Pretty small release this week, unless you’re planning to pick up an iPhone Duo next week! Sonos 27.2 brings App 90.1 to iOS today. It’s in the App Store now, so you can update manually. Nothing to announce for Android today, but of course we’ll let you know when there is.

Small release, brief post. Anybody getting an iPhone Duo on day one?

Apple now supports four HomePods with the new Apple TV 4K, and Sony has the Trio and the Quad. Samsung, LG, JBL and Bose are also moving toward more flexible multi-speaker setups, even if some still rely on a soundbar.

Meanwhile, Sonos makes the Era 300, one of the best wireless speakers in this category, but won’t let four of them work together as one native system.

For music, I still think Sonos sounds better than most of the competition. But that lead matters less if everyone else is catching up on multi-room, easy setup and AI. “The multi-room brand” isn’t as distinctive as it used to be.

I own the Arc Ultra too. It’s great for TV, but for music it’s not in the same league as a stereo pair of Era 300s. Vocals on the Eras are clearer and better separated, while on the Arc Ultra they sit farther back. Sonos doesn’t even offer independent center-channel control to compensate.

I have four Era 300s and two Sub Minis, and I’ve run immersive listening sessions for my friends, sometimes 20 of them. They’re always excited by the immersion, scale, separation, bass and hearing new details in familiar tracks. Nobody asks about AI. I’ll probably do a follow-up post on those sessions and the tracks I use, but they made one thing obvious: the hardware can do more than Sonos currently allows, and Sonos doesn’t give it the credit and marketing it deserves.

I considered switching to a Denon AVR with DALI or AudioSolutions speakers and an SVS sub, but besides the cost, I’d lose the simplicity and portability that made me choose Sonos.

Sonos doesn’t need to become an AVR company. It needs a native upgrade path: four Eras, one or two Sub Minis, an optional center or small HDMI/eARC hub, and the same easy setup it’s already good at. It should also promote better that compatible speakers can play spatial audio directly through the app, no TV needed. That’s exactly the kind of convenience that makes the ecosystem valuable.

I get why focusing on soundbars and portable speakers makes business sense, but it makes less sense as the market moves toward flexible setups. And no matter how good soundbar processing gets, stereo will always be stereo. With Sonos 27 and the app’s recent recovery, the platform feels alive again. The company seems to be listening and learning from its mistakes, and that’s a good sign.

I just hope that amidst the rush for AI, headphones and soundbars, Sonos remembers its primary foundation: being an exceptional audio company.

All the other stuff matters because of what ultimately comes out of the speakers.

So now that even Apple is on board, why is Sonos the one company that won’t let four Sonos speakers become a Sonos system?

Any possibility in near future that the Five is gonna get smart i.e get a Mic Input, Get Dolby Atmos, have a Smart AI assistant ? Are there any rumours about this ?

Dear Sonos folks that frequent this sub: Please consider an option to turn off the green lights that indicate the speakers are muted. Especially on soundbars. I frequently have my TV muted and don't want to stare at green lights when it is. It made me sad to have to put a piece of electrical tape on my fancy new Beam Ultra.

Thank you.

My plan is to run four in ceiling speakers for the patio.

From my understanding that would require setting two speakers as left and two speakers as right. Is that correct?

Also does anyone have experience with outdoor in ceiling speakers they would recommend. Of course they will not get water contact (hopefully) but I'm thinking more about condensation humidity etc.

I very often saw posts on this subreddit asking questions about adding a Sub to a stereo pair of Fives. Many people state that the Sub Mini will do better, other people say the Sub 4 is great and many people also find that the Sub (especially the big sub) destroys the warm sound of the Fives.

I tested my stereo pair now with bot the Sub 4 and Sub Mini for a few weeks and wanted to share my impressions. Disclaimer: I used trueplay for both sub configurations.

