Beam vs. other soundbars

  • 1 June 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 809 views

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HI guys, proud owner of a Beam and Sub combo that works very well indeed but I felt that the beam could be so much more. I've been looking at the new Sennheiser with its atmos and Dolby + 3D production out of one bar and the Beam seems to be lacking somewhat.

I think there is probably a good market for another soundbar that encompasses Sono's functionality and easy with a higher end and louder product with multiple inputs.

I had a sales guy say that there possibly going to be some changes mid year where he works and were hopeful for a new product. Anyway better go as I've had a few and may not be making to much sence.


cheers Paul

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3 replies

Assuming you're referring to the Sennheiser Ambeo, the retail price of $2500 should absolutely mean it out performs the Beam. The Beam isn't designed to compete with monsters like that. The question is does the Beam fit the needs and budgets of it's target audience? Does the added voice assistant matter? Does the lack of the extra codecs matter?

As a side note, although the Ambeo looks great and sounds great on specs, I'm not sure that a single device can really put out 5.1.4 well. Can it really create audio that appears to come from behind, above, beside you? For that price, I'd rather build an atmos system from multiple devices. But then again, I haven't heard the Ambeo, so I could be wrong.
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As a side note, although the Ambeo looks great and sounds great on specs, I'm not sure that a single device can really put out 5.1.4 well. Can it really create audio that appears to come from behind, above, beside you? For that price, I'd rather build an atmos system from multiple devices. But then again, I haven't heard the Ambeo, so I could be wrong.


Even without hearing it, you're not wrong. The Beam and Ambeo shouldn't really be compared. They're not (as you've already stated) on the same playing field.

Beam is great for what it's supposed to be/do, especially when bonded with a Sub.
Userlevel 2
Badge +2
Assuming you're referring to the Sennheiser Ambeo, the retail price of $2500 should absolutely mean it out performs the Beam. The Beam isn't designed to compete with monsters like that. The question is does the Beam fit the needs and budgets of it's target audience? Does the added voice assistant matter? Does the lack of the extra codecs matter?

That's the one and i'm being a bit unfair comparing the Beam to it as it wasn't really my intention. I was just getting a case of spenditas and not being totally rational 🙂 I havn't heard the Ambeo and in fact there probably isn't one in Australia yet that I could listen to.

Would adding a set of Play 1's to my Beam + Sub combo make much difference when playing music ?

cheers



Beam is great for what it's supposed to be/do, especially when bonded with a Sub.


Yes you're right the Beam and Sub combo works great especially watching movies and am especially impressed with the subs performance.

Workmate has some very high end HT gear and jealousy was getting the better of me 🙂 He just uses a pair of Play 5's for outdoors and was asking me how I thought the Sonos sub would go with his 5's …. I have no idea really.


I still think Sonos need to upgrade their Playbar to Hdmi 2.0 and eArc and add Atmos as well. Either upgrade the Playbar or design a new product that won't look out of place in front of a 75" tv.

cheers