Sonos Beam Gen 2 - How the Sub Mini changed the game for Sonos

foreign [Music] foreign [Music] combination from Sonos the Sonos beam Gen 2 with the Sonos ones as surrounds as well as the sub mini providing the base okay so I'll be providing enough from summary like how it is with most of my video and today's upfront summary will take the form of a sample recording of the Sonos beam Gen 2 on its own compared with the full surround setup with the submitting and the ones now here's the bass drop sequence as record as you can see from the Spectrum analyzer on the freeze screen the base output is greatly enhanced with the sub mini when it's paired to the beam gen 2. now in short this is a truly capable system and if you are considering this exact setup you won't be left disappointed now if you have a bit more time for this video please allow me to take you through the entire review of this configuration from solos now this combination of the full beam Gen 2 surround sound system with the submitting comes in at a grand total of 1276 US Dollars and for that amount of money we got ourselves a full surround sound system capable of Dolby Atmos enhanced with a huge amount of Bass from the subwoofer all Wireless capable of both music and movies now this configuration almost didn't make it to 2022. the sub mini was launched just days ago as of the making of this video and for those of you who are late to the party the launch happened on on the 6th of October and right now at this point in time I've gotten myself a brand new beam Gen 2 with solos once and the sub mini for my bedroom so first wave of debris yes now in this video I won't be talking too much about the sub mini in and of itself if you still don't know about the details of the sub mini check out the in-depth review of the sub mini right here which I have posted a few days ago now today I will be explaining why I'm saying that the sub mini has changed the game of the home theater setup from Sonos even for Sonos themselves within their own lineup now there are three sound bars in the Sonos current lineup today the Sonos Ray is a small salba at about 279 US dollars that there's no animals no HDMI ARC compatibility the beam Gen 2 which is 449 US Dollars and is shockingly good with Atmos support and coming very close to the Stone's Arc in terms of performance and and talking about souls that's the third and the largest Soundbar in the soonest lineup at a whopping 899 US dollars but that has 11 drivers all individually aimed with two of them actually firing upwards for Atmos effect the arc did exceedingly well and even a year after the launch some of us were still having problems trying to buy one so I want to share with you how I evaluated the decision to buy this exact setup for myself with my own money now I've been trying to figure out what is the most effective and efficient way to communicate any forms of ratings to you now I know I did that before but I'm gonna stay clear of ratings on the number scale or counting the number of stars right I will give you an arbitrary skill which is relative to the other products that I'm talking about but not on the absolute skill so for example instead of telling you that the Sonos Arc is scoring a 9 for sound and assumes beam Gen 2 scores at eight for sound I'll simply tell you that the arc sounds better than the B now now with a skill I could be telling you that the beam Gen 2 is a solid 8 on the feature set with HDMI ER and Ms capability and the ray is getting a 6 because it doesn't have HDMI and doesn't have Atmos capability but instead I will tell you that the bin Gen 2 is more feature pack than the zone 3. now I think this might work well for such versus comparison so what are the factors that I would consider now I've been thinking about this quite a lot right and I've narrowed it down to my buying decision Matrix now first I will always be looking out for sound quality how it sounds that's for sure all right second I'll be looking at the features and usability whether it streams or how it connects and what feature set it has for example at most capabilities and because I'm not Jeff Bezos the third factor I would also consider is price and affordability but then again if I were Jeff Bezos I would be stuck with Amazon Echo speakers so anyway the trifecta of my evaluation Matrix sound feature affordability so let's take a look at the source rate the Sonos Ray is a budget speaker sound is all right with uh four drivers housed in a relatively short form factor of a sound bar relying on Optical Connection no adverse capabilities now this is the trifecta evaluation of the solo 3. now the beam beats out the ray in terms of sound it is bigger more powerful and yet only four inches longer there are five drivers and three passive radiators in the beam the sound is great and features wise it has a HDMI ER port and it supports Atmos which the ray doesn't yes it costs more but if you can afford just a little bit more you're getting a lot more sound bar for the money so while affordability has definitely taken a hit the feature set and the sound wins out the ray here now when you compare it with The Arc the beam is going to sound a little bit weaker and less spacious simply because they're just not as many drivers and it's definitely a shorter sound bar but there are also actual upward firing Atmos speakers on the source Arc which is missing from the beam Gen 2 but in terms of adverse capability and then ER Port it is right up there with The Arc everything that the arc can do and play the beam can do that too and the best part is it's literally half the price of the songs out so sure if you have enough money to buy two beams but only one TV then get the arc for most people the Sonos beam Gen 2 is going to get you almost all the way at just half the cost so while the feature set and the sound edges out the beam just a little bit more The Arc has taken a huge hit in terms of affordability then we talk about the sun right previously before today there was only the sub gen 3. the sub Gen 3 is 749 US Dollars it is not cheap and while smaller than most subwoofers out there in the market it is not exactly the smallest either but that subwoofer really takes quite a punch and you can pair them as dual subs in a Sonos home theater setup something that you cannot do with the sub mini now if you have a large room to fill in you won't sell for anything less than base