Recommend me an all-in-one sound bar

I’ve got a second hand on of these https://www.whathifi.com/onkyo/ls-t10/review

Very good condition.

Sonos Ray. I like Sonos' stuff. Save a little more and get the much better Beam

I've had a Sonos Beam in a large room (with a pair of play 1s as surround speakers) for about 5 years - really like it.
But if you're not into Sonos then maybe not right for you.

Beam is all you need it's one of those products that just do what they do well.
I mean it's not hard to make something that just works like a sound bar but so many fail.

I’ve had a Sonos Beam in a large room (with a pair of play 1s as surround speakers) for about 5 years – really like it.

I also have this setup, albeit in a small to medium room. Works really really well.

Got a Beam 2 before Xmas. It is over budget but is one of the best sub £700 sound bars out there.
I’m very impressed having just come from a full 5.1 set up.

Not answering your question, but I like the looks of these... I'm half tempted to get one to replace my mahoosive ugly 90's Kenwood AV amp

https://tangent-audio.com/products/9-electronics/162-tangent-ampster-bt-ii/

Thanks all, I'll have a look into the Sonos range. Need to get the amp repaired so I'll take that to richers and hopefully listen to some sound bars.

Richer have a Yamaha soundbar with wireless sub for a smidge over your budget. I'd buy that if I were you. I've had Yamaha AV kit for years and they can do no wrong in my eyes.

https://www.richersounds.com/yamaha-yas209-black.html

Thanks all, I’ll have a look into the Sonos range.

Nice thing is that you can buy from Sonos direct and I'd you don't like it you can send it back for a refund!
Can't remember how long you get but it's a long time maybe 100 days or something.

Hmm I can get 15% off direct with Sonos with blue light discount.

That Yamaha package is well reviewed and only £280 at Amazon. Maybe I do want a sub!

Bear in mind, just because you have a sub doesn't mean you have to turn it up to 11. It can be quite subtle, just filling in a gap.

(Apologies if I'm telling you how to suck eggs.)

Also keep an eye on Sonos refund site  https://www.sonos.com/en-gb/shop/certified-refurbished

i have a couple of ones from it and they were basically new. The beam gen 1 is on there for £239 at the moment.

Bookmarking for later

I'm also a Sonos fan. I have a Ray under my wide-screen PC monitor and steam all day then watch content or game in the evening.

The Ray is good but for TV I'd stretch to the Beam due to the arc input being more future proof over optical.

If you want to add surround sound, or more rooms, this if where Sonos really starts to win.

A lower price alternative is the IKEA Symfonisk range. Great for surrounds or adding another room.

The Sonos sub is very expensive but really makes your system come alive!

Why not just replace the amp? Unless your speakers are rubbish the Soundbar could be disappointing.

If you are intent on replacing I would be looking at active speakers instead, Q Acoustic M20 is £330 from Richer sounds. I think they would be far better than most sound-bars.

Active speakers don't have a centre channel or voice boosting function though. Didn't realise just how useful that is till we recently bought a beam. Prior to that I put Sonos in the overpriced never buying that category.

I'll be getting the amp repaired as it's decent and worth keeping (Cambridge audio 540). But I have to turn the bass almost all the way down otherwise it's too much for watching films. And it needs to be fairly loud to hear dialogue. Plus the speakers are old rather tatty due to the bloody cat clawing the cones! I did consider replacing the speakers with some bookshelf types that would be easier to position in the room but the simplicity of a sound bar is appealing.

1st job is to get rid of the cat😉

Sounds like a soundbar is a good choice for you then.

I mentioned active speakers as they are often better value and many people don’t miss the centre channel, depending on where they sit.

Also have a beam. I had left it on the 'night time' setting for ages without remembering. It turns down the louder effects and turn up speech. Turned it off a couple of weeks ago and forgot how good this little thing is, has made films etc so much better for it. I only have a 42in TV in a small lounge so might not work if you have a big 65in monster

Sonos Beam is excellent. If you did want more bass and/or surrounds then easy to add later on without needing wires running all over the place.

