The Sonos Arc Ultra will have been long awaited, for a good cause. Because on paper, it is a real concentrate of technologies with the announced mission of competing with the best specimens on the market, Samsung HW-Q990D in the lead.
Sonos Arc Ultra, Sound Motion inside££££
Illustration of the ambitions of the Sonos Arc Ultra, the presence within it of Sound Motion technology, a process developed by the Dutch company Mayth acquired in 2022. As a reminder, the latter is capable of delivering a powerful and fully structured sound from modestly sized transducers structured from neodymium magnets: a sound bar could therefore offer powerful and deep bass without requiring an additional subwoofer (see below for details on the woofer). Capabilities that have not prevented Sonos from developing the new Sub 4 subwoofer to which we will return in a later news item.
Sonos Arc Ultra, design££££
The Sonos Arc Ultra, with a length of 117 cm, a thickness of 7.5 cm and a depth of 11 cm, is designed to accompany large diagonal TV screens. It can also be easily placed in front of the TV screen or of course easily fixed to the wall to be associated with a suitable TV. With a size more or less identical to that of the Sonos Arc, the Sonos Arc Ultra offers an identical design.
Sonos Arc Ultra, acoustic package££££
The Sonos Arc Ultra is therefore the brand's new spearhead on the Home Cinema market. Technically, the Sonos Arc integrates fifteen Class D amplifiers for fourteen speakers: seven silk dome [abc]tweeters[/abc] including two in Up-Firing position (for Dolby Atmos Height channels) and two at the ends to widen the soundstage, six [abc]midranges[/abc] and an integrated [abc]boomer[/abc] (see photo below). To be precise, the latter, labeled Sound Motion (four motors and double membrane), is powered by two amplifiers, which explains the total of fifteen amps for fourteen speakers. Thus, with a 9.1.4 configuration, Home Cinema soundtracks but also the Spatial Audio sound offered for example by Apple Music or Amazon are perfectly broadcast in surround. Otherwise, only the management of simple [abc]DTS[/abc] is ensured.
Also worth mentioning is a new architecture of the central channel to further promote the intelligibility of dialogues, the clarity of which, more or less pronounced, can be controlled through the application.
Sonos Arc Ultra and Sound Motion, the floor to Sonos££££
Sonos is extremely confident in the Sound Motion process. It is not modesty that stifles it, the brand declares in fact: "One of the most important advances in audio engineering in nearly 100 years, Sound Motion offers unprecedented performance in an incredibly flat and compact design. This technology allows for greater clarity, depth and balance than ever before for such an elegant soundbar. Hear each frequency with astonishing precision and benefit from a bass presence twice that of the Arc". The manufacturer specifies that the Sonos Arc Utra can go down to 50 Hz in the low frequencies, a truly impressive performance if it is true...
Sonos Arc Ultra, the connectivity££££
The Sonos Arc Ultra's equipment is limited to an Ethernet port and an [abc]HDMI[/abc] [abc]CEC[/abc] input compatible with [abc]eARC[/abc] to connect the television to the speaker. A compatible diffuser is therefore essential to take full advantage of its possibilities. Otherwise, either with an [abc]ARC[/abc] TV, the latter will send a [abc]Dolby Digital Plus[/abc] signal. Namely, this is a habit at Sonos, an optical adapter is provided in case the television does not have an HDMI connector. For the rest, only an [abc]Ethernet[/abc] port is present in addition.
Similarly, all the features of a Sonos multiroom system, counting a soundbar as one of the links in the sound chain of a home, are also available: the possibility of playing the same music in all the rooms or enjoying a dedicated audio space in each of them.
Sonos Trueplay Android/iOS on the menu and ergonomics££££
Another detail, the Sonos Arc Ultra benefits from the Trueplay functionality (click to find out all about this function) for extremely simple acoustic optimization to implement. New, this functionality is no longer reserved only for owners of an Apple device, Android smartphones and tablets are also part of it.
The Sonos Arc Ultra is still controlled via transport buttons located on the top of the speaker, on the back of it (touch interface with volume up/down, previous/next track and play/pause), or via the Sonos S2 application. The latter also offers access to all available [abc]streaming[/abc] services: Apple Music, Spotify, SoundCloud, Deezer, TuneIn ([abc]webradios[/abc]), Google Play Music, etc. An LED indicator shows the status of the speaker and Silent mode, such as the activation/deactivation of the microphones associated with voice assistants (see below).
A good point is that it is possible to very easily transfer the sound from the soundbar to a Sonos Ace headset. All you have to do is press the Content Key button on the headset and the room immediately becomes silent.
Sonos Arc Ultra, voice control££££
Like the brand's previous products, the Sonos Arc Ultra integrates the functions [abc]AirPlay 2[/abc], [abc]Bluetooth[/abc] 5.3 and [abc]Wi-Fi[/abc] Dual Band, here in version 6. Also present, the voice assistants Amazon Alexa and Sonos Voice Control. Finally, Sonos announces that the Arc Ultra sound bar benefits from a sustainable design with materials that are as free of pollutants as possible and a reduced use of silicone, plus an optimized power supply for an average consumption 20% lower than that of the Sonos Arc.
Availability announced for October 29, in black or white finish. Recommended price: 999 euros.
Reminder of the key characteristics of the Sonos Arc Ultra:
• Type: sound bar
• System: 9.1.4
• Amplification: Class D
• Speakers: 14 (6 [abc]midranges[/abc] + 7 [abc]tweeters[/abc] + 1 [abc]boomer[/abc])
• Subwoofer: integrated
• Technology(ies): Sound Motion
• Dual Band Wi-Fi compatibility
• [abc]Wi-Fi[/abc] ax compatibility
• [abc]AirPlay 2[/abc] compatibility
• [abc]CEC[/abc] compatibility
• [abc]eARC[/abc] compatibility
• [abc]Bluetooth[/abc] 5.3
• Connections: 1 port [abc]Ethernet[/abc]
• Input(s): 1 input [abc]HDMI[/abc]
• Application: Sonos S2
• Decoders [abc]Dolby Atmos[/abc], [abc]DTS[/abc]
• Voice assistants Alexa Built-in Sound, os Voice Control
• Certification [abc]HDCP[/abc] 2.3
• Certification [abc]Hi-Res Audio[/abc]
• Dimensions (L x H x D, mm): 1178 x 75 x 110.6
• Weight: 5.9 kg
