At just 65cm long, the Sonos Beam is very compact for a soundbar, weighing 2.8kg. — dpa
The Latin word "sonos" means "sound" and 16 years ago it was found to be an appropriate name for the loudspeaker company Sonos. Good sound, after all, has been one of the trademarks of the company's networked speakers from the very beginning.
Now the Californian company is launching an interesting product with an impressive degree of versatility: At just 65cm long, the Sonos Beam is very compact for a soundbar, weighing 2.8kg.
Its body, available in white and black, houses eight loudspeakers: A central tweeter and two full-range woofers on each side are mainly used for movie dialogues and vocals. Two of them are angled and two others are front-facing, creating a stereo effect. Three passive radiators give the bass an extra oomph.
The result is pretty impressive. Even in a larger living room, the TV dialogue is crystal clear. And when dinosaurs stomp across the screen in movies like Jurassic Park, the Sonos Beam can deliver a full sound without an external subwoofer.
Installing the device is very easy, especially if your TV supports HDMI ARC. ARC stands for "Audio Return Channel" and synchronises image and sound. And here's what's great about it: You don't need a second remote control for the soundbar. You can adjust the volume using the TV remote control.
The television must also support cross-device control via CEC, which should by now be the case with all reasonably recent models from major manufacturers. If your television doesn't fit the bill, you can opt for an optical adapter.
Unfortunately, Sonos doesn't support every popular audio codec. You can take your pick from PCM stereo, Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital 5.1, but will have to do without Dolby Vision, DTS and lossless audio formats. According to Sonos, most content is available in the formats supported by the device.
The Sonos Beam contains six built-in microphones that can be used to interact with Amazon's virtual assistant Alexa. The company has been late to jump on the digital assistant bandwagon, but now Sonos wants to integrate with different assistant systems in a more consistent manner than any other manufacturer.
The Beam already understands commands like "Alexa, turn on the TV" or "Alexa, turn off the TV" when using an Amazon Fire TV box and a compatible TV. It also responds to commands like "Alexa, turn up the volume" or "Alexa, mute".
In the future, Sonos wants to offer access to all major systems, CEO Patrick Spence says. This will also include Google Assistant. "We are working hard with the people at Google to make this possible," he said. However, Apple users will still have to wait for Siri support.
Like other newer Sonos models, the Beam is compatible with Apple's new AirPlay 2 audio streaming technology, which lets you transmit sound from an iPhone or iPad to Sonos speakers. You could start listening to an Apple Music stream on an iPhone and later ask Alexa what the song currently playing is called.
Sonos has set up the Beam as a competitor to Apple’s Homepod and Bang & Olufsen’s networked speakers. Unlike other soundbars, which are completely focused on playing movies and TV shows, the Sonos Beam also wants to be taken seriously as a music player.
When playing Leon Bridges’ You Don't Know, for example, the Beam succeeds in acoustically conjuring up an expressive drum set in the living room. But the Beam sounds even better if you add two smaller speakers (Play:1 or Sonos One) to the mix.
The new Sonos Beam costs US$399 (RM1,614) and will be available from July 17. — dpa
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