When it comes to the best soundbars, Sonos has been a major contender with the likes of its Arc and Beam (Gen 2) products. The latter of those has really resonated with many buyers, too, but now there's a new small soundbar competitor in town that's well worthy of your attention.
I'm talking about the brand new Sennhesier Ambeo Mini, the smallest of the company's now trio of soundbars, the two previous releases from which – the original Ambeo and (bizarrely smaller-size, despite its name) Ambeo Plus – have been much bigger designations.
The Ambeo Mini, which is a very similar size and scale to the Sonos Beam Gen 2 – the Sennhesier measures 65 x 700 x 100mm (HxWxD) for those eager to measure out their AV equipment stand – delivers bigger in one key area though: its bass delivery starts at 43Hz, which is sub-bass level, meaning this one-box solution won't have you pining for a separate subwoofer.
Now I'm not saying the Sonos Beam Gen 2 doesn't deliver when it comes to low-end frequency, because it does. It's just that on paper the Sennheiser's specification is extra punchy – and, as noted in T3's review, it's this small-size big-bass delivery that really helps set the Ambeo Mini apart from the crowd when it comes to soundbars for small TVs.
So what's the catch? Well, as you can see from the embedded shopping widget above, the Sonos' price tag is reasonable. The Sennheiser? It'll be even pricier when it goes on sale from 1st September, with a £699/$799/AU$1299 price tag. That's a whole lot of cash for a smaller soundbar – even some of the best 43in TVs cost less than that!
I do still think the Ambeo Mini will be a winner for those who don't want to ever have a separate subwoofer though. And with its Dolby Atmos-capable decoding you'll get a pseudo surround setup (7.1.4-channels, according to the company) when it comes to three-dimensional audio output, no extras required. Plus this wall-of-sound bass, volume and clarity actually means you could more discreetly pair this little soundbar with larger-scale TVs if you wished, adding versatility to its repertoire too.
And on a total side note, the Ambeo Mini press release included this frankly whacky shot (below), which I simply must share with you all as an ending note. I didn't realise small foxes were a new unit of measurement, but as you can see this Sennheiser soundbar is approximately one fox long...
