Raising The Roof

The ever-expanding Sonos ecosystem is bringing a premium audio experience to wherever you want it, whenever you want it, at the touch of a button…

Imagine being able to open an app and play music in every single room of your house with the touch of a button? Maybe it’s music one second, but then you’re watching TV in surround sound the next. How about a little bit louder in the kitchen, and a little quieter in the bedroom? What about different music playing in different areas, but all controlled through the one device? Inside or outside.

And what if I told you, the quality of that audio was not only excellent, but that the speakers were aware of the space and the objects in it, able to automatically adjust the equaliser to match. This is the landscape I’ve created in my house with Sonos and I’m loving it.

THE ROOF SPEAKER CONUNDRUM

It all started with a desire to install some roof speakers. I was doing renovations to my living room and wanted to install an audio solution that looked great and would sound fantastic for many years to come. I’d previously had a few Sonos speakers, such as the spatial audio of the Era 300 and the outdoor, weather resistant Move 2, and I had been super impressed with the sound. Sonos speakers never distort, offering an extremely balanced soundscape across the lows, mids and highs.

So, when I discovered that Sonos had an In-Ceiling Speaker Kit (in partnership with Sonance), which includes dual speakers plus an amplifier, I decided to give it ago. The Sonos amp is unusual: small, black and sleek, without any dials. Not what I was used to. However, it can handle six speakers at once, in an array of three lefts and three rights.

I bought the initial kit, then two additional packs of dual speakers. The six speakers then ran the length of my long open-plan kitchen/lounge space in two parallel rows of three. I wired these all back to a cupboard near my TV and connected them to the Sonos amp. While the speakers themselves are wired, the amp uses Wi-Fi. Once installed, I opened the Sonos app on my iPad and initiated Trueplay, a feature that sadly only works on iOS devices. Trueplay uses the speakers to map your room and the objects in it, then optimise the equaliser.

Finally, within the Sonos app I choose Spotify from a host of paired music platforms and played some Hermitude. The results were fantastic. The same wonderfully balanced sound that hits all the right notes without getting muddled or distorted. With volume to spare, too. But this was just the start. With a tap of a button, I got the same music playing through my Move 2 on the balcony, and the Era 300 in the bedroom. A meaty, house-wide sound.

SYNCING A SOUNDBAR

With a taste of a Sonos house experience now in the palm of my hands, I was getting addicted. I wanted more. So, I began looking at the Arc Ultra. This just released soundbar looks like any regular home theatre sound solution, but inside it’s a bit of a technical marvel. It uses a new transducer technology to create just as much bass from a speaker a third of the size of a convention transducer. Then with the extra space, Sonos was able to squeeze in six mid-range drivers and seven tweeters.

The resulting 14-speaker setup can deliver a 9.1.4 Dolby Atmos surround sound experience. There are dual channel height speakers to give you a front to back soundscape, multiple side speaker arrays to give you plenty of sound width, and a centre speaker that offers precise control over movie dialogue. All equalised automatically to make the most of my space.

Now, when I’m watching TV, I not only get this precise, room adjusted audio experience from the Arc Ultra, but I can also let it play through the ceiling speakers. This allows me to walk over to the kitchen and prepare some dinner, while still hearing the footy clear as day. When I’m listening to music through my in-ceiling speakers, I can take the reverse approach, too. Adding my soundbar into the mix, so it’s pumping beats in time with the rest of the ecosystem.

BUILDING AN ECOSYSTEM

So, what’s next? I’m thinking about the new Sonos Sub 4 to add some super low, dedicated bass to the mix. The neighbours are sure to love it. If not, I might look into the Sonos Ace, a Bluetooth headset with a unique feature that allows you to toggle a button on its side to transfer anything happening on your soundbar direct to the headset. The idea being to create a cinema experience just for one when the rest of the house wants to sleep.

Of course, it’s not all perfect. There are things that can be improved and Sonos certainly isn’t the cheapest option on the market. But it’s definitely a premium audio experience and the way all the products behave as a singular ecosystem that sounds great, has me hooked.