Retired Sonos Staff

Meet Arc, Brilliant sound for your TV

Extraordinary sound meets elegant design

Eleven high-performance drivers, including custom elliptical woofers and precisely angled side tweeters, produce vivid detail and impressive bass for home cinema and music streaming. Arc's upward-firing drivers create a multi-dimensional soundstage that moves around you, rendering every whisper and explosion with dramatic clarity, detail, and depth.

With its elongated shape, soft profile, and seamless façade, Arc discreetly mounts to the wall or sits beneath the TV without pulling focus. When mounted, a magnetic sensor detects the orientation and smartly adjusts the EQ to temper bass resonance.

Arc’s sound was specially tuned with the help of Oscar-winning sound engineers to emphasize the human voice so you can always follow the story. The advanced processing creates five phased-array channels that masterfully deliver sound to your ears from all directions at the exact right moment. Use enhanced Trueplay tuning technology to optimize the sound for the unique acoustics of your room, even calibrating the height channels for precise localization.

DQWhTCGCPaVFcDCO4zOsuR-17Tzj5o4vyWB8BxrHc4zOUbI7yrY_onZ6gcY9jIM62ejbLPlCWNndBrda3lKOZe5UUZvmbdr-z98sFkpGtoghniW9hJiRdIEV1CLNri7K-Cnwj4o0

You can also make a surround sound setup with a pair of our surround capable Sonos speakers, such as a pair of Sonos Ones, or amplify it all with a Sub for an extraordinary surround experience.

Some more details on Sonos Arc:

Simple to set-up. Plug Arc into power and then connect it to your TV using the HDMI-ARC cord. Bring your phone up to Arc to automatically pair and securely transfer WiFi credentials using near-field communication (NFC).
HDMI eARC. Increased bandwidth supports high-quality audio and has lip-sync compensation built in.
Dolby Atmos. Play Atmos and Atmos-encoded audio to play from your collection and favorite services through your TV’s HDMI ARC or eARC connection.
Ambient light sensor. Arc detects how bright the room is and automatically adjusts the brightness of the LEDs to be visible but not distracting.
Automatic remote sync. Arc connects to your TV's HDMI eARC port with a single cable and automatically syncs with your remote.
Control your way. Control Sonos Arc with your voice, the Sonos app, your existing TV remote, your favorite music service’s app, or AirPlay 2. Capacitive touch controls for play, pause, skip tracks, adjust the volume, and group rooms just by tapping or swiping the top of the soundbar. LED indicates status, mute status and voice feedback.
Smart voice recognition. A four far-field microphone array used for advanced beamforming and multichannel echo cancellation makes sure you’re heard, even when the music is blasting, even when playing in immersive surround sound. For privacy, turn the microphone off with a tap. The LED light is hardwired and will always indicate if the microphones are enabled or if your voice assistant of choice isn't listening.
Optimized for your listening. From within the Sonos App, tap Speech Enhancement so you never miss a word, or Night Sound to amplify quiet noises and reduce loud ones so you can enjoy late night TV without waking the entire house.
Tune with Trueplay. Trueplay puts the speaker-tuning capability of the pros in the palm of your hands, adapting and optimising the sound of the speaker to the unique acoustics of the room. iOS device required.
Low profile and compact size. The dimensions are 3.4 x 45 x 4.5 inches (87 x 1141.7 x 115.7 mm) H x W x D and Arc weighs 13.78 lbs (6.25 kg).

Pre-order today on Sonos.com in stunning black with matte finish or white with matte finish for $799 US (€899 EUR, €799).

We’ve announced details for the Sonos Five and new Sonos Sub. You can also check out our blog for some great stories.

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

Show previous replies

jgatie

I thought I was getting it..obviously not.

So what signal is the Arc outputting to the TV? (I could understand handshaking to tell the TV what audio formats it can receive and how it wants them).

I thought the Audio Return Channel represented Video In (to the TV) and Audio Out (from the TV) going two ways bidirectionally in the same cable? Are they not both HDMI inputs at both the Arc and TV ends?

The Arc is outputting basic graphics. However, it doesn’t really matter because you aren’t going to be watching the input that the Arc is on. You will be watching other inputs, or the apps on the TV itself. However, the audio from those inputs or apps will be routed to the Arc via ARC.

D

d0A0b

Lyricist II

I’m pretty much in the same situation as Guinans, except for an older Pioneer KURO TV and I was thinking about setting my Oppo player and my Apple TV the same way...

To me, it’s a real shame the lacking of another input HDMI port and the choice to limit to an eArc the opportunity to take advantage of Dolby Atmos.

Why Sonos, why???

:cry:

melvimbe

I thought I was getting it..obviously not.

So what signal is the Arc outputting to the TV? (I could understand handshaking to tell the TV what audio formats it can receive and how it wants them).

I thought the Audio Return Channel represented Video In (to the TV) and Audio Out (from the TV) going two ways bidirectionally in the same cable? Are they not both HDMI inputs at both the Arc and TV ends?

Maybe think of it this way. There are several different pins, pathways inside an HDMI cable. Many of these are designed to carry video, from an HDMI output to an HDMI input. There are other pins for carrying audio, from HDMI output to an HDMI input. Then there are pins for ARC/eARC which also carry audio, but from HDMI input (TV) to HDMI output (Arc). ARC isn’t a bidirectional channel. There also are pin(s) for CEC, which are control commands, which actually is bidirectional.

