I don’t own both, but I will point out some significant differences. The Arc is a much wider enclosure, allowing greater separation. The Arc also has upward firing speakers, which the Beam does not.

You could likely listen to both at your local retailer, and make your own decision. They’re both great speakers, ultimately designed for different room sizes. 

Great advice by @Airgetlam.

I own both but they are used in rooms of different dimensions. If you look at the info in the link below the most notable difference is the number of speakers. The Arc having 11 and the Beam Gen2 with 5.

Dolby Atmos audio also has channels dedicated to sounds that can be projected upward to a ceiling at an angle (approximately 8 to 10 feet) and bounced back to the listener. This creates a “bubble” that encompasses the listener for a more engrossing movie sound experience. The Arc has upward firing speakers designed for that purpose the Beam Gen2 does not.

The sweet spot for most TV dimensions in home theater is 55-65 inches. That being said I wouldn’t use the Beam Gen2 with a TV larger than 65 inches which slightly exceeds the recommended use parameters. The Beam Gen2 IMO is better suited for a bedroom or small den. 

Both the Arc and Beam Gen2 will perform better when bonded with a Sonos sub. IMO neither speaker performs to its potential in an open environment such as a great room open to a kitchen or dining area. Dolby Atmos material relies heavily on reflected sound_left, right and overhead. Adding surround speakers to the rear with either the Arc or Beam Gen2 will compensate for large open areas.

My setup is as follows:

• Theater Room_Arc bonded with Sub x 2 and Sonos One x 2
• Bedroom_Beam Gen2 bonded with Sub x 1 and Sonos One x 2

The answer to your 2nd question is “yes” (IMO).

https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/arc

I  also own both, and I concur with @AjTrek1.

Same here, had a Beam in our large open-plan room and while it was decent it lacked the ability to really fill the room in TV mode, with the Sub and surrounds in full mode music was decently loud but the stereo imaging was very poor.

The Arc alone is superior to the Beam and Play One SLs for music, very nice in ambient mode. For TV it is also better sounding (give or take a bit for the recent update glitches) I do not regret upgrading.

Beam alone or with Sub and surrounds is more than enough in a smaller 10x10 foot room. A Ray and Mini-sub might be a better choice there but the Beam/Sub is paid for.

Hi all,

Thanks for answering my questions. Today i went to a local shop for a Sonos Arc vs Sonos Beam Gen2 demo. I wanted to feel it in person. The demo room was a square 6 meters x 6 meters. First off we compared the arc and the beam without subs and without ones for surround. We started with music at 75% volume. The Beam Gen2 had more direct sound pointing att the listener and much more base. As soon as the sound technician switched the music to the arc i noticed that the base just dissapeared. I was shocked. The arc spreads the sound better but does not have the same punch and direct sound. IMO for music the beam sounded better.

Then the technician switched to a dolby atmos movie at 75%. Here again the beam had better punch and the speech was much more clear and direct but the spread and effects was better on arc but not by much. It felt like the beam gen 2 was 20% better for music and the arc 20% better for movies. Im very impressed by the Beam Gen2. To be honest i thought that the Arc would be much better in all aspects but its not at least in the music department. I will probably go for a beam with two sonos one SLs for surround

This is my two cents.

Did you check that the various sound settings were correct and identical on both?

If they were using TruePlay did you try it both on and off?

I’d be concerned about this test, as I wouldn’t trust the technician to setup the scenario properly.  If the Arc had been previously setup with sub and surrounds, then simply unplugging sub and surrounds would not return bass and surround duty to the Arc.  It would keep playing as if the other speakers were there, which could easily result in the lack of bass you experienced.   They should be removed, if needed, from the Sonos ‘room’ for the proper test.  That would also remove any potential trueplay tuning. 

Frankly, I’m struggling to imagine standing in a room where the volume has been set to 75%….at least for longer than about 5 seconds.

If the room is setup for speaker testing, I would guess they have a lot of absorption treatments on the walls, maybe a thick carpet. Big differnce in my typcial walls and tile floors bouncing audio all over hte place.   And 18 x 18 (ft) isn’t a small room.

If a demo is properly setup, there will not be a large bass difference between BEAM with a subwoofer and ARC with a subwoofer.

Yes, but if testing without sub, you would need to make sure the sub has been properly removed from both test cases.

This is not a quick and easy demo that a store would typically use. If the same subwoofer is used with both soundbars, the system must be torn down and setup again for the ‘other’ configuration. This is not an instant process that the stores like. Trueplay will introduce an additional delay. If the systems are independent, then the subwoofers will be in different locations and this can introduce a wild performance variation. Finally, if the ARC system firmware is not current, there is likely a problem with the subwoofer.

The whole demo between Arc and Beam Gen2 was done without subs. The technician was sure that no subs were active. He even put his ears near the subs to verify that it was off. The only things we added in at the end of the demo was 2 x Sonos One SL for surround. Basically the whole demo was only between the bars. The base and vocals from Beam Gen2 was better imo. I think even Peter mentions that the base from Beam Gen2 is higher in the 16:16 minute mark in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K1JC5I1UXE

The wasn’t exactly what I was getting at.  I understand that the sub wasn’t playing in either of your test cases.  I’m saying that if the Arc was originally setup with a sub, then the Arc will stop playing bass notes that the sub handles.  Even if you unplug the sub so it has no power, the Arc won’t start playing the bass notes until you properly remove the sub via the Sonos app.  Maybe that was done, maybe it wasn’t. But it would explain the different in bass you saw in your two tests.

And that’s not even getting into trueplay.

That’s great. I still would be concerned about the Beam if used in a larger room.  Honestly, in most cases, I would bond with a sub and wouldn’t really be concerned about bass with the soundbar.  But you should always get what’s sounds best to you. 

I don’t own both, but I’ve read some reviews between Arch and Beam Gen2 and the Arch is better then Bean Gen2.