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
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.
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
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
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
I had Sonos beam 1 for years because I lived in an apartment with neighbors and I needed crystal clear dialogue with out gun shots and explosions vibrating the walls. The beam was perfect. I no longer live in an apartment and recently upgraded to the Arc Ultra which is insane.
The Beam 2 is probably even better and Sonos does a great job with voice clarity. You can easily add the sub mini at a later date.
I’m not familiar with the other bar, but I can’t recommend Sonos enough.
It’s also on sale for $369 on Sonos.com right now. You could check Best Buy for any open box deals too.
The Ray is very much a budget soundbar while that JBL, at least back in its day, was probably closer to a mid range bar. Without a sub the Ray will likely be underwhelming in all respects compared to what you have. Beam Gen 2 will at least give you access to newer audio codecs and simulated Atmos.
For immersiveness a lot of it comes down to the room. Soundbars mimic surround by bouncing audio off your walls, so symmetry really matters. If, for example, one side’s open or uneven, the effect drops off fast. For soundbar height channels real up-firing drivers reflecting off a flat ceiling work better than DSP “virtual” height offered by soundbars like the Beam 2. And for dialogue / clarity, have you confirmed that what you are watching has a proper center channel mix? So DD 5.1 for example? I had a cheap soundbar before as well and firstly upgraded to a Beam, it was better but not "wow" better (especially in my open plan layout). Adding surrounds was what gave me the wow immersive feeling.
Top Soundbars on Reddit
1
Samsung
Q990F
77% positive of 600 users
Value for movies and easy setup, but music falls flat.
0bliterador
