Sonos Launches New $999 Arc Ultra Soundbar and $799 Sub 4

Sonos today announced the launch of two new products, the Arc Ultra Soundbar and the Sonos Sub 4. The Sonos Arc Ultra is a new high-end soundbar that's priced at $999, while the $799 Sub 4 is the newest Sonos subwoofer with improved design and internals.

sonos arc ultra
The Arc Ultra offers up to double the bass of its predecessor, thanks to new transducer technology called Sound Motion. Sound Motion cuts down on the size of the transducer while also improving bass, for better sound from smaller devices. There are 14 Sonos-engineered drivers, the Sound Motion woofer, and a cluster of tweeters with waveguides to provide a 9.1.4 spatial audio experience.

New center channel architecture maximizes vocal clarity to make it easier to follow dialogue, and there is a Speech Enhancement feature for customization. Trueplay can be used to customize audio to a specific space.

Compared to the prior version of the Sonos Arc, the Arc Ultra has a curved design, matte finish, and slimmer build that doesn't obstruct TV bezels. There are touch controls behind the soundbar and an easy setup process through HDMI eARC.

The Sub 4 has a similar design to the Sub 3, but there is a new matte finish and a profile that allows it to stand upright, be placed on its side, or tucked under furniture. Sonos upped the processing power and memory of the Sub 4, and added new Wi-Fi radios for improved connectivity. Sonos says Sub 4 was created with inward-facing woofers to neutralize distortion, and the new model is compatible with the Arc Ultra, Arc, or Beam, as well as older versions of the Sub.

These are the first two products that Sonos has introduced since its ill-received app overhaul in May. Sonos opted to delay launching new devices earlier in 2024 in order to make improvements to the Sonos app, which have included bug fixes and feature additions to match the functionality of the original Sonos app. Sonos had delayed new product launches, but CEO Patrick Spence said that the company now feels the app has been improved enough to introduce new devices.

"We've worked tirelessly to resolve the most critical app issues and most requested legacy features. We have reached a level of quality that gives us the confidence to launch our extraordinary new products," said Patrick Spence, CEO of Sonos. "As we laid out in our commitments we will continue to improve the software regularly, and are determined to make the Sonos experience better than it's ever been."

Earlier this month, Sonos recommitted to software quality and customer experience, promising to focus more on customer experience while also testing future app changes with customers before rolling them out.

Alongside the new devices, Sonos plans to roll out a new app update that will "surpass the performance of the previous app" across metrics like system identification, new device setup, and grouping multiple Sonos devices together. Sonos claims that the update will "reintroduce 90 percent of the new app's missing features."

The Sonos Arc Ultra and Sub 4 will be available from the Sonos website on October 29.

Tag: Sonos

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Top Rated Comments

Chiromac81 Avatar
17 weeks ago
Seriously?!? The nerve. So this is-let me get this straight-3 products launched before even fully fixing their own operating software that they broke spectacularly?!? WTF Sonos-are you expecting people to buy MORE products when you sabotaged the existing ones and still haven't fully fixed after 6 months???

My god...
Score: 42 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nickawhite Avatar
17 weeks ago
App is still awful. So much for the promise to focus exclusively on that and not release new hardware until customers were satisfied...
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
StudioMacs Avatar
17 weeks ago

Here come all the comments about the software that works perfectly fine lol
Sonos themselves disagree with you: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241001714562/en/Sonos-Announces-New-Quality-and-Customer-Experience-Commitments/
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nutritious Avatar
17 weeks ago

Now I have a Ray in my kitchen and I really like it but no way would I spend a grand on a single soundbar. Just me.
here's the truth, companies are finding moving to the luxury segment gives them more margins so they are all trying to do that. the price increase that come from moving to the luxury segment is not proportional to the extra production cost. my view is customers need to rebel against all these price increases. the whole luxury segment is about manipulating people's desires to seem 'successful.' Even bang and olufsen released $1500 bluetooth headphones without any major improvement with the idea that it is just a 'luxury' product, which means you buy this to communicate to the world you can afford 1500 headphones. but all this shows in reality, if one is thinking with a critical mind, bang and olufsen is employing evil marketing tactics to play on the insecurities of people and the person was dumb enough to fall for it and waste 1500 on something he really doesn't need.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jcfilm Avatar
17 weeks ago
Didn’t they literally put out a statement saying they were pausing all new products/launches until the app was fixed?
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SVTmaniac Avatar
17 weeks ago
Fix your app before launching overpriced products. My Sub 3 is already perfect.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)