Sonos

Beam (Gen 2)

Sonos Beam (Gen 2)

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TL;DR: Compact value, but virtual Atmos and app issues.

Overall

#2 in

Soundbars

according to Reddit Icon Reddit

Sentiment score79% positive
316
39
47

Top Pros

Top Cons

Last updated: Sep 7, 2026

Reddit Reviews

Reddit Icon0bliterador
7 months ago

I don’t understand why sub mini is so much better than sub 4. I was perplexed. Sent sub 4 back to Amazon right away and kept the mini for my small room and my beam gen 2

Reddit Icon67camar0
9 months ago

I started with the beam 2 sub mini and era 100s. I just got an arc on Black Friday

Reddit Icon9137891
12 months ago

When I tried Arc Ultra with Spotify Very High, the sound felt richer. Two Era100s hit wider than Beam Gen2, but I prefer Arc for deep, detailed tracks.

Reddit IconA1CBEERS
11 months ago

100% the answer is Sonos. The Beam Gen 2 soundbar is a solid soundbar that offers decent atmos sound. The next step up to the Sonos Arc or Arc Ultra will hit different if you're not worried about cost. Add a Sonos Sub and that's all you'll need. I say this as someone that has a Klipsch Reference Premier 5.1.2 setup with a Denon 2800h receiver in my living room. I use the soundbar setup in my bedroom and it has pretty good quality. Does it hit quite the same as Atmos in a true home theater setup? Of course not, but it's still a damn good soundbar choice that gives you the Atmos you want.

Reddit IconaBlastFromTheArse
9 months ago

Great job! I would say soundbars have their place though. I run a Sonos Beam gen 2 with Sub mini in our very small lounge and I find it to be perfect for that.

Reddit Icona_chimken_nuget
7 months ago

Wait for a sale, u can get the beam 2 new for $350, I liked the beam but ended up returning for an arc ultra when it was on sale for $800 soemthing, highly recommend the 300 or 5’s for music. For your over all system, I would start with a beam, then over time get a sub, and then rear 100’s or 300’s. I tried a beam + era 100 rears set up and didn’t like it, ended up getting arc ultra + sub 4 + 2 era 300 as rears and just ordered a pair of 5’s for fronts. You really only need rears if you listen to a lot of atmos content, and if you do, get the 300’s over the 100. For just music, get a 5 over a 300

7 months ago

Wait for a sale, u can get the beam 2 new for $350, I liked the beam but ended up returning for an arc ultra when it was on sale for $800 soemthing, highly recommend the 300 or 5’s for music. For your over all system, I would start with a beam, then over time get a sub, and then rear 100’s or 300’s. I tried a beam + era 100 rears set up and didn’t like it, ended up getting arc ultra + sub 4 + 2 era 300 as rears and just ordered a pair of 5’s for fronts. You really only need rears if you listen to a lot of atmos content, and if you do, get the 300’s over the 100. For just music, get a 5 over a 300

7 months ago

Honestly for me, the arc doesn’t sound that much better than the beam, there’s a little more depth, but if you played both back to back and I was blind folded, I might struggle to know which is which. The beam is great for the price, I just got a good deal on the ultra+sub4 so I decided to get that instead

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