Shop E Store Everything you need to know about setting up a Sonos multi-room speaker system
Sonos remains the biggest name in multiroom audio, despite facing some user issues this year following its app redesign in May. Still, while Amazon’s Echo range, Apple’s HomePod, and Google Assistant-ready speakers may have added much-needed mainstream competition, Sonos is the ideal choice for anyone trying to put together a multi-room speaker setup. in your home.
Fortunately, getting started with Sonos is a breeze, whether you want one speaker, a stereo pair, TV surround sound, or synchronized speakers in multiple rooms. The variety of streaming options is also staggering: think local storage, streaming services, Internet radio, TV audio, and more.
Almost all of the latest Sonos speakers also come with Alexa built in, as well as a native Sonos voice assistant called Sonos Voice Control, and the latest speakers also offer support for AirPlay and Spotify Connect, so there are plenty of ways to get your melodies pumping.
Sonos even has some Bluetooth speakers in its lineup now; something you would never have believed a few years ago, and it also entered the headphone market with the launch of the Sonos Ace headphones in June, so there is a huge variety of options when it comes to listening to music on a Sonos device. days.
Once you join Sonos and start setting up your own system, you’ll be flying. However, it can be overwhelming trying to figure out which are the best Sonos speakers to invest in and which is the best Sonos setup. With this guide, we’ve got you covered. Read on to learn about all the speakers in the Sonos range, as well as everything you need to know to create the ultimate multi-room system for your home.
The best Sonos speakers for your setup
Sonos Era 100
Buy now: sonos.com | $249/£249
The Sonos Era 100 launched in early 2023 and effectively replaces the entry-level mains-powered Sonos speakers, the Sonos One and Sonos One SL. A bit like the Sonos One replaced the Play:1 when it launched in 2017. You can still get your hands on the Sonos One and Sonos One SL if you look around, but not through Sonos and to future-proof your Sonos speakers. , we recommend opting for the Era 100 if you can stretch your budget a bit.
The Era 100 features two tweeters, angled at 270 degrees for stereo sound, and a lot of extra bass compared to the One. It comes in black and white color options, has a volume slider on top for easy control and you’ll find a Bluetooth switch on the back and a microphone mute switch.
You’ll notice we mentioned Bluetooth – this was the first mains-powered Sonos speaker to offer Bluetooth, along with the larger Sonos Era 300. It also supports Wi-Fi 6E and offers Android users a Quick Tune option that optimizes the Era 100’s sound with the press of a button… iPhone users have been able to use TruePlay for years, of course, and They can still do it with the Advanced Settings option, but at least Android fans now have an option instead of having to borrow an iOS device. to partner.
Sonos Move 2
Buy now: sonos.com | $449 / £449
In September 2023, Sonos took everything we loved about the original Move, which was the first Sonos Bluetooth speaker released in 2019, and added a ton of new features to the Sonos Move 2.
Like the Sonos One and Sonos One SL, you can still get the original Sonos Move, but you’ll be better off with the Move 2 unless you can find the original for a really good price. Like the original Move, the Move 2 is a two-part speaker. Indoors, it connects to your Wi-Fi like any other Sonos speaker and behaves like a Sonos Era 100: it has Alexa built-in, AirPlay 2 compatibility, and integrates easily into your multi-room system. However, it is louder than the Era 100 and its performance packs a punch.
Press the Bluetooth button on the back and you can move around freely using the built-in handle to carry it. There’s up to 24 hours of battery life for gaming (which is up from 10 hours on the original Move), and the battery can be removed and replaced.
The Move 2 also has a revamped dual tweeter acoustic architecture, along with a precision-tuned woofer, allowing for better overall stereo sound performance. Like the Sonos Roam (more on that in a second), the Move 2 can be connected to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi at the same time, something the original Move wasn’t capable of doing.
Sonos Roam 2
Buy now: Amazon, sonos.com | $179 / £179
The little brother of the heavy-hitting Move duo, the original Roam, was revealed in early 2021, and its successor will arrive alongside the Sonos Ace headphones in May 2024. You can still get the Sonos Roam, but just like the Sonos One and Sonos Move, you’ll need to search a little. Of the current range, the Sonos Roam 2 is the smallest and most affordable Sonos speaker.
