My ancient Sonos PlayBar died on Black Friday, now I'm replacing it with this Cyber Monday Sonos deal

I was happily watching television after a long day of writing about Black Friday deals and suddenly the sound cut out. I tried changing the volume, turning the TV off and back on again, then restarted my Sonos PlayBar and realised it was DOA. After speaking to Sonos support I realised it’s time for an upgrade.

Now, unexpected breakages are never welcome, but as timing goes, breaking over Black Friday, when the brand has up to 20% off most of its range, is pretty fortunate.

I’ve decided to replace the now-broken PlayBar with the second-generation Beam soundbar, mainly because I’m fully invested in the Sonos ecosystem and because I like the design.

While not the biggest nor most advanced Sonos soundbar, the Beam is still a highly-rated soundbar. It packs some serious tech into a streamlined slab, small enough to sit beneath screens of pretty much any size.

And this Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) it’s even more of a winning package, with £120 off. That means you can pick up the Sonos Beam for just £379 at John Lewis, instead of the usual £499.

What makes the Sonos Beam 2 so good?

With identical proportions to its predecessor, the Gen 2 Beam is set apart by its polycarbonate grille. Flip it around, and you’ll find a minimal array of inputs and outputs, including a single HDMI port – now an eARC number. Why’s that significant? Because it has the bandwidth to carry higher-quality streams, including Dolby Atmos.

Sonos Beam 2 | was £499 | now £379 | save £120 at Sonos

A new, 40% faster chip pushes the sonic limits for a soundbar this size, creating two new audio paths for a virtual surround sound experience. It’s easy to set-up, and, if you have existing Sonos speakers, fits perfectly into your home.

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The Gen 2 Beam features the same acoustic architecture as the first, but Sonos employs psychoacoustic techniques across five speaker arrays to trick your ears into believing sound is around and above you. Without upward-firing speakers, it’ll never deliver as much immersion as a full Atmos speaker setup. But the Gen 2 does a surprisingly effective job of replicating overhead effects – and the soundstage is impressively expansive for a compact soundbar.

It’s a simple, effective solution for superior sound – and you can always add a Sub if you want more oomph. We scored it five stars out of five in our review (notice how good Sonos gear is?), so rest assured your ears will be looked after with this soundbar.

Is this a good deal?

Yes, this Sonos Beam 2 price at John Lewis is a good deal. The Beam 2 has been discounted across the internet, but John Lewis is the cheapest price we could find.

Most places, like Sonos’ own website, have knocked £100 off, bringing the price to £399.

John Lewis , Currys, and Amazon have the cheapest prices around, bringing the price down to £379.

Find more prices from different retailers in our widget below:

About

As Buying Guide Editor, Spencer is responsible for all e-commerce content on Stuff, overseeing buying guides as well as covering deals and new product launches. Spencer has been writing about consumer tech for over eight years. He has worked on some of the biggest publications in the UK, where he covered everything from the emergence of smartwatches to the arrival of self-driving cars. During this time, Spencer has become a seasoned traveller, racking up air miles while travelling around the world reviewing cars, attending product launches, and covering every trade show known to man, from Baselworld and Geneva Motor Show to CES and MWC. While tech remains one of his biggest passions, Spencer also enjoys getting hands-on with the latest luxury watches, trying out new grooming kit, and road-testing all kinds of vehicles, from electric scooters to supercars.