Sonos Ray doesn't do HDMI-ARC, which is what lets your TV do all the control (so your TV remote up/down controls the soundbar) and saves a lot of faff.

I love my Sonos Beam. It makes watching TV and movies so much more immersive and interesting to me. I’m not an audiophile, but love music. It lets you hear things going on in the audio that you just wouldn’t hear without, and it just works. No idea if another soundbar would be as good – I had some other Sonos stuff already so a Beam seemed like a logical step. The only negative is that you might find yourself adding a sub and surrounds at a later date – the Beam is great without them but even better with! Night mode is great for watching movies after the kids are in bed. Even though you’re not bothered about Atmos, it’s worth considering a gen 2 beam over a gen 1. The gen 1 has a cloth speaker grille but I think the gen 2 is plastic, so there’s nothing for the cat to tear! There’s the Sonos reconditioned avenue and CEX do a 24 month warranty on secondhand audio stuff.

I had left it on the ‘night time’ setting for ages without remembering. It turns down the louder effects and turn up speech. Turned it off a couple of weeks ago and forgot how good this little thing is, has made films etc so much better for it.

Having not used the Sonos app for the Beam in a very long time, I'd forgotten about this! Just tried it and Night mode has been on for, probably, years!!!
(it's off now 😉 )

Has anyone with a Sonos Beam (and possibly surrounds) added a sub to it? I'm curious but also they're very expensive so don't want to spend all that on something that won't make a huge difference in a small/medium space.

Another Beam user here got one for Christmas. On its own it is very good. I added a sub mini too this month for my birthday that improved it massively. This am my 2 sonos SL arrived. Holy crap Atmos is unbelievable.

Message is the beam is well worth it on they’re own.

I'm Beam curious.

I see it has Apple Airplay but we are a non Apple household. How would I stream audio to the Beam?

Would I be able to stream Spotify to it for example?

Beam plus sub is a great setup. If I was doing it again would probably get a sub mini which would I’m sure be quite sufficient.

@soundninjauk I started with a Beam gen 1 then added a sub then added surrounds. The Beam on its own was great. The sub is probably, in my heart of hearts, overkill as I live in a terraced house and it doesn’t get turned up that much, but even at low volumes it adds a lot of weight to the sound. It’s really good for ‘action’. I bought the sub as I was curious. It was expensive but I wouldn’t be without it now. The surrounds added another level of immersion again. I’m sort of tempted to see what a gen 2 beam and Atmos would add!

Getting seriously tempted to beam myself up.

Scottie…

Would I be able to stream Spotify to it for example?

Absolutely.... it's like any other Sonos speaker.
One nice feature is that it will 'play' differently depending upon what the sound source is. So music streamed from [anything] will/can be played 'full', but as soon as you switch the TV on it will change all settings back to however you have it set up for the TV.

Cheers SB

This would be our first Sonos product in the house.

This would be our first Sonos product in the house.

[looks for a 'slippery slope' gif!]

I started with a Beam gen 1 then added a sub then added surrounds. The Beam on its own was great. The sub is probably, in my heart of hearts, overkill as I live in a terraced house and it doesn’t get turned up that much, but even at low volumes it adds a lot of weight to the sound. It’s really good for ‘action’. I bought the sub as I was curious. It was expensive but I wouldn’t be without it now. The surrounds added another level of immersion again. I’m sort of tempted to see what a gen 2 beam and Atmos would add!

Thanks, that's useful to hear. I have the surrounds and absolutely wouldn't be without them now, but I've never been sure if the sub adds enough to justify the cost. Maybe I'll keep an eye and see if a Sub Mini ends up on sale at any point.

I went to my local Sevenoaks Hifi Store with the intention of buying the Sonos in that pricepoint. Ended up walking out with a Bluesound Pulse - which was a chunk more than I intended on parting with but the audio quality hike made it seem well worth it.

