SONOS ARC BLACK FRIDAY DRIVERS
SONOS ARC BLACK FRIDAY FULL

Audio doesn’t quite envelop you like a full setup with satellite speakers behind your couch and a sub would, but there is a noticeable 3D effect if you’re viewing something that supports surround sound.

On their own, the Arc’s upward- and side-firing speakers can often project audio a little higher than the TV screen, past its edges, and forward.

This didn’t make a noticeable difference in my wooden attic-like testing room, but the Arc already sounded pretty fantastic without tuning. If you happen to own an iPhone, you can walk around with the Sonos app open as the speaker plays a series of tones that help measure the acoustic properties of the room. Like other Sonos speakers, you can custom-tune it to your room. (Here are more surround sound and port details.) Without HDMI ARC, you’ll have to train Sonos to pick up your TV remote’s volume commands, among other things. Many newer TVs have a special HDMI ARC port for audio, and it's best if your television has this port, because it simplifies the way you control your home entertainment system. By firing audio waves in all directions, the Arc can faithfully reproduce the surround-sound effects of movies encoded with Dolby Atmos audio if your TV and streaming app of choice also support it.

SONOS ARC BLACK FRIDAY DRIVERS

If your couch is situated in front of your TV (as it should be!), four of the drivers aim directly at you, two aim out the left and right sides, and two of them arc sound upward. Inside are three tweeters for high-pitched tones and eight woofers for midrange and bassy booms. You can even turn its few indicator lights on or off in the Sonos app. I have always been a fan of the Playbar, but it never seemed at home lying on a TV stand. The black model I tested (it also comes in white) blends in and disappears under my TV, despite it sitting slightly taller than the old Playbar at 3.4 inches. (Remember, television screen sizes are measured diagonally.) Its slender shape resembles a long poster mailing tube, or an ovular pipe with an arced (get it?) speaker grille covering almost every inch of it. The Arc reflects a lot of these new tastes, stretching 45 inches long-10 inches longer than the Playbar, and nearly matching the length of the bottom edge of a 55-inch TV. And many of us now use the HDMI port to connect the TV to a soundbar instead of the optical port. The larger sets require a very long piece of furniture to nestle on, unless you go through the hassle of mounting the display on the wall. Instead of balancing on a central pedestal, most TVs have a pair of feet on each end. Most obviously, they’re much bigger-screens as big as 65 inches are commonplace now, and it’s not rare to see models stretching past 75 inches. TVs have changed a lot since the Playbar first showed up.

Sonos arc black friday