Sonos Beam Now Available for Purchase From Sonos Website and in Retail Stores

[MacRumors]

The latest Sonos product, the Sonos Beam, is today available for purchase from the Sonos website and from various retailers around the world.

First announced in June, the Sonos Beam has been available for pre-order, but today is its official launch date. The Sonos Beam is a $399 smart, compact sound bar that's designed for use with TV sets.

Sonos says the Beam offers five Class-D digital amplifiers, four full-range woofers for true playback of mid-range vocal frequencies, one tweeter for creating crisp and clear dialogue, three passive radiators for deep, warm bass, and a five far-field microphone array.

Available in black or white, the Sonos Beam includes features like a dialog clarity speech enhancement to make dialog in TV shows and movies easier to hear, and there's a night sound mode for watching late night TV without waking the house.

Like the Sonos One, Sonos Playbase, and second-generation Play:5, the Sonos Beam supports Apple's new AirPlay 2 feature, which allows for Siri control of Apple Music and the ability to play and control multi-room audio on compatible devices.

Along with AirPlay 2 and Siri support, Sonos Beam works with Alexa, and it pairs well with other Sonos speakers.

Sonos is offering limited time discounts on its speaker lineup to complement the beam, including $20 off two Sonos Ones, $100 off four Sonos Ones, and $50 off a Sonos Beam set that includes two Play:1 speakers.

Sonos is also today announcing that Audible can now be controlled on Sonos using voice with Amazon Alexa. Sonos devices have supported Audible since earlier this year, but voice control has been added.

The Sonos Beam can be purchased from the Sonos website or from Amazon.com for $399.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Sonos. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Article Link: Sonos Beam Now Available for Purchase From Sonos Website and in Retail Stores

 

[Rocco83]

I’ll buy two today if they automatically adjust sound to not play commercials at twelve times the volume of whatever television show I was watching.

 

[HiRez]

Pay the extra $300 for a Playbase if you can afford it, honestly, if you want a little extra punch without totally breaking the bank (like $700 just for the Sub).

 

[itsmilo]

If only my neighbors wouldn’t hear every word from my apartment and vice versa if I set my volume to like 30% lol

 

[ThisIsNotMe]

Sonos still doesn’t support multi-channel PCM or DTS. LOL.

 

[Koodauw]

If only my neighbors wouldn’t hear every word from my apartment and vice versa if I set my volume to like 30% lol

I thought this was the only reason to buy such set ups!

 

[newyorksole]

I’ll buy two today if they automatically adjust sound to not play commercials at twelve times the volume of whatever television show I was watching.

That’s actually a great idea Lol.

 

[ChromeAce]

No such thing as a digital amplifier. Amplification is provided by an AC power waveform which is not digital.

“The term "class D" is sometimes misunderstood as meaning a "digital" amplifier. While some class-D amps may indeed be controlled by digital circuits or include digital signal processing devices, the power stage deals with voltage and current as a function of non-quantized time. The smallest amount of noise, timing uncertainty, voltage ripple or any other non-ideality immediately results in an irreversible change of the output signal. The same errors in a digital system will only lead to incorrect results when they become so large that a signal representing a digit is distorted beyond recognition. Up to that point, non-idealities have no impact on the transmitted signal. Generally, digital signals are quantized in both amplitude and wavelength, while analog signals are quantized in one (e.g. PWM) or (usually) neither quantity.”

 

[MTW]

I’ll buy two today if they automatically adjust sound to not play commercials at twelve times the volume of whatever television show I was watching.

They do.

 

[Scooz]

Yum. Double-Dip. Swizzelstick... need to buy that white Sonos

(Disclaimer: I didn’t c.., um, WTH, invent those product names.)

 

[avanpelt]

I already had two Play 1s that I was using in other rooms in my house. I'm going to use those as rear speakers in my family room now instead. Got a deal on an open box Sonos sub, and I will be going to pick up the Beam later today. Looking forward to the new setup.
[doublepost=1531841740][/doublepost]

They do.

Are you sure about that? I don't think Sonos products offer anything to specifically lower the volume of commercials. The Beam has a "night sound" mode which I've read will lower the volume of explosions and stuff like that. I guess in theory it would also work with commercials, but I'm not sure about that. I'll test it out later today.

 

[Jeffgtx]

FYI, the discount bundles mentioned in the article are no longer available. they were only up during the pre-order phase.

 

[Icaras]

Sonos still doesn’t support multi-channel PCM or DTS. LOL.

