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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M

mil1i

Does Sonos have any plans to release a Beam SL, similar to the Arc SL, with no microphone built-in?

jgatie

Does Sonos have any plans to release a Beam SL, similar to the Arc SL, with no microphone built-in?

Don’t install a voice assistant and the mic is disabled. Even if you don’t trust that statement, the mic power is hardwired to the mic LED, and cannot be turned on without lighting the LED. LED off means the mic is off.

melvimbe

Does Sonos have any plans to release a Beam SL, similar to the Arc SL, with no microphone built-in?

Don’t install a voice assistant and the mic is disabled. Even if you don’t trust that statement, the mic power is hardwired to the mic LED, and cannot be turned on without lighting the LED. LED off means the mic is off.

Sure, but SL versions of the One and Arc are slightly cheaper than the standard version. If you have no use for the mic for whatever reason, it’s a worthy question.

Danny

M

mil1i

Does Sonos have any plans to release a Beam SL, similar to the Arc SL, with no microphone built-in?

Don’t install a voice assistant and the mic is disabled. Even if you don’t trust that statement, the mic power is hardwired to the mic LED, and cannot be turned on without lighting the LED. LED off means the mic is off.

Sure, but SL versions of the One and Arc are slightly cheaper than the standard version. If you have no use for the mic for whatever reason, it’s a worthy question.

It’s more than that. Sure, you can say the wiring is configured so that when the microphone has power to it the LED light will be on… but who’s watching their LED light? Just because the light shows you whether or not it’s on doesn’t bring peace of mind. If I’m not in the room or at a level of height that allows me to see it, then I will never know if it’s on. If the device just straight up does not have a microphone built-in then I have nothing to be concerned about.

There’s been plenty of reports for all the “smart” speakers where Apple, Amazon, Google, etc are all recording and listening even when the mic isn’t “on”.

I don’t have anything to hide, but that’s not the point. I want as few as possible devices that are both “listening” and connected to the internet in my home. I don’t need my sound system to be able to take voice commands from me. I don’t need a “smart” devices every 5 feet scattered around my home.

Everything seems to be getting built with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant as part of the product now, and I really don’t like that. Even cars are starting to have Alexa built in.

Plus, if it’s going to keep the costs down that’s an added bonus.

melvimbe

Does Sonos have any plans to release a Beam SL, similar to the Arc SL, with no microphone built-in?

Don’t install a voice assistant and the mic is disabled. Even if you don’t trust that statement, the mic power is hardwired to the mic LED, and cannot be turned on without lighting the LED. LED off means the mic is off.

Sure, but SL versions of the One and Arc are slightly cheaper than the standard version. If you have no use for the mic for whatever reason, it’s a worthy question.

It’s more than that. Sure, you can say the wiring is configured so that when the microphone has power to it the LED light will be on… but who’s watching their LED light? Just because the light shows you whether or not it’s on doesn’t bring peace of mind. If I’m not in the room or at a level of height that allows me to see it, then I will never know if it’s on. If the device just straight up does not have a microphone built-in then I have nothing to be concerned about.

You’re ignoring the fact that if you don’t register with Amazon or Google, they don’t know you have a mic to listen in to. Unless you think they are listening in somehow anyway. If that’s the case though, aren’t you concerned that your smart phone and pretty much any electric appliance could be listening in on you?

There’s been plenty of reports for all the “smart” speakers where Apple, Amazon, Google, etc are all recording and listening even when the mic isn’t “on”.

I don’t think there has been a case where the owner didn’t register with the service.

I don’t have anything to hide, but that’s not the point. I want as few as possible devices that are both “listening” and connected to the internet in my home. I don’t need my sound system to be able to take voice commands from me. I don’t need a “smart” devices every 5 feet scattered around my home.

Everything seems to be getting built with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant as part of the product now, and I really don’t like that. Even cars are starting to have Alexa built in.

Plus, if it’s going to keep the costs down that’s an added bonus.

Danny

M

mil1i

You’re ignoring the fact that if you don’t register with Amazon or Google, they don’t know you have a mic to listen in to. Unless you think they are listening in somehow anyway. If that’s the case though, aren’t you concerned that your smart phone and pretty much any electric appliance could be listening in on you?

I said LIMIT the number of devices that have microphones and access to the internet. I’m not saying absolutely nothing should have microphones. But there no reason for needing a microphone in every single device. Privacy with anything tech is hell, but we can at least take measures to limit information we WILLINGLY provide to all these providers. Just because they tell you that they don’t record/listen whatever, doesn’t mean they don’t. It’s propritary software, with great hardware. We have to blindly believe what they say. Obtaining and selling information is a source of income, especially for ‘smaller’ companies.

I feel that Sonos at least saw that at some point or else they wouldn’t have released an “SL” version of both the Arc or the One, no?

If you want to jump straight to the extreme of calling me a conspiracy nut and that I shouldn’t have any mobile phone or device that has a microphone because I don’t want every single thing I buy to have one, fine. I’m just asking for a choice to not have a microphone, like they’ve provided before.

106rallye

As said above: the fact that the Arc has a microphone does not mean it’s on. If you don’t trust this assurance by Sonos, you shouldn’t trust Sonos if they would say they did not put a microphone in an Arc SL…….

jgatie

Sonos states in their privacy policy that they do not and never will sell your data, and anything heard by the voice assistant mics is not stored by Sonos. Now of course you are going to say "they say that, but are they telling the truth?"

Well, since violation of a publicly stated privacy policy is under the jurisdiction of the FTC, and if violated the fines the FTC would levy could bankrupt a small company like Sonos, well then yes, they are telling the truth.

M

mil1i

My point is about more than just Sonos. But your point is taken that you don’t care, and are against Sonos providing consumers with a choice, with the exception of not registering to a voice assistant as the only option while a mic is still present, like they did with other products. Noted. Thank you for the answers.

106rallye

Your argument wasn't about choice, but about limiting “information we WILLINGLY provide to all these providers". Sonos assures us they do not listen in and that their partners do not listen in when there is no voice service activated. There's not even unwillingly provided information here. Again: if you do not trust this assurance, why trust Sonos (or any other company for that matter) when they say they have no built in microphone that is listening in on you.

From Sonos’ side there's probably another reason they are not offering an Arc or Beam without a microphone: the price difference is relatively small on such an expensive speaker. The price difference between the One and the One SL is only €30,-, 15% of the price of the SL. A price difference in real money like that would matter much less to someone buying a €900,- Arc or €400,- Beam.

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