Since single-handedly starting the wireless hi-fi industry more than a decade ago, Sonos has continued to grow to its product lineup, introducing increasingly advanced devices. This week, the company debuted their most ambitious product yet, the Sonos Arc soundbar. With a wealth of features that are poised to make it one of the best soundbars available, the Sonos Arc promises to be not just a great home theater soundbar, but also an excellent all-around home speaker.
The Sonos Arc replaces the Playbar at the top of the brand’s home theater offerings, and clocks in quite a bit larger than that model. At 45 inches wide, the Sonos Arc was designed to better match today’s larger TVs both visually as well as sonically. Sonos’ new soundbar gets its name from a sleek arcing grill that runs its length; the grill is perforated by tens of thousands of holes that let sound flow unimpeded while still protecting the advanced internals. The Arc is available in black or white finishes, and is designed to either rest on a TV stand or be wall mounted.
Behind that grill is Sonos’ most elaborate driver setup yet. A total of eleven drivers—eight woofers and three silk-dome tweeters—are each driven by a separate Class D amplifier. This speaker array ensures a full dynamic range and wide soundstage, two necessary traits for any serious replacement to a multichannel surround sound system. And thanks to precisely positioned drivers, the Sonos Arc is compatible with Dolby Atmos, imbuing your movie experience with height effects that would normally require separate speakers. A far-field microphone array gives you access to digital assistants (Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant), but also helps maximize sound quality. The Sonos Trueplay system uses those microphones to measure and analyze the acoustics of your room, then tunes the soundbar’s output to ensure it’s best matched to its surroundings. Like all Sonos speakers, the Arc soundbar can be synced with the Sonos Sub for more bass, or other speakers for a full surround sound system. And, of course, it can be used as a standalone wireless speaker, streaming music from any devices on your home network.
You can preorder the Sonos Arc now, with an expected ship date of June 20th.
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