I would suggest demoing a few rather than just buying based on recommendation and What Hi fi reviews (although these will certainly help shape your shortlist.

FWIW - I found the sonos a little too shrill for my type of room which has a hard floor and a lot of glass. A friend does have one in his room with lots of soft furnishings - and it seems much more at home.

We have a gen 1 beam and 2 ones as surround, as many have said its great for movies

We also have an arc which even on its own is mind blowing

In our near future i'm seeing a sub mini and gen 2 beam for atmos in the back room

So, if budget wasn't an issue, would an Arc be a significant improvement over a Beam2? Would either (by themselves) be a significant improvement over my LG soundbar with separate sub-woofer?

So, if budget wasn’t an issue, would an Arc be a significant improvement over a Beam2?

Can't speak for audio quality but one thing to note is that the Arc is absolutely huge! So just keep that in mind if your TV is 50" or less.

I found the sonos a little too shrill for my type of room which has a hard floor and a lot of glass.

Did you alter the sound using the EQ?

Can’t speak for audio quality but one thing to note is that the Arc is absolutely huge!

Very much this!
BIL has an Arc (plus surrounds and sub) and it sounds good but I don't think I could justify the extra cost of an Arc and a Sub

Did you alter the sound using the EQ?

Yeah... spent ages trying to hit the sweet spot!

Did pretty much the same last year, wandered in to Richer Sounds with the same sort of budget thinking about a Sonos but the manager of the shop steered me in the direction of this:

Denon DHT-S416

Very happy I am with it too.

In the same way that DC rainmaker is the goto for Garmin and other cycling tech ive found this guy, Peter Pee, on youtube to be quite informative

 for sonos stuff and settings.

In my living room I have Arc + Sub + 2x Ones as Surrounds.
In my kitchen/snug area I have Beam2 + Mini Sub + 2x Ones as Surrounds (the mini sub was added to this system later)

Based on my experience;
- Arc is probably not worth the extra cost over the Beam - certainly the Beam is better bang for buck.
- Likewise, hard to justify the cost of sub over Mini Sub
- If I had to choose between either surrounds or subs I would pick the surrounds every time. In my experience the surrounds make a huge difference, whereas the sub(s) are more 'nice to have'.

I would buy a Beam and then add to it as budget allows (starting with surrounds).

Other notes;
- Make sure you are aware of Sonos' upgrade program. This allows you to get 30% off new kit if your trade in your qualifying old kit. Where "old kit" = stuff you may or may not have just bought off eBay for peanuts.
- I find Apple Airplay works better with Sonos speakers than it does with Apple's own HomePod speakers. Not sure why, but they are way more responsive.

Although I recommend the beam I've actually got a Yamaha unit but it was out of the price range for the op.
I'd get the beam if I had the opportunity

My budget was somewhat arbitrary, on the basis that I assumed I'd get something pretty sweet for £300. I can go higher if I persuade myself!

Beam 2 for 380 is tempting. As are Yamaha and Denon bundles with subs. They seem to be well reviewed so I probably can't go too far wrong.

I recently learned that you can use the Ikea Symfonisk stuff with Sonos, so that potentially gives you a cheaper option for multiroom or multispeaker set ups

I have a roam for my office but means I can put it in another room really easily if I want to pair it with another (sonos) speaker

I have a Denon 550 home after sending a sonos beam back. To me it has more depth, whilst still being compact. There are options for subs, surrounds etc. It is a bit above your budget though.

By sheer coincidence our 13 year old Sony Surround Sound Blue Ray play combo has just bitten the dust in the 4 days this thred has been live. Wont turn on, I've checked the fuse. Nothing.

Sonos Beam 2 inbound, 15% bluelight discount applied.

Thank you STW!

I'm still a bit baffled by the options. Checked my TV specs and found it doesn't support Dolby Atmos so I wouldn't get the full benefit of the Sonos. But I'm sure it would sound decent anyway. And still can't decide whether I want a sub. If so I'd get a Denon or Yamaha. First world problems.

