Arc of Triumph

RATING

THE NEW Sonos Arc soundbar is the company’s fourth home theater product and the clear result of an evolution. The first Sonos soundbar, the Playbar ($599 and currently being closed out), debuted back in 2013. But with only a single optical input intended to ease installation and no HDMI port, it was already outdated on Day 1. In 2017, the company introduced the Playbase sound platform ($699, also being phased out), a solution for those who found the bulky Playbar too invasive. Playbase was extraordinary for its ability to extract bass from its lean cabinet, but still failed to take advantage of a higher-quality HDMI connection or the benefits of HDMI-CEC control. The Sonos Beam ($399), a more compact and affordable soundbar (or “living room speaker” as Sonos likes to call it), came out about a year later and today is one of the company’s most popular products. Not only did it finally integrate HDMI-ARC connectivity, but it also added Alexa voice control of the bar and connected devices. From an audio engineering perspective, it drew heavily on what Sonos had learned creating the small, high excursion elliptical woofers and low-resonance cabinetry for the Playbase.

The Arc ($799) is a culmination of all that development, and with a 45-inch width, is almost 10 inches wider than the Playbar to better mate with today’s larger 55 and 65-inch TVs. But that extra width is also there to accommodate more drivers that, along with some sophisticated processing, are used to deliver immersive effects from Dolby Atmos soundtracks. Though home theater enthusiasts have long embraced Atmos playback and its additional overhead information from Ultra HD and regular Blu-ray discs, Sonos says that more than 25 streaming services now pass along Atmos programming. Some six years after its introduction to home theater, Atmos has officially gone mainstream.

FEATURES

As usual with Sonos, the industrial design of the Arc is understated, classy, and in service to the sonics. The soundbar is available in matte black or white. Viewed from the side, it is a near perfect ellipse;