The Roam 2 has Alexa built-in and splits power and Bluetooth into two separate buttons, making it much easier to use than the original. It’s much smaller than the Move, making it significantly more portable, making it the perfect Sonos speaker to throw in a bag.
Like the Move, the Roam 2 is capable of streaming over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and can broadcast a received BT stream to other Sonos speakers on your network, like the Move 2.
The Roam 2 is a curved triangular speaker like its predecessor that weighs less than a pound and is waterproof enough that you can take it to the bathroom or pool, without worrying about it breaking if you take a dip. It’s also Sonos’ most colorful speaker, with five different variants to choose from.
There are five of us
Buy now: sonos.com | $549 / £549
Technically, the Sonos Five, which is still the flagship bookshelf speaker, is actually a highly evolved version of the first Sonos speaker. It features six class D digital amplifiers, six dedicated speaker drivers, three tweeters, and three mid-woofers.
The Five replaced the second-generation Play:5 and, like its predecessor, has a line input on the back for CD players, turntables and the like, and also offers a pair of Ethernet ports so it can act as a practical switch. or extender for your wired devices.
It can also be placed vertically or horizontally, and is available in an all-black or all-white color option. Compared to the Era 100, the Five offers much fuller sound, but it’s also significantly larger and doesn’t offer Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio support like the Sonos Era 300.
Sonos Era 300
Buy now: sonos.com | $449 / £449
We said it’s still technically the flagship of the Five and that’s because, in 2023, the radically new-look Sonos Era 300 was launched, which was designed from the ground up with spatial audio in mind.
Essentially designed to replace the Sonos Play:3, that hourglass form factor of the Era 300 allows six Class D digital amplifiers to work alongside four tweeters that sound in all directions for Dolby Atmos action.
There are also a pair of woofers to maximize bass output, which are tilted left and right to support stereo playback. It also offers Alexa on board and Sonos Voice Control, but like the Era 100, there’s no Google Assistant.
The Era 300 is a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi (6E) speaker and also supports line-in; although you’ll need to buy a separate adapter ($19 / £19) for 3.5mm aux-in, as it’s a USB-C line-in on the back.
Sonos Arc
Buy now: sonos.com | $899 / £719
The Sonos Arc went live in 2020 and offers Dolby Atmos surround sound, HDMI connectivity (ARC or eARC), and 270-degree multi-directional sound from that curved grille.
Available in white or matte black, it’s a step up from the popular Sonos Beam, offering a dedicated TV speaker that’s not only Atmos-equipped, but also supports stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1. However, there’s now also a step up from the Arc, the Arc Ultra, which offers an even more impressive virtual Dolby Atmos experience from a single speaker.
Still, the Arc remains in the Sonos line and remains an excellent soundbar. With 11 drivers in total (8 elliptical woofers and 3 angled silk dome tweeters), Arc uses Sonos Trueplay software to ensure you get the optimal sound for your room and setup. Whether your voice assistant of choice is Google Assistant or Alexa, the Sonos Arc has you covered and it’s an AirPlay 2 speaker too.
While the Arc itself is capable of delivering a 5.0.2 surround sound stage, you can eliminate the virtual parts by adding dedicated rear speakers (either the Sonos One or Era 100 speakers are usually the best option) and a Sonos subwoofer, but more on that in a bit.
There’s also a Costco-exclusive Sonos Arc SL, which eliminates voice assistants and will save you $50. It’s worth keeping in mind that there are some rumors about a successor to the Sonos Arc appearing soon, so you might want to wait a bit to see what the new model might offer.
Sonos Arc Ultra
Buy now: sonos.com | $999 / £999
The Arc Ultra is Sonos’ latest flagship soundbar, arriving in late October 2024. It sits alongside the Arc in the portfolio and is also similar in design, although there are a couple of improvements to note. The Arc Ultra has a slimmer profile, which should allow it to sit more comfortably under the TV, and it has a control lip instead of controls on top, resulting in a more fluid design.
