Sonos - Arc

I got the arc…. Then went back and got the sub. What a difference

100% the answer is Sonos. The Beam Gen 2 soundbar is a solid soundbar that offers decent atmos sound. The next step up to the Sonos Arc or Arc Ultra will hit different if you're not worried about cost. Add a Sonos Sub and that's all you'll need. I say this as someone that has a Klipsch Reference Premier 5.1.2 setup with a Denon 2800h receiver in my living room. I use the soundbar setup in my bedroom and it has pretty good quality. Does it hit quite the same as Atmos in a true home theater setup? Of course not, but it's still a damn good soundbar choice that gives you the Atmos you want.

Sonos arc is by far the best soundbar out there

If you don't care 'much' about Atmos sound then the Fives are the solution. I will say get the arc though because in the future you can run the arc as a soundbar and add other speakers. You will not be able to use the era 100s/300s or Fives for TV sound. Just my thoughts.

That was the idea. Stand alone power for a bedroom. Amazing. I left my Arc, era 300’s and 2 subs in the theatre room and kept Ultra in the bedroom without subs and surrounds.

In your opinion. Everyone’s ears are different. As a stand alone unit you are correct but when used in surround it’s not so obvious. It’s not worth $500 more to upgrade from the Arc.

Still have a Playbar in my downstairs den paired with two Play:3s. I only replaced my upstairs Playbar to an Arc a few years ago because the little flapper door for the optical cable input broke and it would no longer hold the plug in place. Perfectly working otherwise, what shame to have to junk it. Sonos said they can't fix that so they gave us a nice deal for an update to Arc. While on this subject, is there any advantage to using an HDMI from eARC/ARC to the Playbar utilizing Sonos' HDMI to Optical adapter? Or is there nothing to gain over using an Optical cable?

Got a Sonos Arc (not the Ultra) for the wife, and she's happy with it. I have the Q990F in the living room. You can get the Sonos Arc or Arc Ultra and later add the Sub and the rear speakers. I'm amazed with the Sonos Arc; it sounds like I have rear speakers. As a standalone soundbar, the Sonos Arc music reproduction is top-tier. The Q990F, on the other hand, is great for movies and gaming. Not that the Sonos Arc isn't good for gaming, but Samsung's game mode just sounds amazing. I use my Q990F as a reference because it's literally the same as the Q990D, just with 100 watts more, a revamped subwoofer, and an IAMF decoder (aka Eclipsa Audio). I would say if you want a complete system, go for the Q990D. If you don't have the space for the rear speakers or you want a more simplistic look, go with the Sonos Arc Ultra, knowing that later you can add a sub and rear speakers if you choose to.

I had a really cheap sound system before I got a Beam Gen 1 and I didn’t really get blown away either. I did start enjoying it a lot more once I added surround speakers and other Sonos speakers for each room for multi room audio. I eventually upgraded to the Arc and that was a decent jump in quality.

I’ve never had any issues everyone talks about and I got the arc second hand except the sub 3 and era 300 there all amazing no drop outs app works perfect been a few years and still strong! They produce incredible sound love it and I can’t recommend it enough. Pricing wise I do agreee it is expensive that’s why I went second hand cheap and perfect