By Gavin Morgan
There’s no doubting Sonos’ place in the AV industry. Yes, it may be slightly more pricey than your usual bog-standard Amazon bought soundbar, but with that extra cost comes a considerable improvement in punch and quality.
We’re constantly using Sonos as a multi-room audio solution, but the number one question we’re asked when it comes to soundbars, is whether a Sonos Beam or Sonos Arc is the go-to solution (and it’s not always an easy answer!)
Differences
-The little brother of the Arc, the Beam is physically smaller in size, measuring at roughly 65cm vs 114cm, at times this factor alone can make people go for the Arc, with it looking far neater when mounted onto a large wall mounted TV than the Beam.
-The number one benefit of the Beam compared to the Arc is in price (roughly £450 vs £850), a serious saving when you’ve five TVs you want a soundbar on, and the mortgage just isn’t stretching as far as you expected it to!
-The Beam packs a pretty punchy five drivers, not to be laughed at. Though it’s blown out of the park by the Arc (eleven drivers, and two upward facing drivers, compared to the Beams zero), for us, the main difference between the two.
What It Comes Down To
Majority of the time, for us it comes down to room size (seriously!). A bigger room is better suited to a Sonos Arc, but in saying that, an Arc can be overpowering for a slightly smaller room. Unless you’re an avid music listener, or full time movie buff, in our opinion they’re just too closely matched to say you ALWAYS have to go for the dearer option in the Arc. Both are seriously rich in quality, both have impressive wireless capabilities, (linking up pretty seamlessly to Spotify etc), and both will no doubt impress even the smartest of ears.