Bluetooth is also built in, like all the latest Sonos speakers, and while you don’t get Google Assistant, you do get Sonos voice control and Amazon Alexa compatibility. However, the reason you buy this sound bar is the sound quality. Featuring an updated internal sound architecture compared to the Arc, the Arc Ultra has 14 speakers inside, with seven tweeters, six mid-woofers, and a Sound Motion woofer.
Sound performance is exceptional, offering a wide soundstage, good height and width representation, and clear dialogue. It’s a great single-box Dolby Atmos speaker that not only offers sound quality, but includes all the Sonos speaker features you’d expect, as well as a few extras like advanced speech enhancement.
Sonos Beam (2nd generation)
Buy now: Amazon, sonos.com | $449 / £449
The mid-tier member of Sonos’ smart soundbar, the Sonos Beam, which was revamped for a second-generation model in 2021, can, of course, be used as a regular Sonos speaker, but it’s actually designed to beef up its TV. Audio: Connects via HDMI eARC and, like the Arc, offers high-end audio like Dolby Atmos.
The Sonos Beam 2 looks an awful lot like its predecessor, at least in terms of size and form factor. Like the original, it is modestly sized, measuring just 26 inches long, 4 inches wide, and 2.7 inches tall.
With five class D digital amplifiers, a single tweeter, three passive radiators, and four elliptical midwoofers, it also features a five-microphone array for voice control, making it easy for Alexa or Google Assistant to hear you from a distance at any time. place. is playing through the speaker. AirPlay 2 is also on board.
Sonos Ray
Buy now: sonos.com | $279 / £279
An even cheaper Sonos soundbar for the Beam arrived in mid-2022 in the form of the Sonos Ray and remains Sonos’ most affordable TV speaker to date.
For those looking to get an extra boost from their TV sound while also adding another arrow to their Sonos arsenal, the Ray is probably very tempting, especially for those with TVs that lack eARC HDMI for Dolby Atmos. .
Unlike the Beam, Arc and Arc Ultra, which offer Dolby Atmos over HDMI, there’s only optical audio on the Ray, no HDMI in sight. That means you’re limited to only Stereo PCM, Dolby Digital, and DTS Digital Surround.
Another omission to keep the price down is the lack of a microphone for smart digital assistants like Google Assistant or Alexa, but we doubt that’ll be a deal-breaker for many people.
What you’ll get is support for AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect and the usual range of Sonos soundbar features, such as infrared remote abilities, Trueplay, Night Sound and Speech Clarity.
Sonos Ikea Symphony
Buy now: Ikea | From $99 / £115
Well, technically this is the cheapest way to get into the Sonos ecosystem, but that’s because these speakers aren’t actually made by Sonos.
Rather, Ikea’s Symfonisk speakers put Sonos sound technology inside Ikea-built furniture. It launched a few years ago with a range of table lamps and bookshelf speakers; and we’ve since seen the launch of a frame-shaped speaker, along with a second-generation lamp (with a modified design) in some regions.
In mid-2021, Ikea introduced the intriguing Symfonisk Picture Frame WiFi speaker. This Frame Symfonisk speaker is available with a variety of interchangeable fronts, so you can find one that fits the design of your home.
The Symfonisk Picture Frame WiFi Speaker is available from $199/£179.
Sonos Sub 4
Buy now: sonos.com | $799 / £799
Arc Ultra, Arc and Beam add brilliant sound enhancements to your home theater setup on their own, but they can also be combined with other Sonos speakers as part of a surround sound setup, and that’s where the Sub comes into play.
Looking more or less exactly the same as the second-generation model and Gen-3 models, the latest Sub 4 has more memory and faster processing power, as well as a matte finish, which looks great. If you want the glossy finish, Sonos still sells the Sub (Gen-3) and it’s cheaper now too.
Sonos subwoofers aren’t just for a surround TV setup either; They’re also great for adding bass to your music, and again, you can just group them together like you would a regular speaker.
Sonos Sub Mini
Buy now: sonos.com | $429 / £429
In 2022, Sonos introduced its long-awaited affordable subwoofer, the Sub Mini; A cheaper alternative to the full-size Sub with a sleeker, less intrusive design.
