Sonos Beam Ultra Soundbar

What This Is

A compact Atmos soundbar and the entry point to the Sonos multiroom system. Nine drivers in a cabinet short enough to live under a wall-mounted set.

Understand What You Are Buying Into

Judged purely as a cinema bar, this is not the most sound per dollar on the shelf, because there is no subwoofer in the box. Judged as the first piece of a system that will eventually play synchronised audio in the kitchen, the patio and the garage, it is a different proposition entirely. Which of those you are buying determines whether it is good value.

It Wants A Sub

A bar this size cannot move much air, and no processing changes that. On its own it is clear, detailed and light on the bottom end. Adding a Sub Mini transforms it. Budget for that from the start rather than being disappointed and then spending anyway.

Dialogue In A Small Room

The speech enhancement here is genuinely among the better implementations, and in a small or hard-surfaced room it is the feature you will use daily. For a den, an office or a bedroom, this is a strong argument on its own.

The Ecosystem Tradeoff

Everything is configured through the app, and the platform expects to be the way you play audio. For people who want that, it is seamless. For people who want a bar they plug into a television and forget, a conventional system is less to think about.