If I had my way, my living room would have a full system of speakers and subwoofers connected to one of the best home theater receivers. Unfortunately, I, like many others, have “the council of people I live with” to get past before I can enjoy surround sound movies at their very best.
So I turned to the Sonos soundbar that lives on our TV stand. The Sonos Arc Ultra is one of the best soundbars, and it connects to other Sonos speakers for a true surround experience. Speakers I already own.
Therefore, getting it past the council of elders was a whole lot easier than buying an amp, buckets of speakers, and wall mounting a whole new setup. Still, my experience hasn't been plain sailing — but it's definitely here to stay. Let me tell you why.
How does it work?
The Sonos Arc Ultra is already a very proficient surround sound device before you've connected all your extra speakers. There are 9.1.4 channels already built in for some impressive virtual Atmos surround, creating a fairly convincing Dolby Atmos bubble around you when you're watching movies and cinematic TV shows.
But it's not quite enough. See, you can link up other Sonos speakers for a “true surround” system (note: not a virtual one). In my case, that's a pair of Sonos Era 300 speakers and a Sonos Sub 4 to add some extra bass to the mix.
That actually places some of the sound behind you, as opposed to the soundbar bouncing the soundtrack off the walls and into your ears.
It all connects using Wi-Fi. The Sonos Arc Ultra makes its own mini-network within your home Wi-Fi, sending the audio signal through a high-quality, and most importantly, lag-free wireless connection to each speaker.
Sound complicated? Well, that's because it is complicated. And, as much as Sonos might tell you otherwise, it's also a massive pain to set up.
My surround setup nightmare
I'd hoped…