dumping in your chest then go For Broke and get the sub gen 3 sound and feature is definitely a huge win for the Gen 3 here but the affordability has always been something that is a problem with the subgen 3 but today the sub mini is available it is smaller and is much more affordable at 429 US Dollars now while not exactly half the price more like 60 price it does deliver close to 80 percent of the performance of the sub gen 3 and if you are in a small to average size room which you won't ever use up the full power of the subgen 3 anyway this will deliver exactly what you need for a lot less money but note that you still won't be able to pay the submitting into any dual sub configuration not even if we have a subject in three the affordability factor is what sets this sub mini apart the price the performance ratio is just insanely High here so if you look at the trifecta chart here the sum we need does represent a rather good win here but I must stress again that at this point if your room is big and you're trying to fill the space with base you will need the sub gen 3. now we have picked out the sound bar and the sub in the form of the Gen 2's uh being Gen 2 and the sub mini costing less but getting really close to the top of the game right now this combination here is 878 US Dollars did you realize that you're still spending Less in this configuration than a single zones are on its own so if you have 900 bucks to spare what do you do buy the service on its own or actually save the money spend the money on the bean Gen 2 coupled with the sub mini and that still leaves you about 20 dollars which you can spend on buying the best HDMI cable that you will ever need now this is the U green 8K HDMI 2.1 cable this is not a review of the cable it is just a cable that I've been using for myself I've changed almost all the HDMI cables in my house to this superbly spec and well-made cable now if you want to check it out you can scan the QR code right up here or I'll leave the Amazon affiliate Link in the video description down below you will thank me the moment you get your hands on this set of cables and start to use them they will never leave you one thing for more now if you want round one of the entire system then you need surrounds today from Sonos you're only going to get ones and the fives right if you want to expand the search to eks symphonics lineup yes you can get the bookshelves for a lot less money than the source ones if you don't mind the brick in the design of the whole system right the look and feel of it but if you stay within the Sonos offering getting the solos once will be the cheapest way to get surrounds and with two one SL without the mic that brings your total system price to 1276 US Dollars now if you pair the Sonos Arc with the subgen 3 there's a 1648 okay sure so let's pair that's almost out with the sub mini but that's still a thousand three hundred and twenty eight dollars in both configuration you still aren't getting yours around yes you'll get a larger sound and 11 drivers and dedicated upwards firing Atmos speakers but you still don't get surround the full configuration of the Sonos are plus two one SL and the sub mini is 1726 and if you opt for the Gen 3 sub that's a take over 2 grade so now you see what I mean by the Sonos beam Gen 2 full setup with the ones and the sub mini being the best value offering from Sonos today so much value that is possibly even edging out the Sonos Arc which reminds me maybe with all this Improvement they are pointing to the fact that the Sonos Arc is due for a refresh maybe soon I don't know so if you're new to my channel do keep a lookout on this channel best way is to subscribe and ring the notification Bell so that when that happens you will be the first to know now if you have not yet decided on the configuration to get from Sonos to build your home theater setup I've done some testing for you so I use a calibrator mic setup connected to my PC which will play a series of frequency all the way from 20 Hertz to 20 kilohertz through the sound bar and I will record what the setup is actually throwing out you'll be able to see the response of the system in each frequency band The Base the mid-range and the treble and you have a rough idea of how it sounds like visually now run through three different configurations today which is the best beam Gen 2 on its own and then I'll pair in the um solos once as the surround with the beam plan 2 and finally I'll round it off in the third configuration by adding the Sonos sub mini to the mix so the first curve this is the green curve now how the sub mini sounds like on its own this is how it looks right the main point of focus today is on the base department so you will notice that the beam Gen 2 Peaks at about 120 hertz and it will tail off quite sharply all the way down from there at 40 Hertz you're likely not going to be hearing much more bass anymore now this is to establish the base curve for further comparison before we add the surrounds and the sum now the yellow curve is how the beam Gen 2 sounds like when it's being paired with the zones once as it's around while you may not see a huge difference in terms of frequency response I'll let you know that the sound is a lot wider and your truly gets around sounds coming from the back of you depending on where you place your surrounds because of course you will notice that from about 80 Hertz all the way to about 4 kilohertz there's a meaningful bump to the frequency now this is because that those are the main frequencies that are being played on the surround channel so you are actually getting more sound out of the whole setup but the real kick is the red curve and that's how the fools around with the sub mini configuration sounds like now there are two things happening here the Sonos beam and the ones have base frequency responsibility being removed from them so they are no longer having to produce those frequencies as the sub mini is going to be handling them freeing the Soundbar up to focus the amplification power and drivers to drive higher output at the frequencies above 100 Hertz thus you'll see that the output from that point onwards has been bumped up now the second thing that's happening is that the submitti is actually picking up all the frequencies below 100hz yes it doesn't give the same crazy bump that assumes sub-gen 3 was giving out the the room that I did this testing