Description
SONOS Arc – Powered sound bar/wireless music system with Dolby Atmos®, Apple AirPlay® 2, and built-in voice assistants
Sonos sound — now in 3D
Sonos makes some of our most popular and well-reviewed sound bars, so I’m really excited to see them expand their lineup with a Dolby Atmos-capable bar like Arc. Its streamlined cabinet houses an impressive eleven drivers, including custom elliptical woofers for rich bass. Side-firing and up-firing speakers team up with advanced signal processing to create a multi-dimensional soundstage full of depth and detail.
Voice control options
Arc has both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant built in, so when you want to play your favorite tunes, all you have to do is ask. And your assistant of choice can do more than just play music. You can ask for weather and traffic updates, create a shopping list, set reminders or alarms, and control connected smart home devices like lights and thermostats — all with your voice.
Don’t miss a word
Many of us struggle to hear dialogue over the background noise in our favorite shows and movies. Arc can help with that. In addition to a dedicated center channel, it has a Speech Enhancement option that can help make dialogue more intelligible, so you don’t have to turn on subtitles to keep up with the plot. This feature is accessed in the Sonos app.
Wireless home theater
Arc is going to be a huge improvement to your TV’s audio all on its own, but I like that Sonos gives you the option to expand the system as your space and budget allow.
If you want to add more deep bass rumble, pick up a Sonos Sub (Gen 3). It will make a big impact on both movies and music.
Add a pair of Sonos One SL speakers as wireless surrounds, and you’ve got a very robust home theater system. Everything connects to the Arc wirelessly, too, so you only need to plug them in for power.
Expand to other rooms
As a Sonos speaker, Arc can be part of a larger multi-room audio system. Expand into other rooms by adding a Sonos One or the larger Five, in every room where you want to listen to music. Or, you can even go portable with the more rugged, battery-powered Sonos Move. You can set up the players to work on your existing Wi-Fi® network.
Or, you can connect any Sonos speaker to your network router, and Sonos will create its own dedicated wireless network for even better performance. You can also use a Sonos Boost to create this network if you can’t place a speaker near your router.
My impressions
As a longtime Sonos user, I was really excited to get to try Arc at home. For nearly a week, I happily put it through its paces with all kinds of content. And though my TV is actually slightly too old to pass a Dolby Atmos signal through to Arc, I didn’t feel like I was missing out. That’s because this bar renders everything it plays with a wide, expansive soundfield.
I’ll admit that we sometimes overuse the word “immersive” in this business, but it is a very accurate description of this bar. I tested it with and without the Sub and surrounds, and when I watched the original Batman, I actually had to check the Sonos app several times to make sure I had turned off the surround speakers. It really sounded like bullets were ricocheting all around me in the shootout at Axis Chemicals, and all of that sound was coming from Arc alone.
And while it’s clear that Arc was designed with home theater in mind, it’s still a Sonos speaker so music sounds great, too. It’s also their widest bar yet with precisely placed driver arrays that get used to create a spacious and engaging soundstage whether you’re playing an action film or your favorite music playlist. When I first started testing it, I cranked some Lady Gaga from TIDAL, and my sister came bopping down the stairs like she was sure there was a party starting in the living room.
Easy streaming with AirPlay 2
Sonos Arc has AirPlay 2 built in. That means you can stream audio directly from your compatible Apple devices through your Sonos system.
And if you subscribe to Apple Music®, you can do even more. Use Siri on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV 4K to control Apple Music with voice commands. Tell it what selection or playlist to play — and which Sonos speakers you want it to play through.
Calibrated for your home
If you use the Sonos app on an iOS® device, you can use that iPhone or iPad to optimize Arc’s sound quality for the unique acoustics of your room. This feature — called Trueplay — uses the mic built into your iOS device to measure how the sound reflects off your walls and furnishings, and it adjusts Arc’s settings accordingly. It even calibrates the height channels.
Compatibility notes
Arc is very easy to get up and running. There is a single HDMI eARC port for connecting it to your TV. If your TV has eARC, you are all set to pass an Atmos signal through to your bar from either a connected Blu-ray player or your device’s streaming services.