The Sub Mini weighs 14 pounds and measures 12 inches, although it can’t lie on its side like the larger Sub 4. At the time of launch, Sonos noted that the speaker was designed for use in small to medium-sized environments. large rooms, while the original Sub is still better for larger spaces.
The idea is to pair a Sub Mini with the Sonos Ray or Sonos Beam, while the larger submodels are designed for the Sonos Arc and Arc Ultra.
Architectural Sonos by Sonance
Buy now: sonos.com | From $649 / £599
Sonos also offers non-bookshelf speakers in the Sonos Architectural by Sonance line, which includes in-wall, in-ceiling, and outdoor speakers.
They will need to be connected to the Sonos Amp to work, meaning adopting this new range from Architectural Sonos isn’t cheap.
In addition to the Sonos Amp, the Sonance line consists of Sonos In-Wall, Sonos In-Ceiling, and Sonos Outdoor.
The Sonos Amp automatically recognizes and connects to Sonance in-wall speakers, and you’ll be able to tune them in via TruePlay.
Sonos Ace Headphones
Buy now: sonos.com | From $449 / £449
Sonos launched the Sonos Ace headphones in June 2024 and offers a very comfortable pair of over-ear headphones that offer excellent sound performance, as you would expect from the company.
However, the headphones don’t necessarily work very well with the Sonos system, so while there is a TV Audio Swap feature which you can read more about in our separate feature, there’s nothing like the Sound Swap feature you get on the Roam speakers, for example. example.
The TV Audio Swap feature works with Sonos Arc Ultra, Sonos Arc, Sonos Beam (Gen 2), and Sonos Ray sound bars, allowing you to switch your TV audio between your Sonos sound bar and your headphones, which It’s good if you want to watch a movie without waking up the whole house. They support Dolby Atmos and head tracking and come in black and white.
Sonos extras and components
That’s it as far as audio output goes, but there are some additional accessories to make your Sonos system harder, better, faster and louder.
Sonos Port
Buy now: sonos.com | $449 / £399
The Sonos dock is an upgrade from older Connect systems and will allow you to connect your old speakers to your Sonos system, making what was once dumb much smarter.
Surprisingly, it also includes a 12V trigger, meaning it can turn those devices on and off without you having to get up and do it yourself.
Sonos amplifier
Buy now: sonos.com | $699 / £699
A replacement for the Connect:Amp, the Amp is twice as powerful as its predecessor and supports up to four speakers with 125 watts per channel. It is also compatible with AirPlay 2.
Sonos TV Surround Sound System
In addition to being able to pair Sonos speakers for stereo sound and synchronized music in multiple rooms, you can also create a dedicated TV surround system from the Sonos app.
It used to be limited to 5.1 but you can create a 7.1 Sonos system thanks to the launch of the Era 300, or a 9.1.4 spatial audio with the Sonos Arc Ultra.
You’ll need a combination of a few key ingredients to get started: one of the Sonos TV soundbars – Beam, Ray, Arc or Arc Ultra, some rear speakers (the Ones, Era 100s and Symfonisk bookshelves are great options) and also a Sub. .
Sonos sells several packages and you can save money by purchasing them together, so decide what you want and then head to the Sonos website to shop the Home Cinema section for all the available packages.
How does Sonos work?
Sonos began life back in 2005, as a remote control (with screen) and amplifier box, the ZP100, which effectively connected dumb speakers.
The ZP100 had Ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity and, using the controller, you could stream your locally stored digital music, as well as access some Internet radio services.
Today, Sonos is actually a collection of connected speakers that combine with an app (mobile or desktop) to let you stream your music from a wide variety of sources. You may have just one Sonos speaker in your setup, but the fun begins when you start combining them.
Whether you’re setting up a single Sonos speaker or connecting several (by the way, you can have a maximum of 32), you’ll start by creating a Sonos account.
On a PC or mobile device, operating on your home Wi-Fi – the same Wi-Fi your Sonos system will use (at least to start) – get the Sonos app and create an account. You’ll then be guided through the process of adding speakers to the mix.
The best way to do this is to use an iOS device so you can use Sonos’ Trueplay technology, essentially a calibration tool that uses your iPhone or iPad’s microphone to measure sound reflections off the walls of your room to decipher the size, the layout, furniture, speaker placement and any other acoustic factors that affect sound quality.
