Sonos Beam (GEN 2)
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Rerouting and Address Changes
We cannot make ANY address changes once an order is placed. If you are unable to accept delivery of your package as ordered, we will need to cancel your order, return the package to sender and have you replace your order through our website.
Keep the Box
We suggest you keep the shipping box or boxes for at least 30 days. It is actually a great idea to keep boxes for audio products for the life of the product. Having the box and all packing will increase the trade-in value should you decide to move up and they are handy to have should you ever need to send the unit in for repair.
How To Receive a Motor Freight Order
The trucking company will contact you to schedule a convenient time to deliver the order. Please note that you must be present for delivery.
Visually inspect the box to make sure you see no signs of damage. If you notice any damage at all, take some pictures with your phone and make a note of them on the delivery receipt the driver will ask you to sign. If it is obvious that the product is damaged, please refuse the order and contact us immediately at 888.899.8776 or email support@audioadvice.com.
Open your box as soon as possible and inspect the product for damage and contact us if you find anything wrong.
uShip In-Home Delivery
Due to current concerns surrounding COVID-19, uShip is able to offer THRESHOLD SERVICE ONLY at this time. To ensure everyone’s safety, uShip is advising carriers to refrain from making room-of-choice deliveries. Threshold service consists of the shipment being brought into the first door of the address or the lobby of an apartment/condo, and does not include set-up, installation, assembly or debris removal.
What to Expect: Most oversized items will be delivered within 2-3 weeks. Your carrier will place your item inside the first door of the address or the lobby of an apartment/condo.
Appointment Scheduling: Your delivery partner will call 24-48 hours prior to delivery to arrange an appointment window.
How to prepare for in-home delivery:
- Determine the clearest path from the street to your home
- Measure entrances and hallways to ensure your item will fit
- Remove any wall hangings or clutter to ensure a clear path and to prevent damages
- Remove old furnishings to allow placement for your new piece
Check your furniture for damages: We rarely expect damaged furniture, but in the instance it does happen, we have you covered. Once your item’s packaging is removed, check for any damages that may have occurred in transit. Take pictures of any damages and notate appropriately on the delivery receipt. Keep possession of the damaged piece and contact us via phone or email and we’ll start the process to repair/replace your new piece of furniture. For uShip customer support, please call 800-698-7447.
At Audio Advice, we pride ourselves on customer satisfaction. We'll bend over backward to make sure you're 100% satisfied and we won't accept anything less. We offer 30-day hassle-free returns and personalized service from real, live people.
If an item doesn't meet your expectations, you may return or exchange it in its original condition and packaging within 30 days for a full refund, minus shipping fees. Items shipped back in like new condition through standard shipping carriers will only incur a flat fee of $15 to return. If the items were initially shipped through free scheduled delivery via motor freight (commonly referred to as LTL), returning them will result in return shipping fees starting at $150. These items include but are not limited to, oversized items such as TVs, certain subwoofers, floorstanding speakers, furniture, and most items weighing over 75 pounds. Return fees will also apply for exchanges. We want to treat your system as if it is our own and want you to be completely satisfied with your purchase.
Please see the instructions below. We only accept returns for any product purchased directly from our website. If merchandise is not returned in its original condition or is missing packaging, manuals, accessories or other parts, or the resale value of the product has been impaired, a partial refund will be given and calculated on a case-by-case basis.
Non-Returnable Items
The following items cannot be returned or cancelled:
- Special/Custom Order Items
- Open Box Products
- Gift Cards
- In-ear headphones cannot be returned once the packaging has been opened due to personal hygiene reasons. Please contact our customer care team if you'd like help choosing.
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Turntables With a Broken Stylus: All turntables ship out with the stylus intact. If you return a turntable or phono cartridge with a broken or missing stylus you will be subject to a return fee. Please be careful when setting up your turntable and contact us with any questions.
Is It Easy To Return An Item?
Yes, simply give us a call at 888.899.8776 or you can email our support team at support@audioadvice.com. Many times our team of experts can help figure out why the product might not be working like you expected and get things fixed over the phone, so don’t be surprised if we ask a few questions, we love troubleshooting!
If our tech help can not make you happy, we will email over a return shipping label with a Return Number.
