Sleeker Design: An updated polycarbonate grille that’s precisely perforated allows the speaker to sound great and blend seamlessly into your home, just like Sonos Arc.

Easy, More Secure Set-Up: With just two cables and new NFC capabilities, setup is seamless and will have you listening in minutes. Simply open the Sonos app, follow a few prompts, and tap your phone to Beam.

Sustainable Sound: The new Beam features sustainable packaging, including a premium uncoated kraft paper, a gift box made of 97% sustainable paper, and no single use foam.

More Ways to Play: Sonos Adds Support for New Services and Audio Formats

Launching later this year in select markets, Sonos plans to support Amazon Music’s Ultra High Definition audio, which will allow listeners to hear tracks in lossless audio up to 24-bit / 48kHz on their Sonos speakers, as well as Dolby Atmos Music, an immersive audio format that breaks the boundaries of traditional studio recordings and puts you inside the song, revealing every detail of the music. Available at no extra cost to Amazon Music Unlimited customers in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Japan, Ultra HD will be available to listen on all S2 devices, except Play:1, Play:3, Playbase, and Playbar, while Dolby Atmos Music will be available to listen on Arc and Beam (Gen 2).

Sonos also plan to add support for decoding DTS Digital Surround later this year via the S2 platform on Playbar, Playbase, Amp, both generations of Beam, and Arc.

Beam (Gen 2) is available starting October 5th for $449, €499, £449, NOK4999, SEK5349, DKK3749. You can pre-order today on sonos.com.

Read the full press release on Sonos Beam (Gen 2) here

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drrock5150

Contributor I

This is for the Gen 2 Beam only correct? Are there plans for a Gen 2 Arc to follow soon as well? Thanks.

jgatie

This is for the Gen 2 Beam only correct? Are there plans for a Gen 2 Arc to follow soon as well? Thanks.

Are you speaking about the addition of DTS? If so, no it is not just the Beam G2 (from the first post):

Sonos also plan to add support for decoding DTS Digital Surround later this year via the S2 platform on Playbar, Playbase, Amp, both generations of Beam, and Arc.

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drrock5150

Contributor I

I guess I was hoping for a completely redesigned Gen 2 Arc with more than one HDMI port as well as other new features like DTS.

melvimbe

I guess I was hoping for a completely redesigned Gen 2 Arc with more than one HDMI port as well as other new features like DTS.

It’s a bit soon for a new Arc, since it’s barely a year old. Even then, I can’t see Sonos getting into the business of video switching and processing HDMI audio as well as HDMU ARC/eARC audio. That said, I didn’t see them getting into DTS either, but that wasn’t a hardware change.

Danny

James L.

Retired Community Staff

Wow, a lot to unpack there.

Ultra HD will be available to listen on all S2 devices, except Play:1, Play:3, Playbase, and Playbar, while Dolby Atmos Music will be available to listen on Arc and Beam (Gen 2).

If play:1 or play:3 are used as surrounds (with a Beam/Amp/Arc as front) will the Room be able to play Ultra HD? Likewise, if a pair of play:3s is setup as room and then grouped with a Ultra HD capable speaker (Move, for example), will the Move play HD while the play:3s plays ‘SD’, or will the whole group be downgraded to ‘SD’?

Hey Danny,

If a user streams 24-bit audio on an incompatible speaker, content will stream in lossless 16-bit audio instead.

If you start playback of 24-bit audio on a compatible speaker and group in incompatible speakers, the content will stream in 24-bit on all compatible speakers and in 16-bit on any speakers that do not support high-res.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.

S

sjw

Local Superstar

Should be interesting to see how the slower CPUs on those relatively ancient devices can hold up.

Given $20 DVD players have been able to decode DTS for decades I can't imagine there's any issue with CPUs.

As I remember DTS has been carried over optical dating back to the nineties. If you recall the DVD player wars between DVD and HD DVD…..

As you know after the dust settled DVD won. Which incidentally was Sony’s first major victory (that’s still around today) since it’s Beta Vision format player lost to VHS.

