Sonos Announces New Sonos Ray Home Theatre Speaker and Colour Options for Sonos Roam

Today, Sonos has announced its new Sonos Ray speaker, expanding its lineup of home theatre audio devices. The Sonos Ray is a compact soundbar that offers the sound quality that one can expect from the company. Additionally, the company unveiled its new colour options for its Sonos Roam speakers.

The Sonos Ray is said to raise the bar for the company’s home theatre experience. It provides new acoustic innovations with balanced sounds, fit for any home theatre setup. The Sonos Ray speakers offer custom-designed waveguides that project in a linear path to the viewer but also expand from wall to wall, creating a heightened sense of immersion.

Sonos has innovated on its bass system, incorporating a new reflex system. Its proprietary design delivers the lows and highs of well-balanced bass when watching movies, playing games, or listening to music. While Sonos has been a music-focused audio company, Sonos Ray prioritizes its balance in delivering clear dialogue when watching a film with those more deep bass levels when the action ramps up.

From a design standpoint, the Sonos Ray is very compact. Compared to other major sound systems, the Ray can be incorporated into media centres both small and large. It can fit underneath many TVs without blocking the IR sensor. It can also be placed on a shelf in a media centre without a loss in audio quality thanks to its forward-facing acoustics. Alternatively, Sonos is providing a standalone Wall Mount Kit for the Sonos Ray.

It connects to a TV via Optical input. Unfortunately, that means Sonos Ray does not support Dolby Atmos. However, the company is treating this speaker as an entry point for anyone who currently only uses their TV speakers.

Gaming is also another huge avenue for Sonos Ray to provide audio. I spoke to Brandon Holley, product creation leader at Sonos, to talk about the importance of audio latency and if Sonos addresses it. “It’s as minimal as we can possibly make it. It’s a huge emphasis, from the very core architecture. Early assessment as we start building the early block diagram of what this product is built on, latency is right at the top of the list.”

The Sonos Ray also utilizes its Night Sound. While active, Night Sound reduces some of the louder sounds, to help avoid disturbing anyone trying to sleep or work. The speaker can also be paired with a couple of Sonos One speakers for surround sound. Alternatively, it can be added to any multi-room experience as well.

Sonos Ray can pair with existing TV remotes, the Sonos app, and Apple AirPlay 2.

The Sonos Ray is available on June 7th for $349 CAD.

In addition, Sonos has revealed three new colours for the Sonos Roam. Starting today, the portable line of speakers is available in Olive, Wave, and Sunset colour variations. As the Sonos Ray is positioned as an outdoor speaker, these three new colours highlight different biomes and ecosystems.

• Olive: Inspired by lush landscapes from desert cacti to pristine park gardens.
• Wave: Drawing from the serenity of coastal beaches and backyard poolside oases.
• Sunset: Influenced by painted desert sands and vibrant evening skies.

For the uninitiated, the Sonos Roam is the company’s versatile speaker system, known for its portability. It can be used inside or outdoors and can connect to your devices via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Being an exceptional companion device while outdoors, the new colour options are fitting for the setting.

The Sonos Roam and its new colour options are available for $229 CAD.

Finally, Sonos has revealed its new Voice Control experience. This is a first for the company, as has been designed purely for listening on Sonos devices. While maintaining user privacy Sonos Voice Contro enables users to control music and fulfill voice commands when using a Sonos system.

Sonos has revealed that Breaking Bad and Far Cry 6’s Giancarlo Esposito is the first to lend his voice to Sonos Voice Command. Esposito’s voice will respond and tell the user the battery life of their wireless speaker. By saying “Hey Sonos,” users can control the music playing and control the speakers in a room.

You can also like your favourite songs and add them to your personal library on a number of services. Additionally Sonos Voice Control can notify the user which song is playing. Additional voices are said to follow in the future.

Sonos Voice Control is available on every Sonos system featuring voice capabilities. Sonos assures users that no transcription nor audio is sent to the cloud, stored, nor listened to by the company. Users will gain access to the feature via a software update rolling out on starting on June 1.

Sonos Voice Control is compatible with Sonos Radio, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, and Pandora at launch. Sonos confirms that more services and markets will be added at a later date.

As of now, Sonos Voice Command and support for Esposito’s voice will be available in the U.S. starting June 1. France is the next region to gain support. Canadian users can access this feature by setting their location to the U.S.

Sonos made the new announcements at a special event held in New York City, attended by iPhone in Canada, with the company covering travel costs for the trip.