It will take you a few minutes to wave your iOS device around the room and then the app will adjust the speaker’s woofer and tweeter for the best sound.
Sure, the HomePod can do all this without you having to walk across a room with a phone in your hand, but that means the best possible sound from each speaker.
Sonos Multiroom Audio
Once you’ve gone through the process of adding all your Sonos speakers, naming them, and assigning rooms (and creating dedicated pairs of stereo speakers, if you want), you’ll have a multi-room audio setup at your fingertips.
You can choose to play different music sources in different rooms, or you can group the speakers so that they play the same source, at exactly the same time and perfectly synchronized. Once you create groupings, your Sonos system will remember them until you ungroup them; It’s actually as simple as checking or unchecking a box in the app. You can set up as many groups as you like, but a speaker can only be in one group at a time.
These groups also remain intact when using Sonos from another source. For example, you can associate Amazon Echo devices with Sonos speakers, creating groups where the Sonos speakers are the default music playback for a command heard by your Echo devices. The same goes for Google Assistant as well.
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Boost settings and more
Historically, Sonos speakers were not Bluetooth speakers, but that has all changed in recent years with the release of the Roam, Move, and Era speakers.
Bluetooth aside, all Sonos speakers operate on the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi spectrum. That means wider range, uncompressed audio, and better control throughout the home. It also means that the speakers themselves transmit the audio, rather than simply transmitting what your phone sends them.
However, when you set up a Sonos speaker for the first time, by default it only runs on your home Wi-Fi network, and the speakers must have a good signal on your router to work without lags or drops.
But you can improve things by creating a Boost setup (sometimes called ‘SonosNet’). What this means is a separate 2.4 GHz mesh network that operates away from your home Wi-Fi while still using your router’s connection to the Internet for your Internet-based sources.
The easiest way to do this, if possible, is to connect one of your Sonos speakers (any will do) to your router via Ethernet. This will make your Sonos speaker a hub for the Boost network.
However, the best setup, albeit at an additional cost, is to add a Sonos Boost (£99) to the mix; A dedicated wireless booster that transmits 360-degree signals throughout your home.
Recent advances in Wi-Fi technology have made the SonosNet system somewhat redundant; However, both the Era 100 and 300 won’t participate in SonosNet, for example, because they don’t actually have to thanks to their Wi-Fi 6 capabilities. And home mesh Wi-Fi systems are now commonplace .
What can you play on Sonos?
When Sonos was born, it was essentially a locally stored digital music streamer – think MP3s stored on a NAS drive or in your iTunes library. And while the system is still capable of doing that, it now offers much more.
All major streaming services are offered through Sonos speakers (you simply need to sync your accounts in the app). The list includes Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, Soundcloud, Google Play Music, Qobuz and Tidal.
In terms of radio streaming, you can access millions of digital stations from around the world through TuneIn or SiriusXM, or even use the Sonos Radio service.
Spatial audio is “the biggest thing” in music right now. You can get spatial audio tracks on Sonos using Amazon Music Unlimited and Apple Music now offers spatial audio to Sonos users too.
Finally, you can also use a Sonos device with a line-in option, or a Sonos TV speaker with digital optical audio, to stream virtually anything you want in your home, whether it’s the sound from your old hi-fi cassette, the audio from a television broadcast or even the vinyl from your record player.
A word of advice: If you plan to stream anything other than compressed digital music (i.e. Internet radio, stored MP3s, Spotify, and the like), then you’ll want a Boost setting to avoid choppy playback.
In June 2020, the S1 (old) and S2 (new) systems went live, the largest overhaul of the Sonos system to date.
In early 2020, Sonos announced that it would stop updating “older products.” This list included original Zone Players, first-generation Connect and Connect:Amp, first-generation Play:5, CR200, and Sonos Bridge.
Sonos S2 was not only the name of the new app at the time, but it was also a new operating system for non-older Sonos speakers. The app added some cool new software features to the updates, like preset groupings you can use for speakers at certain times of the day or for events – think “Good Morning,” “Party,” etc.
