Sonos Beam review: Smaller, smarter but still stunning sound

Sonos might not be primarily known for TV sound: it is famous for its internet-connected speakers, which can stream music from just about anywhere in lush audio. But that works just as well when stuck under your television, bringing great sound and all the same smarts to your films and shows.

It came first with the Playbar, a long rectangle of speakers that was the first Sonos speaker to plug into your TV; that was followed by the Playbase, which sat under the television rather than in front of it. Now Sonos has brought the Beam, which takes the best of everything it has done so far and shrinks it down.

Until now, bringing Sonos into your living room meant some big – literally – compromises. The Playbar and Playbase are both very large, meaning that small TVs or living rooms can make them look out of place. They also don't have voice control, meaning that they are lacking when compared with other speakers in the living room, including the Sonos One.

The Beam goes on sale in July for £399 and fixes all that. It is small, for one, meaning that it can slot happily in front of a smaller TV and won't take up too much space in your living room. And it packs that box full of smarts, allowing you to control it by talking to it through Alexa, and it to control your TV.

Taken together, it adds up to what Sonos claims is the perfect all-in-one box for your living room. And it's true: this soundbar not only replaces your TV soundsystem, but also your stereo and maybe even your remote control.

Despite everything the system can do, setting it up is incredibly simple. The Beam only has three ports in it: a plug for power, ethernet should you wanted wired internet, and an HDMI port that receives sound and controls your TV, all of which sit alongside a button you use to set it up.

With everything plugged in, you're guided through the setup process through the app on your phone. It works the same as every other Sonos product, allowing you to choose whatever streaming services you use as well as use the special TruePlay software, which listens to how your room sounds and adjusts the audio accordingly.

When you start watching the TV, it becomes clear that a shrunken size doesn't mean shrunken sound. All of the audio is very wide – it has left and right speakers that throw it out beside you – and the sound itself is pristinely clear.

Big noises like those from action films are hefty and chunky, with sounds like explosions surprisingly thumping despite the limited size.

You can alter that sound with two special modes: a dialogue enhancer that boosts people's voices, and a night mode that quietens louder sounds so you can still hear but won't wake up the neighbours. In practice, you're unlikely to use them – the speaking mode isn't really necessary, and it's much easier to turn the sound down in the traditional way than engage the night mode.

After watching TV, the Beam will turn everything off for you, too. The inclusion of HDMI-Arc, a technology that lets TVs be controlled through the HDMI cable, means that you can talk to the speaker and tell it to turn your television off or on. This is fantastic, and means you can do away with your remote for much of the time – so long as your TV supports it, which most new sets do, but older ones might not.

The beauty of the Sonos system is that if you buy the Beam and eventually find yourself wanting more heft, you can hook it up in a system with other speakers made by the same company. You can add two speakers at the back for surround sound – you can get the Beam and two Play:1s for the same price as the Playbar or Playbase – or you can buy the expensive Sub for explosive sound.

TV sound only accounts for half of the Beam's performance, though, and just like every other Sonos speaker it has been specifically crafted to allow you to listen to music. It does just as well on that front.

Listening to music, the sound is full and wide, taking advantage of that array of speakers to send out your tunes in a rich and spacious way. It's not especially loud – though it's easily loud enough to fill a small room – and the sound is still very big, with a rigorous separation of instruments, thick and luscious bass and a beefy sound that makes songs ring out.

Of course, the Beam has all the advantages of Sonos' big ecosystem: it can talk to other speakers in your house, allowing you to have fully synced multiroom audio, controlled from an app that can tap into basically every streaming service. And it reaches out beyond that ecosystem, too, with the inclusion of Apple's AirPlay, Spotify control and Alexa, all of which mean that you can control the Beam from just about anywhere or anything.

It makes for a compelling music experience, and the perfect sound system for entertaining or listening to albums. And it also happens to be a brilliant soundbar, too.