The Sub 4 + Stereo Pair fives imo is the best experience you could have for bass-heavy music like House, Techno and so on. The soundstage really opens up and elements in songs can be located pretty well. Without the Sub, it sounds a bit more muffled to me and more kind of compressed in overall sound. The sub bass range has noticeably improved with the Sub. The sound in the 30-50 Hz area is much more stable, especially when you want to turn up the volume higher than 50%. Any kind of artifacts like small amount of distortion is gone, the sound is extremely clean and bass is more precise with Sub 4. If you want to, turn the sub level up and you will be wrapped in pure clean bass. Dubstep just hits, Techno shakes the room and House makes you dancing all day. ;-) However, I’d prefer the crossover point a bit lower than it’s been set by Sonos. I estimate it’s currently set around 100 Hz, I’d prefer 70-80 Hz. Because of that, the overall sound profile changes a lot, from previously quite warm to now colder, more analytic but with a strange reduction between 100-150 Hz. For music genres where the bass is not the main “fun factor”, this makes a mostly unwanted difference. It can sound rather flat than full, paired with some harshness in the low mids that were previously “hidden” by the focus on the warmth around 150 Hz area.

that leads us to the Sub Mini. In comparison to the big brother, the bass output is noticeably weaker and does not reach the same depth and fullness as the Sub 4. In the bass area, it does not make a big difference compared to the Fives on their own. Yes, bass is more clean and precise but not as deep and impactful as from the Fives themselves. Also, the fives and Sub Mini play most frequencies at the same time (100-45 Hz, then the Sub Mini tries to take over the rest on the low end, but the Sub 4 in that range is another world compared to the Sub Mini). this overlapping quite often causes phase issues for me in specific frequency ranges and is something I’ve never experienced with the Sub 4. Overall, the Sub Mini and Five do not match for me in the same way the Sub 4 does. The fives keep their warmth but the overall sound does not improve that much because of overlapping instead of real crossover. The only thing that improves is more clean deep bass below 50 Hz, but with a bit less impact than the Fives on their own. Soundstage is more impressive with the big Sub as well.

I think the music taste matters a lot. For bass-heavy music, I’d choose the big Sub. With Reuplay tuning, you have clean bass at your listening spot that can be extended or kept more neutral and a bit studio-like. If you can live with the change in sound around 100-150 Hz for your music taste, go for the Sub 4. Otherwise, keep the fives on their own. don’t add the Sub Mini. It‘s not worth the price. You really hear that this sub is rather made for smaller satellites like the Era 100s as it matches the bass output of those speakers more than the rich, deep bass of the Fives. with Era 100s + Sub Mini, I think the improvements are the same as for Fives + Sub 4. Era 100s bass that is not as deep and rich as the Fives will be cleaner, but for the Fives, the Sub mini rather feels like a small downgrade, even if the bass is more clean.

Yikes… Guess there was a lot of complaining in the comments section. I saw it the first day and people complained about the difficulty 🤷🏽‍♀️
https://youtu.be/E6hwmCaTIXY?is=aKCODkbpSAck2mRN

I did some research myself and saw that the ray might be a worthwhile consideration because it does not support Dolby Atmos. Because if the tv is outside it does have much to bounce sound off of. I have an Arc in the living room. Out of the question for outside. I don’t want to put something that expensive outside.

Would the Ray make the most sense because if the lack of Dolby Atmos? Or should I just go with a beam?

I am not sure if anyone else had the same experience. Before IOS 27 apple music played through apple tv was much better experience as the rear surrounds was also played. But now i cant hear anything from rear surrounds while stereo content is played through apple tv, however playing directly from the app is a much better experience now. I dont know why apple made such a change.

I’ve got a small retail space (1500 sq ft) and want to install a Sonos system. Not sure where to start but any advice would be great. I’m hoping 4 x in - ceiling speakers will cover the space but also wondering would 4 Era 100 SL do the same job ? Thanks for your help

Hey all,

A week ago I stood in front of an Arc Ultra, and was so absolutely mindblown I bought it on the spot, along with a new Samsung M80HD 75" tv. I hurry home, hook it up (eARC) and Im very underwhelmed. The unit in store had spatial audio, whole room, 7.1 type sounds out of (seemingly) just the bar (the woofers were to the left), rattling bass and excellent mids. The standalone bar doesnt do any of that, it just sounds like a slightly nice 2.1.