I finally went to richers, fairly set on getting a Denon with sub. Ended up with an open box 416 at a good discount after having a listen to one set up in shop.

Very happy with it so far and really glad i got a sub as it sounds awesome with music. Tried Google Chromecast which was easy enough. Really easy set up and simple to use.

Tested its cinematic capability last night with saving private Ryan, which I had somehow never watched. Brilliant sound, especially for the money.

So on the back of this thread I got a Beam2. It's fine, but it's not as groundbreakingly amazing as I thought it would be (as an upgrade from an LG). In the default state the dialogue is way too quiet (I don't even know why it is the default). In clearvoice setting it's fine but if we are watching an action scene, the overall sound can get a bit boomy (and we have three kids all trying to sleep almost directly above). So I put it in 'Night' mode too which is fine for films etc, but when it's just the news on, it actually makes some weird unintentional background noises (sort of hissing and buzzing) which I assume is the device trying to sort out the sound and, because the overall sound is quite neutral, we can hear it doing stuff to try to compensate.

So that leaves us with changing the setting depending on what we are watching which becomes very annoying, especially as the app is on my phone and my wife was struggling on Saturday when I had gone out and left her at home struggling with it on the wrong setting for what she was watching.

We'll get used to it and it looks nice/much neater/hdmi sound input improves sync issues and sound quality but I am not sure it was money that well spent.

I realise the OP has already bought but if anyone is not happy with the Sonos (thats me, don't like the signature sonos sound) then as someone above reccomended, the Denon Home 550 is absolutely fantastic as an alternative, especially now Ive worked out how to turn off the annoying front status light. Considering its size and lack of any upwards drivers it is incredibly immersive but also sounds great with music files. Warm and with just the right amount of treble. Voice is as good as it ever gets with these - without a centre speaker its never perfect but there is a little remote which is quite useful for changing settings quickly if you can't be bothered to faff with your phone.Perfect for up to a 50" TV, or maybe slightly bigger. I'm also going to get the Home 150 surround speakers and possibly even the home Sub though that will all have to wait till I've got the pennies.

So on the back of this thread I got a Beam2. It’s fine, but it’s not as groundbreakingly amazing as I thought it would be (as an upgrade from an LG). In the default state the dialogue is way too quiet (I don’t even know why it is the default). In clearvoice setting it’s fine but if we are watching an action scene, the overall sound can get a bit boomy (and we have three kids all trying to sleep almost directly above). So I put it in ‘Night’ mode too which is fine for films etc, but when it’s just the news on, it actually makes some weird unintentional background noises (sort of hissing and buzzing) which I assume is the device trying to sort out the sound and, because the overall sound is quite neutral, we can hear it doing stuff to try to compensate.

So that leaves us with changing the setting depending on what we are watching which becomes very annoying, especially as the app is on my phone and my wife was struggling on Saturday when I had gone out and left her at home struggling with it on the wrong setting for what she was watching.

My experience exactly.

I'm wondering if the addition of the surround speakers and / or the subwoofer will unlock the full potential of the Beam2?

I’m still a bit baffled by the options. Checked my TV specs and found it doesn’t support Dolby Atmos so I wouldn’t get the full benefit of the Sonos.

The Atmos information comes from the source. On Netflix you need to be subscribed to a premium account to get the Atmos.

You connect the soundbar to the eArc HDMI on your TV, it then sends the Atmos signal from Netflix (or whoever) to the soundbar.

We’ll get used to it and it looks nice/much neater/hdmi sound input improves sync issues and sound quality but I am not sure it was money that well spent.

If you bought from Sonos themselves you could just send it back if you're still not that impressed.

Thanks gobuchul, I wasn't aware of that. The Denon I got doesn't have Atmos so it's a non-issue now. But I'm happy with the immersive quality of it so far.

Glad I avoided the Sonos now reading the above. The bloke at richers was fairly dismissive of it when I mentioned my interest.

