Welcome to the “First Look” of the Sonos Beam Ultra.
Kind of product?
The Sonos Beam Ultra is a mid-size, wall-mountable or console-friendly soundbar built to anchor a home theater setup. It keeps the compact footprint of the standard Beam but adds nine custom drivers, including two dedicated upward-firing tweeters, to unlock true 7.1.2 Dolby Atmos instead of virtual surround.
Brand?
Sonos, the Santa Barbara-based audio company behind one of the most widely adopted multi-room wireless speaker systems in the world, with more than 17 million households across 60-plus countries already inside its ecosystem.
Current price?
The Sonos Beam Ultra is priced at $699 / €699. Pre-orders opened on September 1, 2026 at sonos.com and select retail partners, with general availability set for September 29, 2026.
What’s in the box?
- Sonos Beam Ultra
- Power cable
- HDMI cable
- Set-up guide and legal/warranty information
Features?
The Sonos Beam Ultra brings:
- True 7.1.2 Dolby Atmos: nine drivers, including two upward-firing tweeters loaded into directional horns, place sound above and around the room instead of faking it with virtual surround processing.
- Redesigned center channel: a forward-firing mid tweeter and four levels of AI Speech Enhancement keep dialogue clear.
- Night Sound: automatically levels out loud effects and quiet dialogue for late-night viewing.
- Trueplay tuning: calibrates the soundbar’s output to the shape and furnishings of the room it’s placed in.
- Expandable by design: groups with other Sonos speakers, adds a Sonos Sub for deeper bass, or recruits compatible portable speakers as rear surrounds.
- Flexible connections: WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, HDMI eARC and USB-C (for line-in or ethernet via optional adapters) cover most home theater setups.
Key Specifications
- Drivers: 9 total — 5 tweeters (1 forward-firing, 2 side-firing horn-loaded, 2 upward-firing) and 4 woofers
- Amplification: 9 Class-D digital amplifiers
- Dimensions: 750 x 105 x 65 mm
- Weight: 2.88 kg
- Connectivity: WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, HDMI eARC, USB-C
- Voice control: Sonos Voice Control, plus a far-field mic array with a physical mute switch
- Colors: Black, White
- Processor: Quad-core 4x Cortex-A55 @ 1.9GHz
Closer look?
The Sonos Beam Ultra shows a soundbar that keeps the low, unobtrusive profile of the standard Beam — just wide enough to sit in front of most 55- to 65-inch TVs without stealing the spotlight. The matte black or white finish and the fabric-wrapped driver grille point to the same living-room-friendly design language Sonos has used since the original Beam, so on paper the Sonos Beam Ultra doesn’t look like a soundbar that announces itself with an oversized cabinet — full listening impressions will have to wait for a review.
For whom is this product?
Sonos already sells the larger, pricier Arc Ultra ($999) for true 9.1.4 Atmos in a bigger cabinet, and the outgoing Beam (Gen 2) for virtual surround at a lower price. On specs and price alone, the Sonos Beam Ultra reads as the middle ground: real object-based Atmos, in a compact form, for less money than the flagship. That makes it a fit for apartment living rooms, secondary home theaters, or anyone upgrading from a TV’s built-in speakers with a single soundbar that can grow into a full system later.
Conclusion?
The Sonos Beam Ultra looks like a meaningful update rather than a cosmetic refresh: real Dolby Atmos hardware, a redesigned center channel for dialogue, and the same plug-and-grow philosophy that made the Sonos system popular, in a soundbar barely bigger than its non-Atmos predecessor. Whether the nine-driver array actually delivers the “sound above and around you” promise in a real room is a question for the full review once units start shipping on September 29.
