Sonos has announced Beam (Gen 2), a new version of its industry-leading compact smart soundbar for TV, music, gaming and more.

The new Beam delivers an upgraded, more immersive sound experience with greater depth and clarity, as well as support for Dolby Atmos.

Sonos also revealed plans to offer both Ultra HD and Dolby Atmos Music later this year via Amazon Music, giving listeners the ability to experience the highest quality streaming music and immersive 3D audio.

Sonos chief executive Patrick Spence says: “We often talk about ‘Hollywood at Home’ being a real catalyst for our business and Beam has played a huge part in this as one of the top-selling soundbars in its category. Taking what we’ve learned over the years about great listening and home theatre, we’ve found a way to bring new features and significantly better sound to Beam, all in the same compact size that has proven extremely popular with customers.”

Improvements to the latest Beam include:

• 3D Audio with Dolby Atmos: Immersive sound technology that places you in the centre of the action, whether it’s experiencing planes as if they were flying overhead, hearing footsteps moving across the room or feeling the score all around you.
• Enhanced Sound, Same Size: With more processing power and newly developed phased speaker arrays, Beam steers and localises sound around the room for a lifelike experience. The speaker is also now compatible with HDMI eARC on your TV, so you can experience your favourite movies and games in even higher definition sound with support for new audio formats.
• Sleeker Design: An updated polycarbonate grille that’s precisely perforated allows the speaker to sound great and blend seamlessly into your home, just like Sonos Arc.
• Easy, More Secure Set-Up: With just two cables and new NFC capabilities, setup is seamless and will have you listening in minutes. Simply open the Sonos app, follow a few prompts and tap your phone to Beam.
• Sustainable Sound: The new Beam features sustainable packaging, including a premium uncoated kraft paper, a gift box made of 97% sustainable paper and no single-use foam. Like all Sonos products, the new Beam was tuned with the input of the Sonos Soundboard – a collection of leaders across music, film and more – to deliver the best and most authentic sound experience. You can also fine tune Beam’s sound with Trueplay, which detects and adapts the speaker’s sound for reflections off of walls and furniture, giving you the best listening experience for your room and setup.

Beam (Gen 2) will be available from 6 October for AUD$699 on sonos.com and through participating retailers.