Handy tip - IKEA Symfonisk speakers are Sonos compatible and half the price of a Sonos One, ideal for surrounds

johndoh

We’ll get used to it and it looks nice/much neater/hdmi sound input improves sync issues and sound quality but I am not sure it was money that well spent.

What source are you using? You may want to enable "passthrough" on your TV/player - let the Beam do the decoding instead of the TV

Trueplay tuning will help a lot too, will adjust it to the room

I'm waiting for an excuse to buy a 65" tv and I'll slip the justification of this soundbar past Mrs STR hopefully unchallenged

Samsung

Trueplay tuning will help a lot too, will adjust it to the room

Not for Android users by the looks of it. That's only on Apple devices if my Google-ing is correct.

Not for Android users by the looks of it. That’s only on Apple devices if my Google-ing is correct.

Correct, iOS only. It does make a big difference though and is just a one-time thing, so worth grabbing a mate with an iPhone/iPad to run through it.

What source are you using? You may want to enable “passthrough” on your TV/player – let the Beam do the decoding instead of the TV

Hmm - I will check the settings ta

Trueplay tuning will help a lot too, will adjust it to the room

Yeah it has been set up with Trueplay tuning

What source are you using? You may want to enable “passthrough” on your TV/player – let the Beam do the decoding instead of the TV

Hmm – I will check the settings ta

Checked and it is currently on Passthrough and connected with HDMI ARC so the optimal set-up I guess?

Not as a sound bar but I've been running 2 – IKEA Symfonisk bookcase speakers for some time they are great for the price and the picture frame speakers more than ok as long as you don't expect top spec.
The lamp version is horrible design.

I used to have a Sonos setup and then discovered AudioPro. Much better sound, at least to my ears, and now have a pair of powered bookshelves for the TV. Other speakers dotted about the house.

Mrs B not sold on the Sonos Beam either.

Ordered a Bose Smart Soundbar 600  (they have a 90 day no quibble returns policy) so we can have a "sound off" and send one, or both, of them back if we still aren't happy.

Ordered a Bose Smart Soundbar 600 (they have a 90 day no quibble returns policy) so we can have a “sound off” and send one, or both, of them back if we still aren’t happy.

Bose installed.

Within seconds of viewing / listening it's obvious that its head a shoulders above the Sonos. Strong bass, clear vocals, no faffing about trying to get the best sound for a particular programme. Sounds incredible even without the separate subwoofer.

Beam 2 is going back.

I've got a Sonos Arc and, on a different telly, a Yamaha <something> that cost about £200.

I much prefer the Yamaha.

The Sonos is big and boomy, and the vocals are buried in the mix, to my ears, even with TrueVoice or whatever it's called set and various bass and treble changes made. You end up running it too loud just to hear what's being said.

The Yamaha does a great job of effects and scale, especially given its size, but more importantly to me, the vocals are crisp, clear and natural.

And it's much cheaper.

When I upgrade the telly, I'll be buying another Yamaha, and I now regard Sonos as overpriced and overrated. It's better with music, but music isn't what I bought it for.

oh, also, with the Sonos (connected through eArc and passthrough to a Philips telly) I get terrible lip-sync issues which means I have to spend ages fagging with the audio delay setting.

none of that nonsense with the Yamaha (connected by bluetooth to an old Pana plasma set)

That's probably because the video is lagging as much as the audio. 😁

Off the back of this thread I had a look around Richer Sounds for a new soundbar because ours was a freebie JBL when we joined BT a few years.

Sooooo, on Tuesday I bought this one for £189.

https://www.richersounds.com/polk-signa-s2.html

My hearing is ruined from various accidents so I'm no audiophile.

However, what I do want to mention is that when I checked today for no real reason other than to find the link I saw that it's down to £150! Fair play, a quick call to Richer Sounds and they immediately refunded me the difference.

How's about that for service! Just hope it's decent enough now 🙂