Sennheiser - Ambeo Soundbar

The Ambeo is not tiny at all. You can also add any sub you want if you want more bass.

Q990D is the most affordable option among the high end soundbars. I would say go for it, and your room size is likely not too small for a soundbar system like that (as soundbars are mostly designed for smaller spaces). I have had $2500 soundbar systems like the Ambeo and Sony Quad with my good ol’ LG C1. It’s not uncommon for sound systems to be more expensive than the TV (though for me the TV was more expensive since it’s an 83’’)

Forget Sony. The question that really arises is Sonos Arc Ultra or Ambeo Plus? I have the opportunity to listen to both (I have the arc ultra + era300 in surround at home). The ambeo is better than the arc ultra in bar alone and in a small room, however impossible to add surround, and that clearly makes the difference! That's why I went to Sonos and I don't regret it at all!

I have the arc ultra and sounds great with the bar alone. I plan to add a sub later on. I also tested out the Ambeo Plus bar alone and it sounds quite rich in clarity. I was close to buying it instead.

Definitely haven't seen any other soundbars that use a crossover of 150hz or higher. The majority are set between 60-100hz. Sonos arc on its own plays down to 55hz, the ultra goes down to 45hz. Ambeo plus will do 55hz, Ambeo max 30hz. Bravia 8/9 55hz, Bravia quads 50hz. Bose bars will do 50hz, Hisense bars 50hz etc. The lowest one of the lot is the Devialet Dione which does 24hz and one of the bars you could potentially get away without a subwoofer, although a separate one will always be miles better. Ideally you wouldn't want to go above 120hz on a subwoofer as it starts to become too localised when you go above it. Obviously running dual subs or more will help correct this which 150hz then wouldn't be a problem. Anything much higher though are you are going to end up getting sounds coming out of the subs which ideally should be coming out of the soundbar/speakers instead. Placement is also key and can make all the difference, so get on those knees and do the sub crawl if you don't have any room correction software / software built directly into the subs themselves 😅

The ambeo sounds better than the beam but the ambeo doesn’t have rear speakers and that’s why the beam and 100s will sound better!

Ambeo plus is an excellent bar but it doesn’t have the option for future rear speakers just so you know. If you’re okay with that, then it’s close between it and the arc ultra, but you can add a aftermarket sub in the future and it also has dts:x which Sonos doesn’t. Probably a better choice but it’s close. Ambeo makes good soundbars so good luck. I think it comes with a 2 year warranty instead of the usual one year warranty that most come with, but I could be wrong. Still a solid choice

I have an Ambeo Plus and the rears now seem essential to me. I had a 5.1 before and I'm starting to regret not having taken an HC amp (like Denon 3800) and wireless speakers because the surround and Atmos effects are very limited and are felt especially when pushing the volume, I think.

I’ve got an Ambeo Plus with the wireless Ambeo Subwoofer in an apartment, like 12x18 living space with real high ceilings, that opens directly into a large kitchen. It’s bonkers loud and easily the best speakers setup I’ve ever owned. I’m not about to be running rears and stuff in a rental; the Ambeo surround does a fantastic job at simulating a multi-speaker surround setup. I regret nothing (except for having to tinker with audio path issue with my A95L that is solved now) and am super happy.

I received the ambeo today. It is fine, I wasn’t blown away. The Bravia is coming tomorrow. Am I missing out on a third option? Sonos?

I’m $990 all in on the ambeo. Open box. Great condition and it doesn’t even look like it was hooked up. Around $1500 for the arc plus and sub 4. So, yeah. Not as close as I made it out to be.

Of the soundbars I've experienced, I think the Sennheiser Ambeo bars are the absolute KING of sound quality. I had a demo of the Ambeo Plus & it absolutely blew me away!! The soundstage was very impressive & the detail in the audio was literally like nothing else I've experienced! & You can run up to 4 of the Ambeo 8" subwoofers with it! It's a steep price tag but it's honestly the only soundbar I can say I think is worth every penny!!

Strictly sound wise the Ambeo is miles ahead, I only got a demo in Best Buy but I got a demo and it definitely sounds amazing, better than the Beam 2 & even the Arc. However I have read a ton of issues with Sennheiser like HDMI-CEC issues, apparently overheating issues too, who knows what else. So that alone makes me unfortunately skip Sennheiser, hopefully they release a new soundbar soon cause I guarantee it's going to be amazing! If you are mainly a music listener and are okay with not having the ability to connect to the TV for a little while, I would recommend starting with the Era 100's + sub mini, then getting the Arc (or Arc ultra if you want) when you can afford it. I say this because I started with Sonos with my Beam 2 + Sub Mini setup. I eventually bought 1 Era 100 open box to test it and it sounded absolutely incredible! Few days later I grabbed a 2nd one and ran 2 Era 100's in stereo + Sub Mini. It was an absolutely amazing system for music!! And the fact that 2 Era 100's was the same price as the Beam 2, and had such a different and better sound was just shocking. With that discovery I started trying to find an Arc but I will admit I was nervous from my experience with the Beam. However it was definitely not disappointing and I felt worth the price (I got mine open box so it was a bit cheaper). It blew my mind how much better the difference between the Sonos Beam 2 and Arc. The Arc + Era 100's + Sub Mini was such a solid & balanced system. Or another route I would go is with Bose. I had the Bose Smart 600 (which is now the Bose Smart Soundbar) + BM700. This system was a little brighter, cleaner & more detailed than the Arc was. The subwoofer was a fuckin monster!! Very deep bass, extreme amount of power available. Hell I miss that set up to this day and that was over a year ago, but I made money off it since I bought everything open box and resold it for more. One last option I'd suggest looking into is the new Marshal Heston 120 + Heston Sub. It looks absolutely incredible and It's currently my pick for my next soundbar system if I end up choosing to upgrade from my Flexus Core system. I think it has humongous potential to be a top tier soundbar. I'm waiting for more reviews to come out (specifically NeverEnoughTech) before selling my setup and committing to that Marshal system, but it's more than likely going to happen. Sorry for writing a huge essay but I get very thorough with soundbar/speaker talk 😂

Ambeo plus, you probably will not even need a sub with that, but its sound is so room filling and has much more customisation that lets you tune it to your room and taste. For example 6 different profiles to choose from, a 4 band EQ for each profile and 3 levels of the Ambeo enhancement to choose from.

cc@Samsung also has a bug where if you are listening to a playlist which has some atmos and some non-atmos songs, when an atmos song comes on, volume will drop by about 50 percent. Changing volumes all the time does drive me nuts. I am thinking of replacing it with a Ambeo plus, because I don't have rears in my second living room where I have an ambeo and don't miss the rears most of the time.