The Arc is going to do the same thing the Beam does with it’s HDMI output port. It sends video to the TV in the form of a screen saver image. It doesn’t send any audio to the TV but it could. The TV sends audio back to the Arc through ARC/eARC channels. All happens along a single cable.

To me, it’s a real shame the lacking of another input HDMI port and the choice to limit to an eArc the opportunity to take advantage of Dolby Atmos.

Why Sonos, why???

:cry:

Although I don’t think this will make anyone feel better about the situation. Sonos is actually using the technology the way it was supposed to be used. ARC and eARC were created to eliminate the need for audio equipment to receive HDMI inputs from sources and pass the video onto the TV. Your audio equiment would only be concerned with it’s primarily purpose, audio. The TV would take in the inputs, do the video and pass on the audio to the audio equipment.

Danny

D

DarwinOSX

No news to share today about bringing support for Dolby Atmos to Beam or Amp, but I’ll share your interest with the team. Atmos itself does require upward firing speakers, or ceiling mounted ones, which as Airgetlam and jgatie suggest, aren’t available today for Beam or the Amp.

Of course the Amp isn’t a speaker...but could connect to up firing speakers which is I’m sure why people are asking.

D

DarwinOSX

I wouldn’t expect much of an Atmos experience in two front small up firing speakers with no rears. Better than nothing I suppose.

D

DarwinOSX

When can we expect reviews? I figured, reviewers had received their units already but seems not.

Most tech reviews are about a week before a product is released at most.

D

DarwinOSX

I’d suggest there’s no advantage to having the Sonos Five as surrounds versus the Sonos Ones.

Unless you use the rears for music which plenty do.

E

ewolkoff

Enthusiast II

I thought I was getting it..obviously not.

So what signal is the Arc outputting to the TV? (I could understand handshaking to tell the TV what audio formats it can receive and how it wants them).

I thought the Audio Return Channel represented Video In (to the TV) and Audio Out (from the TV) going two ways bidirectionally in the same cable? Are they not both HDMI inputs at both the Arc and TV ends?

Maybe think of it this way. There are several different pins, pathways inside an HDMI cable. Many of these are designed to carry video, from an HDMI output to an HDMI input. There are other pins for carrying audio, from HDMI output to an HDMI input. Then there are pins for ARC/eARC which also carry audio, but from HDMI input (TV) to HDMI output (Arc). ARC isn’t a bidirectional channel. There also are pin(s) for CEC, which are control commands, which actually is bidirectional.

The Arc is going to do the same thing the Beam does with it’s HDMI output port. It sends video to the TV in the form of a screen saver image. It doesn’t send any audio to the TV but it could. The TV sends audio back to the Arc through ARC/eARC channels. All happens along a single cable.

To me, it’s a real shame the lacking of another input HDMI port and the choice to limit to an eArc the opportunity to take advantage of Dolby Atmos.

Why Sonos, why???

:cry:

Although I don’t think this will make anyone feel better about the situation. Sonos is actually using the technology the way it was supposed to be used. ARC and eARC were created to eliminate the need for audio equipment to receive HDMI inputs from sources and pass the video onto the TV. Your audio equiment would only be concerned with it’s primarily purpose, audio. The TV would take in the inputs, do the video and pass on the audio to the audio equipment.

Earlier in this thread I posted a photo of what the graphics look like from the Beam. Additionally, I plugged an Apple TV directly into the Beam and there was no audio because of what melvinbe explains above. Just wanted to prove to folks that it is not an input and won’t work that way. Unfortunately, many folks who want Atmos with this soundbar will need to get a new/newer TV. But I am sure it will sound great with Dolby Digital 5.1, which is what we’ve all been using the Playbar for previously. This should sound even better.

The eARC point is a bit of a sting -- I literally bought a new Samsung TV last year and understand no (or almost no) Samsung TVs currently support Atmos over HDMI Arc, which is a huge % of the market. But nothing we can do about that, other than get a new TV or use DD+. When I get the Sonos Arc, I’ll test it and we will see!

L

lovetractor

Contributor II

Hi everyone, I will be replacing my Beam with the Arc in our family room. I have the Beam power cord fished through the wall adjacent to the fire place and I am hoping the Arc uses the same power cord so I don’t have to run that through the wall again? Thanks!

P

Pirate

Trending Lyricist I

@Ryan S

Hi Ryan,

Thinking of ordering the Arc when it’s available.

I still have a pretty old Sony TV. I am going to change it out but not right now.

Will the Arc function properly with my old Sony KDL52EX700?

It has an ARC HDMI port but not an e-ARC.

How can I set the Arc up for the best possible sound until I change for an e-ARC TV?

I use a bluray player connected to the TV for movies I own, but also stream to the TV from my computer.

Any suggestions?

Regards:Kristoffer

I’ll give this a shot and try to make it generic and short. Please correct where wrong.

If your TV has ARC, can do compressed Atmos via DD+.

If your TV has eARC, can do* “true” Atmos.

If your TV has neither, you can still do DD5.1 via optical or HDMI.

Assuming you have one of the first two above, connect the Sonos Arc to the ARC/eARC labeled HDMI port (HDMI #1 in the image above, on my tv it’s HDMI #2 on the side of the TV). Plug your other devices into any of the other HDMI ports as you normally would (in @Toffe example, connect the blue ray to HDMI #4 and computer to HDMI #2 [assuming that’s on the side] or whatever port is used for the computer).

* In order for Atmos to work, the original source will need to be sending the audio in the Atmos format. Additionally, your TV must be able to pass through the Atmos signal.

Show more replies

Extraordinary sound meets elegant design

Sign up

Login to the community