Hopefully, you saved all of the original item’s box and packaging inserts. You will want to pack back up your return or exchange in the same way it came out of the original box. Once you have everything packaged correctly, tape the box on the top and bottom to assure it stays together. If Audio Advice shipped the item to you inside a second box, it's a good idea to use that same extra box to help prevent damage on its way back to us. To avoid it accidentally coming back to you, use a magic marker to cross out the old shipping label or just tear it off.
The return shipping label we send you will have our address on it, just make sure you take the box to the right shipper (UPS, FEDEX, or USPS) as per the label.
If you are close to one of our stores, please let us know if it is more convenient for you to return it to us directly. You will still need to get a return number by contacting us and shipping and/or restocking charges may apply.
When Will I See My Refund?
It usually takes around 7-14 days for the refund to show up on the payment method you used. We do inspect all returns for damage and accuracy of the item inside the box before issuing a refund. Some items may be subject to shipping and restocking fees.
Can I Exchange My Purchase For Something Different?
Sometimes those big speakers just don’t fit in the room or you might have bought a small subwoofer and later found out you’d love a bigger one. If you would like to make an exchange within 30 days of receiving your item, just give us a call at 888.899.8776 or email support@audioadvice.com and we will help work out the details. Additional shipping charges and return costs may apply.
How Do I Cancel An Order?
If the item has already shipped out or is a special order item, it is not possible to cancel the order. Please contact us at 888.899.8776 or email support@audioadvice.com to start the return process.
What If I Find Shipping Damage?
We need to know right away about any shipping damage. Please contact us at 888.899.8776 or email support@audioadvice.com within 48 hours of your delivery so we can get the ball rolling on making things right. It’s very helpful to take some pictures and email them to us if possible.
Can I Refuse A Shipment?
You can, but unless the item is damaged, shipping and restocking fees will be deducted from your refund. If your item arrives damaged and you are lucky enough to be there, snap some quick pics and refuse the order. Then contact us so we can get a replacement on the way.
What Happens If My Order Is Defective?
This is actually pretty rare, most consumer electronics work fine out of the box 99.9% of the time. We’d like for you to contact us first by calling 888.899.8776 or email support@audioadvice.com so we can help get to the bottom of things. If your item is indeed defective during the first 30 days, we can usually exchange it for a new, replacement unit.
What About Service After 30 Days?
Audio Advice has a great relationship with all of our brands and can help you with warranty service by the brand after our 30-day guarantee period. Even after the warranty expires, we can arrange for service by the brand on products purchased from Audio Advice. Just call 888.899.8776 or email support@audioadvice.com.
How Do You Determine A Restocking Fee?
You may not believe it, but sometimes we receive items back that were put in the box with zero packaging and are completely destroyed or are missing many of the pieces that came with the item. We also track serial numbers and will get back different serial numbers. We’ve even seen different items than what we shipped out be returned. However, it’s very important to package your return properly so that nothing goes missing or gets damaged in shipping, which will result in a restocking fee or even no refund at all. If a product is opened and the market value of the product is reduced, then a restocking fee may be applied to the cost of restocking and the reduced market value of the product. The bottom line is if you treat us fairly, we will do the same.
Audio Advice strives to provide industry-leading support and service while also maintaining the lowest prices available on products for our customers. We work hard with our vendors to bring our customers the best products at each price point. As a part of that process, we work with our vendors to provide the lowest pricing in our stores and on our website.
Our prices should always be the same as any other authorized dealer, including big-box retailers and major online retailers.
If you believe that you have found a lower advertised price from a legitimate authorized seller, call us and let us know so we can make sure we can correct any inadvertent error on our side. As a matter of policy, we update our prices automatically if a vendor changes its authorized pricing policies, so we generally have the best prices all the time. Increasingly, there are knock-off copies of products online, usually sold by non-authorized dealers.
Please be sure that the item meets the following conditions:
- The item is brand new, in stock, and available for purchase
- The item has the identical model number, color, etc as the item on our site.
- The seller is an authorized dealer
As always, our goal is to provide a terrific customer experience, including industry low prices. We appreciate your support.
