Disappointed in Beam music performance?
I may have set something up wrong, but really disappointed in the sound from Beam for listening to music. Thought I'd replace a Play 3 in the family room where the TV is with the Beam. Sound from the TV is pretty good on Beam, but not really hearing much separation in limited listening so far. However, sound when playing music is clearly not as good as from my Play 3 in the same room - really feel I'd be taking a step backwards by using Beam for music and now becomes a more expensive sound bar. Is there some different type of setup or designation for music listening vs TV?
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Sorry, I should add that I currently have several Sonos speakers from Play 1, 3 & 5, ConnectAmp and new Sonos One in addition to Beam I just purchased.
The one thing I can think of that may improve this is trueplay tuning, if you haven't got a chance to do that yet. You may want to fiddle with the settings a bit too to see if there is a setting you prefer. I haven't really gotten a chance to listen to the beam playing music by itself in my home, but yes, I would expect it to sound at least as good as a single play:3. Not as good as a stereo pair of course.
Danny
Thanks Danny - this is encouraging because it must be a setting. I have performed the Trueplay Tuning process but not very close to rich sound from one Play 3 for music purposes.
You can most likely get it to sound a bit better with trueplay if you are a iOS user. But you are running into a physics issue. Play3 has 2 3 inch midrange woofer and a resonator for bass. The Beam just can not move as much air for bass response with the smaller drivers. So it really needs a sub to bring the whole package together.
I bought a Beam yesterday. I’m actually quite pleased with music playback in my small bedroom setup. Not as good as my Play 1 or Play 5 pairs, but respectable for casual listening in bed. I’m not a bass head, but the bass is more substantial than I expected. Trueplay definitely helped.
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