Tips From The Top

Looking to upgrade your home theater audio experience?

This summer sound tech innovator Sonos revealed Sonos Beam, its new smart speaker for almost any streaming content – movies and TV, music and podcasts. Sonos Beam supports more than 80 music services, a number of voice assistants like Alexa, and Apple AirPlay 2. 

Beam can be controlled by voice, the Sonos app, other apps like Pandora and Audible, and even TV remote and wall switches.

By adding the video streaming device Amazon Fire TV, smart home owners unlock voice control for Alexa-enabled streaming services. You can ask for a specific movie or show, control playback, and get information about media.

As part of the Sonos home sound system, Beam complements and integrates with other Sonos speakers.

Acoustic engineers and sound experts from film, music, and television worked together to develop Sonos Beam. The result produces a wide soundstage for a relatively-small speaker, using four custom-built elliptical full-range woofers and three passive radiators producing warm bass and mid-range performance, with a lone tweeter for crisp, clear dialogue.

Beam comes with a five linear far-field microphone array for advanced noise suppression and multi-channel echo cancellation for both music and home theater content.

With its compact size – 25.6 inches long – Beam was designed for versatility, able to fit on tables or under wall mounted TVs, blending in with surroundings. It comes in both black and white fabric with matte finishes.

A free software update allows for AirPlay 2, where customers can play podcasts and music from their iOS devices directly on all Sonos speakers, including the new Beam. With a single supported speaker, AirPlay content can be streamed to other Sonos speakers in the integrated system. With AirPlay 2 on Sonos, Siri can be asked to play music and playlists on Apple Music.

According to a USA Today review, the Beam provides excellent sound and “terrific Apple-like, ‘it just works with everything’ functionality.” 

To learn more about how Sonos speakers can improve your smart home’s sound, call us at Jackson Hole AV. We’d love to discuss the possibilities.