Am I missing something to get what the store experience was? Do I actually need the woofer and maybe the Eras too, or am I not feeding it the quality audio channels it needs to give me the same experience from the store? Sound bar is about 2 feet under the tv and against the wall. Ive checked my output settings and the only app settings I see are bass and treble... I wanna love this thing and my gut says im missing something. Any thoughts or help is greatly appreciated, thanks all.

Hi! I recently purchased two Sonos Era 100 speakers and paired them to use as left and right speakers for my TV. I’m also planning to add a Sub Mini at some point.

My wife would like to get a turntable, and I noticed that the Pro-Ject T1 Evo Phono Turntable is listed on the Sonos website. From what I understand, it needs to be connected to a Sonos speaker via a wired connection to work with the system. Unfortunately, both of my current speakers are too far away from where we would put the turntable.

Would it be possible to add a third Era 100 near the turntable and connect it there, while keeping the other two speakers set up as they are?

Ideally, I’d like to have:

- Two Era 100 speakers on either side of the TV for stereo sound.
- A third Era 100 and the turntable on a table behind the couch.
- A Sub Mini to add more bass.

Would I be able to use all three Era 100 speakers and the Sub Mini together when watching TV through my Apple TV, and then use the same setup to play music from the turntable?

I’m new to the Sonos ecosystem, so I’m still learning how the speakers, rooms, and audio sources work together. I’d appreciate any advice on whether this setup would work and how best to configure it.

Thanks!

A month ago I shared a physical remote I built for my Sonos system, with four rotary encoders for volume, bass, treble and sub. Your comments were really helpful, so I kept working on it. Here’s what’s new:

• New name: EQX. Several of you pointed out that a project like this shouldn’t carry the Sonos name, so I changed it.
• Mode 2 (multi-volume). Each of the four knobs now controls the volume of a different room. Assignments are saved, and the screen shows each room’s name and current level.
• Mode 1 (single room). Works as before: volume, bass, treble and sub (only shown if the selected speaker has one), plus mute and next/previous track.
• System menu (long press on the treble knob). Rescan the network, switch modes, adjust brightness from 5 to 100%, and choose English or Spanish. Everything is saved between sessions.
• Battery and connectivity fixes. A steadier battery percentage, a charging indicator, a low-battery screen at startup, and a Wi-Fi error screen with automatic retry instead of freezing.

It finds all your speakers automatically, ignores subs and satellites as separate zones, and remembers each one by its ID, so it keeps working if the name or IP changes. It controls everything over your local network, with no cloud.

It’s still an early-stage prototype and I’m still polishing a few things, especially power management. In my own use the battery lasts roughly 2–3 days between charges, including nights in sleep mode.

Looking for feedback (and maybe a few beta testers). I’m gauging interest in hand-building a very small batch of prototypes for people with a Sonos setup. I’m based in Mexico, so shipping options and costs will depend on where you are (the lithium battery adds some restrictions). I don’t have any stock, and since this is an independent hobby project, I’d only be covering parts and shipping. If you’d still like to test one and share feedback, send me a DM, and I’ll let you know once I’ve polished the power management and Wi-Fi setup.

I’ll keep sharing progress here as the project evolves.

Which features would you like to see next?

Hi everyone,

I'm considering buying 4 Sonos Era 100s and setting them up as two stereo pairs grouped together in the same room.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has tried this setup:

• How does the music sound compared to a single stereo pair?
• Does it create a fuller soundstage or does it become too directional?
• Any issues with synchronization between the two stereo pairs?
• Has anyone used this setup for TV audio (through an Arc, Beam, or Ray)?
• Is there any noticeable latency or lip-sync issue when watching YouTube, Netflix, sports, etc.?
• If you've tested it, is the experience good enough for casual TV viewing or is it best reserved for music only?

Bonus points if you can share photos or YouTube videos demonstrating the setup in action.

