It took two years, however the Sonos Beam ($398 at Amazon), and its little brother the Sonos One ($166 at Amazon), are the primary audio system to supply each Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. If you’ve got been ready for Google integration to purchase this speaker, then go forward, it really works! Although it is costlier than most sound bars, the compact Beam is much more inexpensive than the corporate’s bigger Playbar or Playbase audio system. It seems good, it sounds huge and it is extra versatile than every other sound bar out there as we speak.Despite its newfound voice, the Beam nonetheless faces competitors from the Polk Command Bar ($249) — which sounds higher, due to the wi-fi sub — and the Bose Soundbar 500 ($549) which additionally presents each Google Assistant and Alexa. The Sonos speaker beats each for whole-home audio playback, nevertheless. It’s an ideal selection for individuals who have already got Sonos in the home and wish extra, or Sonos newbies who need a slick sound bar that works with a number of voice and music methods. 
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The Beam works like every other voice-controlled speaker such because the (a lot much less loud) Amazon Echo or Google Home. You can ask it for the time, request tunes by identify or function the blinds, and a voice command may change quantity on the Beam itself. The speaker has a five-microphone array designed to select up your voice even in a loud house theater atmosphere, and it labored nicely in my checks.The Beam now comes with a selection of both Amazon’s Alexa assistant or the Google Assistant, although sadly you may’t select between them on the fly. In different phrases, it will not reply to an “Alexa” command first after which a “Hey Google” command instantly afterward. When you obtain the most recent Sonos replace, it would ask you to decide on which voice assistant you need. You might want to guarantee you’ve got the Google Home and Amazon Alexa apps, however if you happen to do not, the method will assist you set up them. To change between the 2 assistants you have to to run setup once more. It’s not a chic Amazon/Google toggle change. Once setup, I discovered that Google Assistant would not work fairly in addition to Amazon Alexa normally use. I skilled lag of 5 or extra seconds earlier than Google responded to my command.   Secondly, and that is extra subjective, the Google Assistant on Beam misheard me extra typically than a Google Home Mini. For instance, it changed the question “Who is Danny Meyer?” (the restaurateur) with “Who is Jeremiah? (the prophet). In reply to your subsequent query, sure, you may have Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant audio system in the identical system — even the identical room. But there are caveats.There have been was one minor subject when initiating radio on Alexa (which defaults to Amazon Music): I could not switch the music to a Sonos Google speaker because it would not help Amazon. Sonos might speak to each companies by way of the app, however Amazon and Google are nonetheless on uneasy phrases in the case of their voice assistants. While the Google Assistant helps most options together with Continued Conversation, it will not do the next but: calling, voice match, purchases, interpreter mode, and setting routines within the Google Home app. Design The wrap-around material grille of the Beam — a cloth generally related to the corporate’s ultrabudget competitors — comes as a shock on a Sonos product. Yet, the speaker retains a Sonos look with its plastic prime and the contact management panel that debuted on the One. View full gallery
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The pill-shaped Beam is smaller than most different sound bars at simply 25.6 inches large by 2.7 inches excessive and 3.9 inches deep (68.5 by 651 by 100 mm). You can get it in a selection of both black or white. Unfortunately, the speaker would not embrace a wall bracket within the field, however the firm will promote you a Beam mount for an additional $59. While most producers embrace a distant with their sound bars, this isn’t the case with Sonos. Instead, the Beam comes with numerous alternative routes to regulate it, beginning with the Sonos app for telephones and tablets. The complete setup routine permits you to use your TV distant in addition to the app, and your voice with the built-in microphones. The Sonos app has undergone many alternative modifications over time, however the newest model locations the emphasis on music search and the gadgets in your own home quite than a laundry record of the completely different music companies. Given that Sonos has been shifting towards third-party management — akin to by way of Spotify Connect or AirPlay — it is a welcome transfer. For instance, I most popular with the ability to play music to the Sonos speaker utilizing Spotify itself, quite than utilizing the Sonos app . View full gallery
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Beamed sound, TV management Sonos touts the 3.0-channel Beam as its “most advanced sound bar.” Its audio system are designed to bounce (or “beam”) pontificate your partitions, and embrace a middle channel with two woofers, two extra woofers for left and proper channels and a single tweeter. At the entrance of the unit are two passive bass radiators with one other one on the rear.  The system comes with out a wi-fi subwoofer, although you may add the $700 Sonos Sub if you happen to like. Sonos does promote the 2 collectively for $1,000 ($100 off the worth of each individually), or a “three-room set” that features a Beam and two Sonos Ones for $650 ($50 off). Two Ones may also be wirelessly paired with the Beam for rear-channel encompass results whereas a full “5.1” system (Beam, Sub and two Ones) would price $1,350. View full gallery
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The Beam combines built-in voice help with HDMI CEC management system, which lets the Beam flip suitable TVs off utilizing simply your voice. It permits you to use the TV as an HDMI change, too. You can plug all of your devices into your flatscreen and feed the sound bar Dolby Digital 5.1 (although not DTS) sound out of your TV’s audio return channel (ARC)-capable HDMI port. Seems good, however what in case your TV would not help ARC? Bad information: There’s just one audio port on the Beam, and it is HDMI. No optical or 3.5mm enter.Good information: Sonos bundles an HDMI cable and an HDMI-to-optical cable adapter within the field. So you may join your TV’s optical digital audio output to the Beam.Semi-bad information: If you utilize the adapter, the Beam can’t flip the TV on and off or management switching.The Sonos comes with an evening mode to cut back the influence of explosions when you do not wish to disturb the neighbors, along with a voice-enhancement characteristic. Unlike the Polk Command Bar, the Sonos doesn’t provide a music mode — all the pieces is “wide.”