If your TV doesn’t have eARC, you can still get great audio quality, but there are limitations on the types of signals that can pass through to Arc. If your TV is fairly new, there is a good chance that a simple ARC connection will pass the Dolby Digital Plus format that is used by streaming services to deliver an Atmos signal. If you’re unsure what formats your TV can pass, check the owner’s manual.
Arc will also work with TVs that don’t have HDMI thanks to the included HDMI to optical adapter. It will still sound a lot better than your TV, but you will not be able to pass an Atmos signal this way.
Product highlights:
- Dolby-Atmos capable sound bar with built-in voice control
- Plays TV sound, streaming music, and digital audio files from your home network
- Communicates with other Sonos players via Wi-Fi or a dedicated SonosNet wireless network
- 11 built-in speakers
- Eight custom elliptical woofers deliver rich bass
- Two up-firing drivers heighten the soundstage
- Dedicated center channel for clear dialogue
- Precisely angled side tweeters and advanced audio processing create enveloping home theater sound
- Supports ARC (Audio Return Channel) or eARC (enhanced Audio Return Channel) connections
- TVs with eARC allow Dolby Atmos passthrough via Dolby TrueHD or Dolby Digital Plus
- Dolby Atmos passthrough over ARC connections varies by TV model
- Optical digital audio adapter included as secondary connection option, but will not pass Dolby Atmos
- More details available from Sonos
- Stream sound from TV shows and movies to other Sonos speakers
- Speech Enhancement option helps clarify dialogue
- Built-in Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa for easy voice control
- Far-field microphone array can be muted with a tap
General voice control functions (common to both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant):
- Select which Sonos speakers to play
- Volume, play, pause, skip and repeat functions
- Set alarms and start timers
- Get weather reports, news updates, time, sports and stock reports
- Select streaming music services such as Spotify, Pandora, and Deezer (subscriptions required for some services)
- Select radio stations through iHeartRadio or TuneIn Radio
- Control compatible smart home products
- Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant selectable as default voice control for speaker
Amazon Alexa voice control functions:
- Amazon Alexa app control
- Free download from Apple App Store® and Google Play
- Control Amazon Alexa built-in compatible streaming services such as Amazon Music, Apple Music, and SiriusXM (subscription required for some services)
- Add items to your shopping list (requires Amazon Prime account)
- Access to Alexa skills, such as compatible smart home commands, Audible books, and more (subscriptions required for some services)
Google Assistant functions:
- Google Home app control
- Free download from Apple App Store and Google Play
- Control Chromecast built-in-compatible streaming services such as TIDAL, Google Play Music, and YouTube Music (subscription required for some services)
- Add items to your shopping list
Sonos control app:
- Free download from Apple App Store and Google Play
- Compatible with Apple® and Android™ devices
- Play the same song on multiple Sonos speakers, or have different music playing on each one
- Trueplay automatically adjusts Sonos speakers to your room for optimum performance
- Trueplay currently works with iOS® devices only
- Plays MP3 and WMA streaming internet radio stations
- Plays MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, FLAC, AIFF, ALAC, Ogg Vorbis, and WAV files
- Plays personalized internet radio stations from Pandora
- Stream music from online services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Rhapsody, TIDAL, Qobuz and more (subscription required for some services)
Other features:
- Apple AirPlay® 2 lets you stream directly from iOS devices and ask Siri to play Apple Music
- Ethernet port for wired connection to your home network
- Pair with a Sonos Sub and two Sonos One SL Speakers to create a complete wireless home theater surround sound system
- Wall-mountable
- Magnetic sensor detects mounting and automatically adjusts EQ accordingly
- Ambient light sensor adjusts status LEDs according to room brightness
- Requires AC power (cable included)
- Dimensions (W x H x D): 45″(1143mm) x 3-1/2″(88,9mm) x 4-1/2″(114,3mm)
- Weight: 13.78 lbs. (6,25kgs)