I for once made the right decision and spent my money on the DVD player. I had several friends who went with HD DVD that eventually became expensive paper weights

If you had DVD while your friends had HD DVD you had a far inferior picture and they could still play and upscale DVDs..

I don't recall any DVD v HD DVD battle for DVD to have ‘won' - do you mean you chose Blu-Ray (BD) and they chose HD DVD?

I assume you mean Betamax too..

melvimbe

Wow, a lot to unpack there.

Ultra HD will be available to listen on all S2 devices, except Play:1, Play:3, Playbase, and Playbar, while Dolby Atmos Music will be available to listen on Arc and Beam (Gen 2).

If play:1 or play:3 are used as surrounds (with a Beam/Amp/Arc as front) will the Room be able to play Ultra HD? Likewise, if a pair of play:3s is setup as room and then grouped with a Ultra HD capable speaker (Move, for example), will the Move play HD while the play:3s plays ‘SD’, or will the whole group be downgraded to ‘SD’?

Hey Danny,

If a user streams 24-bit audio on an incompatible speaker, content will stream in lossless 16-bit audio instead.

If you start playback of 24-bit audio on a compatible speaker and group in incompatible speakers, the content will stream in 24-bit on all compatible speakers and in 16-bit on any speakers that do not support high-res.

That makes sense. However, if you have a room with an Beam and 2 play:1s for surround, with music playback set to ‘Full’, does that mean that the Beam will play 24 bit and the play:1s will play 16 bit...in the same room?

Danny

AjTrek1

Should be interesting to see how the slower CPUs on those relatively ancient devices can hold up.

Given $20 DVD players have been able to decode DTS for decades I can't imagine there's any issue with CPUs.

As I remember DTS has been carried over optical dating back to the nineties. If you recall the DVD player wars between DVD and HD DVD…..

As you know after the dust settled DVD won. Which incidentally was Sony’s first major victory (that’s still around today) since it’s Beta Vision format player lost to VHS.

I for once made the right decision and spent my money on the DVD player. I had several friends who went with HD DVD that eventually became expensive paper weights

If you had DVD while your friends had HD DVD you had a far inferior picture and they could still play and upscale DVDs..

I don't recall any DVD v HD DVD battle for DVD to have ‘won' - do you mean you chose Blu-Ray (BD) and they chose HD DVD?

I assume you mean Betamax too..

Yes, it was BluRay vs HD DVD and Betamax. As I said it was a long time ago. Besides I’m a senior citizen with memory loss… what’s your excuse 😂😂😂

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.

jfranche

Enthusiast I

I am thinking about putting a new Beam underneath my Samsung Frame TV, and I was hoping to recess it into the wall. At least a bit, if not fully flush with the wall.

Of course, this could be an issue as it might make the buttons inaccessible. And I was wondering if it would cause a problem with sound (unlike the ARC the Beam doesn’t fire “up” but wondering if there is feedback or specs on doing something like this.

PS Besides matching the aesthetic of the Frame TV --- another reason I want to do this is because I have a Wrensilva Console with Vinyl underneath this setup and the lid of the record player goes up and I don’t want it to bang into the Beam.

melvimbe

I am thinking about putting a new Beam underneath my Samsung Frame TV, and I was hoping to recess it into the wall. At least a bit, if not fully flush with the wall.

Of course, this could be an issue as it might make the buttons inaccessible. And I was wondering if it would cause a problem with sound (unlike the ARC the Beam doesn’t fire “up” but wondering if there is feedback or specs on doing something like this.

PS Besides matching the aesthetic of the Frame TV --- another reason I want to do this is because I have a Wrensilva Console with Vinyl underneath this setup and the lid of the record player goes up and I don’t want it to bang into the Beam.

You would likely need a good 5-6 inches on the sides to handle the side firing speakers on the beam. And given the dimensions of the Beam, it should fit fine if you remove everything but the drywall on the other side of the wall, but you likely would need to cut out a stud or two. Personally, I’d move the record player if it’s a issue.

Danny

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