Overview
Company & Product Overview
When the first Sonos soundbar called the Playbar was released in 2013, it totally shocked the home theater world with its sound quality, access to music, and ease of use. Sonos as a company prides itself on making great-sounding, simple-to-use products, that are built to last. One thing we really appreciate is how they also make them upgradeable via software as technology improves.
When the Playbar first came out, it had a unique feature at that time of being able to learn the remote control codes of your TV, enabling you to simply use the remote supplied with your TV to control its volume and mute, while you would access all of the great streaming music functions and set up options with their app. And we would be remiss if we did not point out the Sonos app is just flat out one of the best ones out there for controlling your music.
Another great feature of the Sonos ecosystem is you can add components and group them together. This enabled that first Playbar to become part of a whole-house music system and be grouped with other zones. It truly was revolutionary for its time.
Sonos later introduced a wireless subwoofer you could pair with some of their products. Then they released their revolutionary room tuning software called TruePlay, which with an iPhone, allowed anyone to simply walk around the room while test tones were playing and the app then made the acoustic corrections to remove room problems. In most cases, this greatly improved the audio. Owners of the first Playbar simply updated it to enable these great features.
As you might imagine, the way Sonos thinks about future-proofing their products makes us big fans at Audio Advice.
After the release of the Playbar, Sonos released the Playbase, and then the Beam. The Beam quickly became the best-selling soundbar in the US in the $350-$500 price range for its wonderful sound, ease of use, and great form factor. The Sonos Arc was the first Dolby Atmos-enabled soundbar from Sonos and was an instant hit. If you want to find out more about the benefits of Dolby Atmos, check out our video or article on Dolby Atmos.
Since the Beam was introduced in 2018, we thought Sonos might come out with an updated version soon and we are happy to announce the arrival of the new Beam Gen 2. It has a host of feature enhancements, but most importantly, Dolby Atmos capability!
The Beam Gen 2 is a compact and beautiful soundbar designed to greatly enhance your TV sound. It can be positioned under your TV on the same cabinet or wall-mounted. It is only about 2 ¾” tall, by 4” deep and just over 25 ½” wide, making it able to easily fit into most environments.
Like the original Beam, the Beam Gen 2 has full voice control, Apple Airplay 2, and the great Sonos app. It continues the nice capacitive touch controls on top for basic functions and an easy way to turn off the microphone with one button for privacy. Two other great features you can access through the app also continue. Night Sound softens the dynamics and bass output. Voice Enhance will make dialog easier to understand on some content. Plus, you have tone controls through the app as well.
When Sonos developed the Arc, they came up with a new way to perforate the grill for better sound and appearance. This same type of grill is on the new Beam Gen 2. Like the original Beam, the Beam Gen 2 is available in a matte black or matte white finish.
The connection for your TV is upgraded to eARC. HDMI eARC unlocks a much higher bandwidth to support uncompressed audio formats like Dolby Atmos, DD+, True HD, and more. DTS fans will be happy to know a November 2021 update will add DTS Your TV will also need an eARC connector to get uncompressed Dolby Atmos, however, if it has an older ARC connection, you will still get Dolby Atmos, but it will be compressed. For even older generation TVs that only have an optical out, Sonos includes an optical to HDMI adapter.
Setting up Beam Gen 2 is even easier now as you just need to hold your smartphone near it to transfer your wireless network credentials.
The Beam Gen 2 has the same number of speaker drivers and amplifiers as the original, but Sonos has upgraded the processor to a much more powerful version that enables them to change the way the 5-channel phased array of drivers operate. This new technology is what allowed them to deliver amazing multi-dimensional Dolby Atmos. With Dolby Atmos, you can hear raindrops falling on your head or an insect buzzing all around the room, it is pretty incredible.
We were lucky enough to get a Beam Gen 2 for early testing and put it through its paces to see how it would perform in delivering not only immersive Dolby Atmos but also how it enhanced normal TV viewing.
Performance
We decided it would be fun to test the Beam Gen 2 in the same room where we tested the Sonos Arc. The Arc really impressed us with its ability to throw out an immersive Dolby Atmos soundstage. With 11 drivers it should. So we were very curious to see how the Beam Gen 2 would pull off Dolby Atmos with just 5 active drivers.
