It doesn’t matter how much money you’ve spend on your TV. You could shell out for a giant 85-inch screen with an OLED panel, capable of 8K resolution and some of the craziest color accuracy on the planet. The fact is, the built-in speakers are probably pretty lackluster. The leap in quality you experience by ditching the on-board factory audio of any TV and replacing it with even a modest soundbar is night and day. It’s an extremely affordably way to upgrade your home entertainment audio, and right now, you can save 26% on this one from Sonos. The Beam Gen 2 soundbar normally sells for $499, but this limited-time Amazon deal ends up shaving that down by $130. You only have to pay $369 while the deal is still active.
The Sonos Beam Gen 2 produces a detailed 3D surround sound effect with Dolby Atmos that can fill you room and give the impression that the sound is coming from all around you. It’s smart chipset powers this virtual surround sound and can makes feel like the planes on screen are flying overhead, or that footsteps you hear in a game you’re playing are coming up from behind.
Unlike standard TV speakers, the Sonos Beam Gen 2 lets you control the volume of individual types of sound independently. When you’re watching a movie or show late at night, you can shift it to Night Mode, which balances the intensity of loud effects like gunshots and explosions to be quieter, while amplifying the sounds of quieter audio. You can even put on Speech Mode which will raise the volume of the channel used for dialogue to combat poorly mixed audio and finally be able to turn the captions back off again.
You can use this soundbar for more than just what you’re watching on TV. With Bluetooth support, you can connect your phone or any other source wirelessly to stream music, audiobooks, or podcasts.
Smart Speaker
The Sonos Beam Gen 2 even comes with Alexa built in. You can control volume and other settings with the remoter, or you can choose to go hands free and just ask Alexa to change the sound mode or adjust the volume to your liking.
Setup is pretty straightforward. It can connect to your TV over HDMI eARC. Just look for the slot labeled as such on your TV. Once plugged in, most TVs will default to the speaker connected through that. You can now even use your TV’s own remote to adjust the volume of the Sonos soundbar.