Arc vs Beam: Summary
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In general, the Arc will sound richer than the Beam, especially in larger spaces because of its (much) wider soundstage and up-firing speakers.
But by how much will the Arc sound better than the Beam depends completely on the acoustics: Room dimensions & soundbar positioning.
So, if you want to solve this problem and reveal the answer for your own room, then you must run this tool:
Visit our homepage at soundton.com to unlock all pro features.
- Input your room dimensions and then drag & drop the soundbar item into the related area in the room.
- If you own other speakers, drag and drop them, too.
- As you see, the tool instantly adapts and develops a colormap - which reveals the spots inside the room with the best (green) and worst (red) low frequency response.
The soundbar we dragged into the tool here represents the standard soundbar anatomy - which, in our case, is the Beam Gen 2. Because the Arc is unusually wide, highly developed, and equipped with upfiring speakers.
Now...
Here's what this colormap tells us:
The greener the color of your listening point, the less the sound quality difference between the Arc and Beam will be.
So...
- If the color the tool returns for your listening point turns out to be quite green...
- Then that means the Arc would sound only around 10-20% better than the Beam.
- If the color the tool returns for your listening point turns out to be quite red...
- Then that means the Arc would sound at least around twice as good than the Beam.
This is as simple as I can put it.
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Arc vs Beam
Arc does sound richer than the Beam, especially in larger spaces because of its (much) wider soundstage.
That's a fact.
However, depending on your room size & soundbar positioning, the difference in sound might or might not worth the extra price. Because in the end, the difference might not even be that noticeable (yes, seriously).
Room size and soundbar positioning is exactly what makes choosing between Arc vs Beam difficult.
Fortunately, there is a solution to this problem which we're going to address right now by taking just a few seconds to use the easy, online room acoustics tool.
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Most of the advice I see when it comes to Sonos Arc vs Beam is flat out terrible.
Almost no one seems to realize that the reason the experiences of users vary so much is because the sound these soundbars deliver depends on external factors, too - primarily:
- Room dimensions,
- The positioning of the soundbar inside the room,
- The amount/type/positioning of other speakers (if there are any).
This is why you'll see someone swearing by the rich sound of the Arc, whereas at the same time, someone else admiring the Beam and finding the Arc only 10% better than the Beam (which, considering the much larger price gap, doesn't seem to worth it).
If you ignore the point I make above, I guarantee that you're just going to be making almost a random choice. You can, of course, make the right choice by chance - but obviously, I don't recommend that. Soundbars aren't cheap by any means.
Arc vs Beam: Use the acoustics calculator to reveal the best option for you
To solve this problem, I'd highly recommend you to take a few seconds to run our online tool given above.
- Input your room dimensions and then drag & drop the soundbar into the related area in the room.
- If you own other speakers, drag and drop them, too.
- As you see, the tool instantly adapts and develops a colormap - which reveals the spots inside the room with the best (green) and worst (red) low frequency response.
The soundbar we dragged into the tool here represents the standard soundbar anatomy - which, in our case, is the Beam Gen 2. Because the Arc is unusually wide, highly developed, and equipped with upfiring speakers.
- Read more about this tool at soundton.com/speaker-placement-calculator
Now...
Here's what this colormap tells us:
The greener the color of your listening point, the less the sound quality difference between the Arc and Beam will be.
Arc vs Beam: Conclusion
So...
- If the color the tool returns for your listening point turns out to be fairly green...
Then chances are, the added sound quality you'll get from the Arc will only be around, say, 10 to 20% with respect to the Beam.
Does it worth paying TWICE as much?
Well, only you can decide that. Value of audio quality is subjective. But it's safe to say that for most of us, say, 90% of us, the upgrade won't worth the extra price. Beam will more than cut it.
- If the color the tool returns for your listening point turns out to be fairly red...
Then expect quite a bit added sound quality when upgrading from the Beam to the Arc.
Chances are, the added sound quality you'll get from the Arc will be around, say, 80 to 200% with respect to the Beam.
I'm just using them to give you a more accurate idea of how it feels in reality.