Setting up the Beam Gen 2 was a snap, as the new method of holding your smartphone close by was very simple. Just remember when the app is asking you to scan the area of the Beam Gen 2 that is to the left of center, that your camera on your phone is typically not centered. This got us the first try, but once we adjusted for the camera being off-center, we were good. When we connected the HDMI cable to the eARC port on the Sony, the Sony TV even recognized we had connected a compatible device and set up everything automatically. We then ran Sonos TruePlay to tune the Beam Gen 2 to the room we tested it in. This room for reference had 9’ ceilings and is about 12’ wide and 16’ deep, a typical family room.
Being the hard-core home theater enthusiasts that we are, for this audition, we had to remember that the Beam Gen 2 is all about someone improving the sound of their built-in TV speakers. It is certainly not made to be the best home theater experience out there. When you look at it in that context, you can see why the original Beam was such a great seller.
To set a reference point, we first played some of our test scenes on just the TV speakers. Which, in this case, was a better than normal TV as we used a Sony OLED where the entire screen is an active audio surface. For fun, we used some of the exact same scenes we had used when testing the Arc.
These were scenes from Night on Earth, Stranger Things, and The Irishman, plus we tried Away, and Midnight Sky.
In all cases, the thing that impressed us the most about the Beam Gen 2 is how well it does dialog. We felt it produced as good — if not better — dialog than the Arc. Voices had a rich, full sound, which surprised us considering the size of the Beam Gen 2. This is the part that by itself makes the Beam Gen 2 worth the price of admission over TV speakers. You will be able to understand the dialog far better and it will sound much more realistic.
Bass effects will also be more impactful and far deeper than your TV speakers, although the Beam Gen 2, like the original Beam and the Arc, is limited on the bass it can produce. Adding the Sonos Sub will make a huge difference in bass performance.
We played the scene from The Irishman which is about 5 minutes into the movie. There are two couples in a car, then the scene flips to an outside clip. The Beam Gen 2 did a great job of producing the dialog inside the car. As good, and maybe better to us, than the Arc. However, when the outside scene came on, you did get some sense of space but it was nothing like the Arc in putting the insects directly above our heads.
Next, we tried the episode "Jungle Nights", from Night on Earth. At about 3:30 in, you should be able to feel like you are surrounded by night sounds in the jungle. Again, the Arc amazed us here, but the Beam Gen 2 gave some sense of space but was far short of the Arc.
Midnight Sky has an intro scene with George Clooney walking into an empty cafeteria. We had not tried this on the Arc, but the Beam Gen 2 did a great job here of letting you hear the echo of his footsteps as he entered the room and sat down. As he ate, you could also sense the sound of his utensils echoing in the room.
Our analysis is that the Beam Gen 2 does just a fantastic job on voices and sounds within the vocal region. It lets you hear very subtle changes in volume in the performer’s voices, which greatly enhances the experience. But the Arc is much better at giving you immersive Dolby Atmos, and it should be at a price point almost twice as expensive as the Beam Gen 2.
Overall Recommendation
The audio quality of the Beam Gen 2 is astounding for what it sells for. For those of you making your first step up from built-in TV speakers to something better, it is a wonderful choice. The Beam Gen 2 also seems really well suited for a bedroom or secondary room system where you want something small that is much better than TV speaker sound.
If you want a soundbar and want immersive Dolby Atmos, we suggest you save up for the Sonos Arc. The Arc with the Sonos Sub is just an incredible soundbar system that is super simple to get great performance from. Or if you want even better, separate audio components will take you to a whole other level. Our team can help you design a great system with our free home theater design tool.
If music is as important or more so than TV/movie sound and you want to stay around the price range of the Beam Gen 2 or even the Arc, consider a Sonos AMP with a great pair of bookshelf speakers. The AMP has an ARC connection for the convenience of the TV remote controlling its volume and you can couple it with a pair of speakers that will sound far better for music. Or some of the better, powered speakers like The Fives from Klipsch are a great option too.
But, if you simply want better sound quality than your TV speakers provide, and you want to stay in the price range of the Beam Gen 2, we have not heard a soundbar that does a better job at getting the all-important dialog right, anywhere near its price.
