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.

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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.

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Chris

Lead Maestro

I am happy that at least you can get Atmos over regular ARC - just not lossless.

Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)

P

pianomstr

Contributor I

Not many things worse than learning less than 5 months after purchasing the Sub and Playbar that both have been replaced. I'm quickly losing my enchantment for SONOS.

Ryan SAuthor

Retired Sonos Staff

The connection via HDMI-ARC has a handshake to communicate with the TV to understand if it’s plugged into the correct port. It reads that to determine that the HDMI signal is coming from the TV, and you need to be connected to the HDMI-ARC port on the TV if you want to use straight HDMI-ARC or eARC with the Arc or Beam. Use the Sonos Optical to HDMI adapter if you need skip the TV for any reason. From what I’ve heard, Arc won’t strip out an audio signal from straight HDMI if you connect that in.

Rysn S/others from Sonos - Is it okay to mount the Arc above a TV (like the Playbar) or does it really have to be mounted below the TV given the up firing speakers?

The Arc should be below the TV in best practices. Because of the up firing speakers, you need them to be a good amount of distance from the ceiling in order for the “arc” to get to your seated position. Arc doesn’t support being flipped or having multiple orientations like the Playbar.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.

E

ewolkoff

Enthusiast II

Well the other question is coming up is will the Sonos Arc really receive the HDMI direct like those soundbars …. there seems to be inconsistent answers. It would take someone plugging and HDMI direct into a Beam to see if really will or not.

But assuming then it doesn’t work - a lot of switches already will extract HDMI ARC so just a matter of time before you can get a switch to do the eARC to the Sonos Arc (mouthful there).

The example Switch had 4 inputs and 2 ouputs (of which one currently can be ARC …. just need updated version that will also do eARC)…. at about $50 a lot cheaper then replacing TV.

A lot of hypotheticals right now - I’m sure a lot of creative solutions coming to get eARC ability for people on many things not just Sonos. So a TV not having eARC shouldn’t be the biggest concern.

I think what you really need for Atmos is a TV with HDMI Arc that can do Dolby Digital Plus. TrueHD (the format you need eArc for) is a Blu-ray only lossless format. Most people are going to want to listen to Atmos content off Netflix/Apple TV/Roku and none of those support TrueHD. The difference between True HD and a lossy format (Dolby Digital Plus) that does Atmos is probably going to be negligible on a Sonos soundbar. I can’t imagine that will be detectable with the naked ear. If you told me you had a 7.1+ system with speakers in your ceiling and spent 10K+ on it, then I’d believe True HD begins to make a difference, but I won’t believe it makes a difference on a soundbar until I hear it. So, I really don’t think the eArc piece is significant at all. Now if you don’t have HDMI Arc and the ability to pass Dolby Digital Plus, that will be a problem for Atmos.

Chris

Lead Maestro

I was wondering about the position thing if below better or now - thanks Ryan.

So sounds like no direct HDMI ability only ARC. Hopefully eARC extractors aren’t far off for those without eARC TVs (majority)

Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)

E

ewolkoff

Enthusiast II

The connection via HDMI-ARC has a handshake to communicate with the TV to understand if it’s plugged into the correct port. It reads that to determine that the HDMI signal is coming from the TV, and you need to be connected to the HDMI-ARC port on the TV if you want to use straight HDMI-ARC or eARC with the Arc or Beam. Use the Sonos Optical to HDMI adapter if you need skip the TV for any reason. From what I’ve heard, Arc won’t strip out an audio signal from straight HDMI if you connect that in.

Rysn S/others from Sonos - Is it okay to mount the Arc above a TV (like the Playbar) or does it really have to be mounted below the TV given the up firing speakers?

The Arc should be below the TV in best practices. Because of the up firing speakers, you need them to be a good amount of distance from the ceiling in order for the “arc” to get to your seated position. Arc doesn’t support being flipped or having multiple orientations like the Playbar.

Well that will require me to do some drywall repair when I remove the Playbar… but I’ll view it as a fun project!

R

Ravica3

Chromatic Producer I

I’ve been eagerly waiting for this announcement and as I have been skimming all the articles I can find there is still one question I have.

Does the Arc allow us to add more surround speakers now? Or are we still stuck with just having the two rears?
I know the Arc has the upward firing speakers but was really expecting to be able to add another couple of Sonos One’s.

melvimbe

Well the other question is coming up is will the Sonos Arc really receive the HDMI direct like those soundbars …. there seems to be inconsistent answers. It would take someone plugging and HDMI direct into a Beam to see if really will or not.

But assuming then it doesn’t work - a lot of switches already will extract HDMI ARC so just a matter of time before you can get a switch to do the eARC to the Sonos Arc (mouthful there).

The example Switch had 4 inputs and 2 ouputs (of which one currently can be ARC …. just need updated version that will also do eARC)…. at about $50 a lot cheaper then replacing TV.

A lot of hypotheticals right now - I’m sure a lot of creative solutions coming to get eARC ability for people on many things not just Sonos. So a TV not having eARC shouldn’t be the biggest concern.

I think what you really need for Atmos is a TV with HDMI Arc that can do Dolby Digital Plus. TrueHD (the format you need eArc for) is a Blu-ray only lossless format. Most people are going to want to listen to Atmos content off Netflix/Apple TV/Roku and none of those support TrueHD. The difference between True HD and a lossy format (Dolby Digital Plus) that does Atmos is probably going to be negligible on a Sonos soundbar. I can’t imagine that will be detectable with the naked ear. If you told me you had a 7.1+ system with speakers in your ceiling and spent 10K+ on it, then I’d believe True HD begins to make a difference, but I won’t believe it makes a difference on a soundbar until I hear it. So, I really don’t think the eArc piece is significant at all. Now if you don’t have HDMI Arc and the ability to pass Dolby Digital Plus, that will be a problem for Atmos.

I can’t say I’ve listen to TrueHD and DD+ and be know if I can hear the diference. I am glad though that the Arc has eARC though, because even though streaming srouces are DD+, they may adopt TrueHD later on.

Danny

D

donkuok

Contributor I

My current setup is 5.1 consists of Sonos Beam, Sonos Sub (gen 2) and 2 rear Sonos Play 1. If I were to replace the Sonos Beam with Sonos Arc. Will the setup still work flawlessly? Can I utilise the Sonos App S2?

Chris

Lead Maestro

as far as I see we are still at the Arc, plus 2 surrounds, plus sub.

However, with Dolby Atmos the surrounds are going to be getting a lot more information and should in theory provide a much more immersive experience (not to mention the upward firing speakers are like another set added).

Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)

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Extraordinary sound meets elegant design

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