I read this too. Yet another dealbreaker for me on a potential Sonos product.

 

[Nuvi]

I have to say I’m interested. This would be perfect for rest of my Sonos setup. However, it has “privacy mute button”. Is Beam beaming everything it hears to Amazon in order to support Alexa? Seriously, if this is the case then I’m out.

 

[philipk]

Sonos still doesn’t support multi-channel PCM or DTS. LOL.

I know this is a major dealbreaker for a number of people. However it isn’t for me. The difference in quality you would get from PCM or DTS would not be noticed on any of the Sonos products. I own an original Play5, three Play3, two Play 1, a Beam, and a Sub. Obviously I love their products. Still there is no way that you could hear the difference between Dolby Digital 5.1 and the rest. I do have a very high end system in my projector room. In that system you most definitely can tell the difference between DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1. Thus I know Sonos is not audiophile but still very good for its intended purposes. The Beam and Sub is perfect in my TV room. I am not using surround with them.

 

[mw360]

I have to say I’m interested. This would be perfect for rest of my Sonos setup. However, it has “privacy mute button”. Is Beam beaming everything it hears to Amazon in order to support Alexa? Seriously, if this is the case then I’m out.

Short answer is no. Long answer is in the Privacy Policy...

Voice control. Voice control works by your voice enabled Sonos Product 'listening' for a key wake-up word. Please note, not all Sonos Products are voice enabled, and if your Sonos Product is voice enabled, you will have to actively enable your Sonos Product to start 'listening.' In further detail, this 'listening' means that voice-enabled Sonos Products buffer and re-record locally, without transmitting or storing any information, until they detect the word or phrase (such as “Alexa”) that triggers the device to begin actively recording. If the Product does not detect the wake-up word, it continues to record over itself in a never ending loop lasting a few seconds. This is all done locally on your Product and is not sent to Sonos or any third party. If a wake-up word is detected, the Sonos Product begins recording. In other words, it does not record or retain any audio data, or begin to transmit any data until it is 'woken up.' You are notified that it is recording by a visual element, such as a light on the Sonos Product, and a specific sound. The Product will record until your voice command is finished. The actual recording of your voice command is then sent to the voice partner you have authorised to receive such recording (for example, Amazon). Sonos does not retain a copy of your voice recording. Concurrent with the voice recording, your Product will collect data (for example, decibel level at each frequency) about the ambient noise in the room. It is not possible to extract any speech from this type of data. We collect this data to help us improve our speech recognition technology which is our legitimate interest. If you are trying to state a voice command while music is playing for example, Sonos may improve the technology by lowering the music so that your voice command can be understood properly.

 

[MTW]

Are you sure about that? I don't think Sonos products offer anything to specifically lower the volume of commercials. The Beam has a "night sound" mode which I've read will lower the volume of explosions and stuff like that. I guess in theory it would also work with commercials, but I'm not sure about that. I'll test it out later today.

It's a new feature on the Beam. The 'Night Sound' mode does defeat commercial loudness crap.

 

[TTTedP]

I have to say I’m interested. This would be perfect for rest of my Sonos setup. However, it has “privacy mute button”. Is Beam beaming everything it hears to Amazon in order to support Alexa? Seriously, if this is the case then I’m out.

you can set these up out of the box without Alexa enabled.

 

[Sill]

There was a theory posted on the Sonos forums some time ago, that Sonos could possibly make a true multi-channel home theater system comprised of separate speakers instead of their current idea of a home theater based on the Playbar. Maybe this is the beginning of it? Notice that the Beam has a single tweeter, surrounded by full range woofers and radiators - perhaps eventually it will be able to be paired with 4 - 6 channels worth of satellites and a woofer or two?

One can hope.

There are a huge number of people clamoring for such a setup, one that can handle DTS and Dolby True HD, and eventually Atmos. Sonos has been remarkably ignorant in their responses to loyal customers looking for such a system, telling them that the "vast majority" of their customers stream music and movies instead of owning physical media, and as such there is no market for this request despite the growing number of people who are dropping Sonos in favor of other WiFi speakers, or not buying Sonos in the first place.

 

[bozzykid]

Pay the extra $300 for a Playbase if you can afford it, honestly, if you want a little extra punch without totally breaking the bank (like $700 just for the Sub).

If someone wants good sound in a small to medium sized room and wants a smart speaker, the Beam is still a better choice. If you are talking about pure sound quality the Playbar/Playbase would be the better choice obviously.