Thanks! 🎵🔊

I was wrong! Pretty cool that the Move gen1 was included on this feature after all!

Hi,

I want to buy a sonos setup for my TV in my new house. First I wanted to go for arc ultra + sub 4 + surrounds (100 or 300). But after reading some topics here about adding 100s as front for wider sound stage, I was wondering: would a beam ultra + 2x 100s as front setup be better compared to an arc ultra?

Since I will be adding a sub I dont need the extra base of the Arc ultra. Im only worried about the dialogue and less upfiring speakers for atmos on the beam ultra. The upside is a wider soundstage...

Thoughts?

Checking my Ace Ultra, I do not have access to advanced EQ. Can anyone with the unit confirm it is actually available now? I am on Android, by the way. If you do have the option, can you confirm your app version and headphone firmware version too?

I have a Sonos Playbar, Sub (Gen 1?) and 2 Sonos 1's for rears.

My TV is old so i'm running through optical but i need to upgrade my TV and will purchase a Samsung S90H OLED. Figured it may be worth upgrading the Playbar as it lacks the connectivity and upward firing speakers etc...

I do like the sound of the setup i have so my question is thus...

Would the Sonos Arc ultra be more immersive for movies? Does anybody think it's subjectively better than the playbar?

Mostly using this for TV and movies daily. Music every now and then.

Many thanks.

Hello all, thought I would post on here to find out others experience with this feature when it comes to watching movies. I have the Beam Gen 2 and purchased the Sonos Ace (1st gen) on sale the other day due to the drop in price and so far have found myself wishing I had done it earlier.

The TVSwap feature is a godsend and I enjoy the Spatial audio but I am left wondering, is the head tracking supposed to be so severe/narrow? Not sure if that's even the right terminology to describe what my experience was but the slightest head movement does shift the audio dramatically. The reason i'm asking is because I have both Bose QC Ultra Gen 2/Airpods Pro 3 which both have their own form of head tracking/immersive audio but theirs doesn't shift the sound like the Sonos does. I should clarify that the audio was in Dolby Atmos (via Netflix/Apple TV) and i'm still happy with them, but wondering what other users do when watching movies.

Anyone notice the surround levels has change?

Arc ultra front, Era 300 rear

I currently have a Sony TV and one Sonos Era 300 placed next to it, which I use for listening to music and using Alexa(sonos era 300) for timers and weather updates. Lately, I've been thinking about getting a soundbar.

What should I buy to upgrade my movie-watching experience while making the most of my Sonos Era 300? Or would it be better to keep the Sonos Era 300 strictly for music and Alexa, and get a separate soundbar exclusively for watching movies?

I used Gemini to tell me the best placement of the era 300s since my bed is butted up against the wall, and reading conflicting things about having them inverted, Can someone that is knowledgeable confirm if Ai is correct and this is the best spot?

Rear Right Speaker Placement

• Location: On a wall mount or dedicated floor stand along the right wall (near the window, just slightly behind or parallel to the head of the bed).
• Height: Mounted or placed roughly 8 to 12 inches above head height when you are sitting/lying on the bed facing the TV.
• Orientation: Pointed straight forward toward the TV/Arc Ultra (do not angle them directly at your ears, as Era 300 drivers bounce surround and height channels off adjacent walls and ceilings).

2. Rear Left Speaker Placement

• Location: On the left side of the bed, either mounted on the back wall near the corner or placed on a speaker stand in the space between the nightstand area and the walkway/doorway.
• Spacing: Try to match the distance from the center of the bed as closely as possible to the Right speaker so the soundstage remains balanced.

Will Apple’s new HomeView integrate directly with the Sonos app, allowing me to control my Sonos system through the HomeView screen? I assume AirPlay will work, but I’m specifically interested in full Sonos app integration and control.

TIA

Sonos arc ultra on the sofa table near window exposed to sun in Norway, do I risk of discoloration or color fading on the Sonos Arc Ultra?

Left for away for 35 days and will be standing another 10 days in Norway in Oslo