SonosBEAM1UK1 Smart Compact Sound Bar Beam for TV - White

The look of the Sonos Beam is quite unassuming, just a reasonably sized, clean looking soundbar. A few touch controls and a couple of LEDs on the top and a handful of ports on the back. It's simple to set up, like all Sonos products and now works with both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.When configured to use Alexa, it couldn't identify the TV and therefore couldn't switch it on or off, but it works fine (for us) with Google Assistant. I suspect this is a minor bug and probably won't happen to others. The far field microphone array works perfectly and I can select music to play with ease by talking to either of the available assistants. Unfortunately, it doesn't support two assistants simultaneously, but it is easy to switch between the two via the Sonos app, which is very good.The sound quality is awesome. It makes such a difference when watching something with background noise or music. The clarity also makes it ideal for a great sporting experience; in a cricket match you'll hear every nick. It is incredible how much of a difference it makes. It feels much less like the sound is just coming from a single point in the room, and adding a pair of rear speakers will of course improve this even more. I sometimes find it off-putting, I just don't expect the TV to sound so good. Until you try something like this, you don't know what you're missing!Having tried Trueplay with a Play 1 in the past, I wasn't expecting a great difference. Could I be more wrong? A couple of minutes waving an iPad round the room with the Beam making some slightly odd noises and my viewing experience was transformed even further. The difference is staggering! Make sure you use it (you may need to ask a friend around as it's only supported by iOS devices (iPhones and iPads)), it really is so worthwhile.Whilst it is designed for TV audio, it is perfectly at home playing your favourite music. I really cannot fault the sound; it is awesome. When Sonos say it is for "small to medium rooms", I'm sure it is perfectly adequate for any rooms that aren't considered huge. I've never felt the need to push the volume much beyond halfway, and the room ours is in is a good 5x8m. If you really want loud sound, maybe a playbase or playbar would be better, but this is truly awesome for the price. I really can't see what benefit apart from better bass at louder volumes those products could bring that are worth paying nearly double the price for.

Ok, so I'm a Sonos convert, so bear that in mind when reading this. I recently bought a projector for the bedroom and chose the beam to compliment it sound wise. The result is extremely good to my admittedly slightly battered hearing.This fills a room of 8 feet by 16, and probably would a bigger one still. I've paired with play:1s for a superb surround sound. Really wide sound if that makes sense, and clarity of individual sounds like musical instruments.Setup is easy via the Android App, and if you have an ARC out put from your tv/projector it will control the volume. You can also control volume by voice using Google or Alexa.Using this with Google assistant enabled. Not experimented much yet. But works well for "play (insert obscure song name here) in bedroom". One bonus is that this type of command works equally well for other Sonos devices in other parts of the house. So basically having one assistant enabled device makes all Sonos devices enabled too. The microphones are very powerful so in a bungalow the beam will respond to commands "ok Google" from another room down the end of a corridor. Love it!As most modern Sonos devices, this feels solid and very well made. I can really recommend this.Cons: no line in or out for 3.5 jack, no physical remote control perhaps. However that's the Sonos ethos, so may not be of concern to you.

Such a stylish and modern speaker. Excellent connectivity and ease of use. The controls and simple and effective. The sound clarity is second to none. Brilliant value for money compared to other soundbars on the market. A versatile speaker where you can add more to the system to create surround sound. Highly recommended product ✅

My old Panasonic 5.1 surround sound system never really blew me away and its connectivity is very outdated now (scarts etc) so I thought it was time for a new bit of kit. I wanted a simple, clean looking solution and in my living room I'm prepared to sacrifice a bit of sound quality for something minimalist, as 5 speakers and a sub woofer in a small space can be a bit of overkill. After reading a few reviews (mostly 5 star) I went for the Sonos Beam. I am entering the 21st Century!First impressions, it sounds clear, solid and it has enough bass for my living room without being 'thumpy', although I realise people often judge these things on how much thud they can give out, whether it is realistic or not (car stereos being a prime example...). You won't rattle windows with the Beam, but that isn't always a bad thing. I like the fact that you don't need yet another remote to use it, but changing from one source to another eg. internet radio to tv takes a bit of getting used to. Alexa is fine with 'Play Radio 2', but 'Play sound from tv' doesn't work for some reason.Something like a soundbar is never going to give the separation of a couple of speakers ten feet apart, but many reviews suggest it actually spreads the sound out quite far either side, but so far I have not found this the case, in fact its not much better than mono to my ears. I'm planning on splashing out on a couple of Sonos Ones as rear speakers and hopefully this will help to spread out the sound a bit more.Is the Beam worth over £300? Its a box with some fairly decent electronics and a few small loudspeakers, so probably not really, but it is a great improvement on tv speakers and your tv and music will sound pretty good through it, also Alexa is a great novelty!Update. I did buy some Sonos One Sl's as rear surrounds. Despite a bit of hassle setting them up (tv needed a reboot and Alexa disappeared which was a pain to find the cause but easy to fix in the end) - it should have been a doodle according to the hype! Nevertheless the Sonos Ones have made a massive difference. Surround sound is amazing and far better than my old Panasonic system which was always very weak from the rear surrounds no matter how I set up the balance. Brilliant surround with 5.1 sources, (can't see how Dolby Atmos or DTS could be any improvement), I love it. I'm not planning to buy the £700 Sonos sub as there is enough bass for my needs. And I am using Alexa so much, setting timers, asking for news and weather, playing all sorts of different music and radio channels, and how often do I ask Alexa 'how old is so-and-so' when watching a movie? Every 5 minutes!Overall, Sonos is a nice sounding system which will look a million times better in a modern living room than a cluttered av amp, cables and boxy speakers. Easy to use once set up and no need for extra remotes. But don't believe the hype, its not the best sounding thing since sliced bread. The depth, clarity, control and separation of a good hifi blows Sonos out of the water, and soundbars especially will always have limitations, but their convenience factor usually outweighs that.Unfortunately have made a big PR mistake recently in putting out a statement that they will no longer support older devices with updates. I expect the massive backlash will have greatly hurt sales, but I am not too worried, as long as the speakers still work as speakers then it may not be a big issue, and in 10 or 15 years it may be time for a new system anyway. Although as a daily user of a hifi system purchased in 1980 I am not totally convinced!