Sonos Beam Ultra Black + 2x Era 100 SL Black

The Beam Ultra is highly recommended if you want a soundbar for a surround sound system but don't have room for a large setup. Thanks to 2 upward-facing speakers, the Beam Ultra delivers more spacious sound than the Beam Gen2, and its compact size means it fits into smaller setups than the Arc Ultra. I only miss the built-in Sound Motion woofer, which is present in the larger Arc Ultra soundbar.

Rich 7.1.2 channel sound With the Beam Ultra, you bring home a 7.1.2 channel soundbar, which is a significant upgrade compared to the 5.0 channel Beam Gen2. For instance, in Dolby Atmos content, you hear the sound coming from different directions thanks to the 2 upward-facing speakers. The soundbar also features a built-in woofer. This allows action movies and thrilling series to truly come into their own. Explosions in The Dark Knight and Avengers Endgame thunder through our test room. However, the bass tones are noticeably weaker than those of the Sonos Arc Ultra. Furthermore, the soundbar features 7 forward-facing channels, which provide plenty of detail in music, movies, and talk shows. These are enough channels for realistic sound in various types of content.

Simple setup You can use the Sonos Beam Ultra immediately by connecting it via the HDMI eARC port, or you can make the soundbar part of your setup using the Sonos app. This is quick to set up and certainly worth the effort. After a few minutes, the soundbar is adjusted to the size of your room, you have access to various equalizer settings, and you can make it part of your multi-room sound setup. The only downside is that you can only adjust the bass and treble in the equalizer settings. Therefore, there is no slider for the midtones. Fortunately, the Beam Ultra's midtones already sound good, but you won't be able to adjust the midtones if you can't follow the conversation in a talk show properly.

Beautiful design The Beam Ultra has a sleek design and is very similar to the Arc Ultra in this regard. This is how you adjust the volume, connect a Bluetooth device, or skip to the next track. In terms of appearance, the soundbar looks more like the Beam Gen2. For instance, it is only 10 centimeters taller and has the same shape. As a result, it fits perfectly under most TVs, such as our 55-inch TCL television. The soundbar has a matte finish, which fits well in any interior. This also means fingerprints are less visible, which is nice in a busy household.

So far, very happy with this soundbar. Easy and quick to connect, and of course, it works perfectly with the Sonos app. For normal use, it provides very good sound with sufficient bass. We certainly don't miss a subwoofer!

The Beam Ultra is a significant improvement over the Beam (gen 2). More speakers and true Dolby Atmos.