Sonos

Beam (Gen 2)

Sonos Beam (Gen 2)

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

Overall

#1 in

Soundbars

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Sentiment score78% positive
319
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50

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Last updated: Jun 18, 2026

Reddit Reviews

Reddit Icon0bliterador
4 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
7 months ago

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

Reddit Icon7e7en87
10 months ago

Sonos beam gen2+sub mini is most reccomended best buy and goes perfect with Sony tv's. I'm personally big fan of this combo. If You wanna premium sound than Sonos Arc ultra and sub 4.

Reddit Icon9137891
9 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
8 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.

11 months ago

For what it's worth, I picked up a Beam 2 after recommendations from here given my use case in the bedroom. It's a decent soundbar by itself, but I didn't feel like it was good enough to warrant the price tag. But then I added a sub mini even though I swore I didn't want or need one for the bedroom, and let me tell you that is really made a massive difference in sound quality. Meanwhile, the sub mini doesn't put out booming base that will rattle your walls unless you crank it up in the app, and that is exactly what I was hoping for as I live in an apartment. In all, I'd say my experience attests to the fact that these soundbars desperately NEED the sub to sound anything resembling the price tag. I'd bet the Arc and Arc Ultra are no different in that regard. If you have a set budget, you can get the Beam and Sub Mini for less than the cost of the Ultra and still have very good sound quality. Would I but another Sonos soundbar? Yes, but ONLY with a sub to pair it with. Otherwise, it will disappoint you.

Reddit IconaBlastFromTheArse
6 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.

Top Soundbars on Reddit

1
Sonos Beam (Gen 2)

Sonos

Beam (Gen 2)

78% positive of 452 users

Compact value, but virtual Atmos and app issues.

$364 Amazon
2
Sonos Arc Ultra

Sonos

Arc Ultra

71% positive of 662 users

Immersive Atmos and bass, but pricey and poor for music.

$599 Amazon
3
Samsung Q990F (HW-Q990F/ZA)

Samsung

Q990F (HW-Q990F/ZA)

76% positive of 314 users

Value for movies/Atmos, but music and bass are mixed.

$1195 Amazon
4
Samsung Q990F

Samsung

Q990F

77% positive of 302 users

Value for movies and easy setup, but music falls flat.

$1697 Amazon
5
Samsung HW-Q990D

Samsung

HW-Q990D

77% positive of 282 users

Powerful, immersive value, but poor music and buggy software.

$897 Amazon

Rankings by Use Case

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