in is a relatively big room which accommodated two of the Sonos bigger Subs but you can already see that it's doing a fantastic job of handling all those low end frequencies now remember I said that the beam on its own wasn't going to be heard at 40 Hertz with the sub Mini at 40 Hertz range you're going to get about 6 DB extra volume which is about four times the volume you will hear 40 hearse to take things even further if you look at 25 Hertz the sub mini is getting 15 DB more volume than the beam on its own now the other way to look at it is of course at 25 Hertz you are hearing the bass at the same level same output level as when the beam is producing six kilohertz in short are you able to hear the 25 Hertz yes you definitely can now if this frequency response charts have helped you in any way to reach a more informed buying decision do consider dropping this video a like and give this channel a sub better yet click on that super thanks button right down below this video and send me a small tip to contribute towards my coffee fine so all the frequency response curves aside what does it really sound like the sub mini is a truly a very capable sum it is not as powerful as the subgen 3 for sure so if you have a really big room and high ceilings the subgen 3 is definitely going to be more suitable for you but if you don't need to fill a large space the sub mini does land its way to the base Department really well when paired with the Sonos beam if you have a beam in the first place my assumption is that you aren't actually deploying it in a huge room anyway the sub mini is a relatively polite sub it doesn't intrude into the soundtrack or the music that much it is a Sim design and by virtue of that design it doesn't pound that hard in your face and your chest right it's a lot more well behaved I can say and if the levels are set appropriately for your room it can really blend quite well into whatever you're listening to so um I did a poll recently and there were 1452 responses I thank all of you guys for responding and an overwhelming 55 percent of you guys we're gonna be pairing the Sono sub Mini with a beam Gen 2 so I bought that choice I I'm like you I'm buying this combination and if I'm doing that you can be sure that you're doing the right thing as well so after extensive testing I think this really hits the right spot in terms of sound features and affordability the sub mini is really a large influence on whether I actually spend to create another system out of this Gen 2 because I have two subs the gentle and the Gentry and I use them in a dual sub configuration for the Sonos Arc I I could not just bring myself to buy another subch entry for the beam but with the sub mini the decision was a whole lot easier now to give you a somewhat indicative taste of what the differences are I've done a binaural recording sort of like a 3D recording of the different setups right the beam Gen 2 on its own and then the beam Gen 2 coupled with the ones as a surround and finally in the full configuration the beam gentle with the ones and the sub mini so while there's compressed happening over YouTube and you aren't going to be listening uh with the same setup and in the same room as me it will at least give you a relative sensing so nothing beats going to hear it for yourself in the showroom now in order to help you sense it even better to visualize it even better I've added Spectrum analyzer of the setup when it's being played back so at any point in time you can pause the video like this and see how the system is responding while playing that particular sequence in a particular note so after I play the bass drop for example you can see and pause in a setup with the sub mini you can tell that there's a lot more bass happening in the lower base frequencies than the Sonos beam Gen 2 on its own so I hope this is helpful there are three recordings back to back so here we go [Music] this is Dolby Atmos the world's first object-based cinematic audio with powerful moving audio that transcends from channels Mount you 10 point accuracy [Music] whether the soundscape sits the move to the scene foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] the world's first object-based cinematic audio with powerful moving audio that transcends from channels to moving around you with 10 point accuracy evening [Music] whether the soundscape sets the mood of the scene [Music] good morning guys let's go who captures the full extent [Music] Nature's Fury [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign the world's first object-based cinematic audio with powerful moving audio that transcends from channels to moving around you with 10 point accuracy [Music] whether the soundscape sets the mood of the scene hey guys let's go or captures the full extent of Nature's Fury [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] so I hope you have found this video useful and these recordings help you if it helps you reach a decision I would appreciate it if you could help support this Channel with a super tanks just right below this video itself even if you don't do stick around leave a like and a comment I'll be happy to help out if you have any questions oh um I've also done a video on how to set up your beam Gen 2 for best sound although right now I will say that the current firmware at 14.16 might have messed with the sound profile a little bit and that video has not been updated for the submitting yet I will definitely be updating some of my videos for the best settings for the beam and the arc when it's coupled with the sub Gentry when the sound profile has been settled as well as that configuration with the sub mini so if you can't wait and you have not already seen that other video do check out this video right here just to scratch the edge a little bit and I will see you over in that video

Channel: Peter Pee

Views: 105,126

Keywords: Sonos Sub Mini, Sonos, Peter Pee, Sonos Peter, Sonos Sub, Sonos new product, Sonos new launch, sonos 2022, Subwoofer, Sonos mini sub, Mini subwoofer, Micro subwoofer, Small subwoofer, Sonos small sub, Sonos subwoofer, sonos sub mini review, sonos sub mini singapore, sonos sub gen 3, sub gen 3 vs sub mini, sub mini vs sub gen 3, Sonos arc, sonos arc vs beam, beam vs ray, ray vs beam gen 2, beam gen 2, Sonos beam gen 2

Id: 0kU__bh48Hw

Length: 24min 33sec (1473 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 08 2022