Beam (Gen 1)

I just bought an Arc Ultra with a mini sub and it's incredible. I'm sure there is some technical reason I am wrong and I should have bought a Samsung, but I have never had a soundbar sound this amazing. The minisub is nice and small and packs a nice punch. Before that I had the Beam Gen 1 for 5 years. It was still running great, but I wanted to upgrade my system.

Have had Play:1's paired with a Gen 1 Beam in one room and a Playbase in the other for years. They work perfectly!

I’m running a Gen 1 Beam in my main bedroom with 2 x Play:1s as rears, and it’s a great soundbar for that size space. The Beam tends to struggle a bit in larger spaces though, so depending on how big your room is, thats something to keep in mind.

For Atmos, you need either the Beam or the Arc. Sub and rears are not required, but definitely add to the envelope.

I've been building my setup slowly in fb market. I picked up the gen 1 sound bar for 50$, and I just picked up 2 era 100s for 115$ a piece. I have several other speakers around the house that I've picked up locally for 75-100 a piece. Just waiting on a sub to show up within a reasonable distance. If you don't need the latest and greatest, this is pretty effective, and still sounds awesome.

I've got the sc9s and have discovered i can't get rear speakers as they don't make them which is annoying as i wanted surround sound. It sounds great for movies with the Sub and Dolby atmosphere, for other stuff though my gen 1 Beam sounds as good. If I could have my time again id go Sonos so I could get rears mind you that was way over my budget as well as adding a sonos Sub and I got a great deal on LG bar bundled with tv. Wow Orchestra is ok. I guess 'it depends' is the answer.

Miles better with my Beam and my LG bar with sub..watching shows without it seems hollow. If just watching tv with the news or something tv sound would be ok but anything else need better sound

My Sonos Beam is great, super clear and I don't feel like i need bass for most things

I have the first gen beam with rear surround speakers and it’s a huge upgrade compared to tv speakers or even other cheaper soundbars I’ve heard. The gen 2 is supposed to be even better so I would say it’d definitely be worth it.

with that budget why not look at 2nd hand, you could get a sonos gen 1 and that would be 10 times bettet?