But perhaps the biggest deal was that Sonos promised that the S2 will “enable higher resolution audio technologies for music and home theater.” We hope that means high-resolution audio for companies like Tidal and Amazon Music HD. The first signs of this were the Dolby Atmos features of the Sonos Arc, which has since transcended into the Era 300.
The Sonos S1, which launched alongside the new S2 experience, is basically Sonos as it was. The Sonos S2 still exists, but the app was redesigned in May 2024 and a couple of features were lost. Sonos is currently in the process of rebuilding those features and restoring some of the elements that were removed with the update. It’s been a rocky road since May, but things are looking up with a number of old features now available again.
Do old Sonos speakers still work?
As we just noted, Sonos has stopped updating its older “legacy” products in recent years.
If you have any of these older Sonos devices, you still have the option to use the Sonos settings as is; You simply won’t receive software updates or new features when they are released.
However, if your Sonos system includes even one of those legacy devices and several newer speakers, you’ll either have to get rid of the old one or condemn your new speakers to the same fate of no more upgrades.
You can split your system (which doesn’t work in most Sonos setups) or just let your old Sonos speakers power down. You can also upgrade your old Sonos kit through a 30% credit exchange program.
Sonos in the smart home: Alexa, Google Assistant and more
Sonos is getting better in the smart home space: Its Works with Sonos program has partners like Wink, Lutron, Logitech, and Yonomi, making things like recipe automation possible.
Alexa is also Sonos-friendly (Amazon’s assistant lives inside a variety of Sonos speakers), as is Google Assistant, although not recently (Sonos and Google had a very public legal dispute in recent years).
Additionally, through the Sonos Skill, any Alexa or Google Home speaker can control your existing Sonos speakers. In essence, that means you can add voice control for as little as $30 / £30 using an Echo Dot and totally transform your setup.
Check out our Sonos and Alexa guide to find out exactly what you can and can’t do, but remember, you’ll need a Sonos One with Alexa on board to really control things in your smart home.
You can now also pair Amazon Echo devices with Sonos speakers using the Alexa app; creating groups where Sonos speakers are the default playback of a heard command. Sonos also fixed the issue of its speakers lowering the volume every time you talk to Alexa on your Echo, but it’s a bit tricky – check out our guide on how to fix it.
Sonos also now has its own voice assistant. Voice control is all about accessing your music, so it’s not looking to compete with Alexa or Google for smart home controls.
It is compatible with multimedia controls for Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora, Deezer and Sonos Radio. Spotify is not supported at the moment.
You can use Sonos Voice Control and Alexa at the same time, on the same speaker, but not Sonos and Google Assistant, which is… strange.
All requests are processed locally rather than in the cloud to provide complete privacy and hopefully reach customers who have previously resisted due to these concerns.
Good news: Apple’s AirPlay 2 works great with your Sonos system. More or less. At least some of that. The Sonos One, One SL, Sonos Move, Move 2, Era 100, Era 300, Ray, Roam, Roam 2, Five, Beam, Play:5 2nd Generation and Playbase are all AirPlay 2 compatible speakers and can be synced with HomePod and other AirPlay 2 speakers.
Older Sonos speakers, but you can include them by pre-grouping them with one of the speakers listed above. This is because the new Sonos speakers will act as “hubs” while the old ones will simply stream whatever music or audio they need.
We’ve talked about adding a Port, Amp, Connect, or Connect:AMP to the mix so you can bring your unconnected audio equipment to your Sonos groups, and one of the most common requests is for people to stream their vinyl record collections. on your Sonos speakers.
The good news is that it is not only possible but also easy to set up. You can use a port or amp as directed (using the line-in port) or simply go directly to the line-in port on a Five or Era 300 via an adapter.
Simply group the speakers to whatever Sonos device your turntable is connected to, click play on the line-in source, and you’re done.
IFTTT compatibility allows Sonos users to integrate their speakers into the overall smart home in several interesting ways. For example, you can add a recipe that has Sonos play your favorite song when your smart lock registers your arrival home, or a recipe that stops all music playback when your Nest Protect alarm detects smoke.
IFTTT has control over basic playback functions: pause/resume/next/previous and volume controls. The integration is in beta right now and Sonos says it will add more features as the beta develops.
