With the release of Ray, we’ve made it easier than ever to enjoy blockbuster sound at home. The compact and powerful soundbar connects to virtually any TV, works with all your streaming services, fits neatly in an enclosed space, and won’t blow your budget.

Start here

Whether you’re new to Sonos or adding Ray to an existing system, our ‘Essential Guide’ will help you get the most out of your new soundbar. If Ray is the start of your Sonos system, we’ll take you through the entire journey step by step, from unboxing and initial setup to advanced features, and the possibilities when you group Ray with other Sonos speakers. If you’re a longtime owner, then hopefully you’ll learn something new, or rediscover features you haven’t used in a while.

Setup

Once you’ve unboxed Ray, you’ll start by placing it under your TV (ideally one that’s 55” or less), neatly tucking it into a shelf, or mounting it to the wall with our custom mount. Despite its compact size, Ray provides a surprisingly wide soundstage that can easily fill a small or medium-sized room.

Ray comes with two cables: one for power, and one for connecting to the optical audio output from your TV. Once everything’s plugged in and powered on, open the Sonos app on your smartphone or tablet and follow the instructions to get Ray connected to your home WiFi network. If you’re not automatically prompted to start the setup process when you open the app, you can find it in Settings > System > Add Product.

The app will walk you through syncing your TV remote, but in case you skip that part of the process initially, you can go to Settings > System > Ray > Remote Control Setup.

A note on packaging

As part of our ongoing commitment to sustainability, Ray comes packaged in our custom uncoated kraft paper, which is designed to minimise the use of inks. The external box helps streamline deliveries to reduce the carbon footprint, and the internal protection removes EPE foam from our supply chain. You can learn more about our sustainable packaging efforts and our broader ecological work here.

The Sonos app

The Sonos app offers full control of Ray (and your entire Sonos system) from the palm of your hand. You can find a complete tutorial on using the app here, but below are a few of our favourite features:

Speech Enhancement — For more detailed dialogue, tap the speech bubble icon on the Now Playing screen. This will amplify voices while keeping sound effects, music, and all other audio at its normal level. You’ll never miss a word, even if you need to keep the volume down.

Night Sound — Not wanting to wake sleeping housemates or irritate neighbours? Tap the moon icon in the Now Playing screen to reduce the intensity of loud sound effects and enhance quieter ones, allowing you to enjoy crystal clear audio without disturbing others around you.

My Sonos — Even with millions of songs, albums, books, and podcasts at our fingertips, we often find ourselves going back to a handful of favourites over and over again. Save your most essential music to My Sonos and access it instantly by tapping the star icon at the bottom of the Sonos app.

Search — Tap the magnifying glass icon in the toolbar to search by artist, song, album, playlist, station, genre, and more.

Browse — When you’re not sure exactly what you want to listen to, tap the music note icon at the bottom of the screen and let Sonos Radio or your preferred music service lead you down a path of music discovery.

Direct control and AirPlay 2

You can also stream to Ray over WiFi without leaving your favourite music app.

Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music, Pandora, and other services all let you control your Sonos system directly. Just look for the speaker icon.

Alternatively, if you have an iOS device, including iPhone, iPad, or a Mac, you can stream audio from your device to Sonos via Apple AirPlay 2.

Touch controls

The Sonos system was designed to be flexible and adjust to the way you listen. And as omnipresent as phones are in our lives, sometimes it’s really nice to forget about them. That shouldn’t mean the music has to stop.

Ray is no different. Like all of our speakers, it has touch controls and buttons that allow you to manage your experience even when your device is not in reach.

To play or pause

Press the Play/Pause button once to mute the TV or pause and resume your music.

To group speakers

Press and hold the Play/Pause button to group Ray with your last active speaker.

To change volume

Press the button to the right of Play/Pause to turn the volume up. Press the button to the left of Play/Pause to turn the volume down.

To skip forward or back

Swipe right across the touch controls to skip to the next track. Swipe left across the touch controls to play the previous track.

Disabling touch controls

If you’d prefer to only control your Sonos system from the app, you can turn off each speaker’s touch controls. From the Settings menu, tap System, choose Ray from the list of products, and then toggle Touch Controls in the Hardware section to off.

Sound that blows you away

Ray’s convenient size and zero-stress setup are only part of the story. What really sets it apart is its exceptional sound quality.

The custom acoustics include two powerful tweeters for clear highs, a pair of meticulously engineered elliptical woofers for full mid frequencies, and proprietary anti-distortion technology for perfectly weighted bass. Split waveguides project sound from wall to wall, and advanced processing accurately positions elements in the room so you feel like you’re at the centre of the action. Even better, our unique Trueplay™ software tunes your speakers to the precise acoustics of your space.

Trueplay™

With sound, so much depends on the environment in which you’re listening. A cosy room with thick carpet and tons of pillows will reflect and absorb sound very differently than a larger space with bare walls and hard floors. The exact same speaker placed in those two spaces won’t sound the same, no matter how well it’s engineered.

With an iOS device, our Trueplay™ tuning technology will measure the effect that your room’s size, furnishings, and Ray’s placement have on what you hear, then fine-tune the audio output to make sure you hear everything as it was intended to sound.

You’ll be prompted to tune your speaker with Trueplay™ during setup. If you choose to wait, you can always come back to it later from the Settings menu. Tap System, select Ray from the list of products, and then tap Trueplay in the Sound section.

Building your perfect home cinema

Ray is the perfect start to your Sonos home cinema.

On its own, Ray can make your shows, films, and games sound fuller, with crisper dialogue and more impactful bass. But by adding rear Sonos speakers, you can experience 360-degree sound. Ambient effects like footsteps, whispers, and elements of the score will completely immerse you in the world on screen.

For an incredible surround sound experience, you can learn more about combining Ray with Sonos One or One SL in our guide to creating the ultimate home cinema experience here. If you prefer your speakers to blend discreetly with your home decor, Ray also works beautifully with the SYMFONISK speakers we’ve created with IKEA.

Sonos Radio

Ray isn’t just designed to enhance your viewing experience, but to bring stunning high-res audio into your home, too. One of the best ways to do this is with Sonos Radio: our expertly-curated selection of stations designed to soundtrack everything from early-morning alarms to late-night partying. With exclusive stations curated by musical luminaries like Erykah Badu, Brian Eno, and The Chemical Brothers, as well as thousands of global radio stations and our own selection of Sleep Sounds to help you fall asleep, Sonos Radio brings you music for every moment.

Ray and the Sonos system

Sonos pioneered multiroom listening with a simple vision: help music lovers play any song anywhere in their homes with exceptional sound quality.

But how we live in our homes constantly evolves. Sometimes sound is a shared experience with our friends, housemates, or partners, but sometimes we want a separate soundtrack in different rooms. And other times we want to take our music outside without breaking the flow. Adding multiple speakers to your Sonos system expands the possibilities for listening.

Adding a Sonos Roam to Ray is a perfect example of this. With a couple of quick taps on your device or in the Sonos app, you can pair whatever’s playing on your soundbar with our ultra portable smart speaker, taking your music from the heart of your home to the palm of your hand. From there, you can head to another room or leave your home without missing a beat.

If you want to explore how to expand your listening experience, visit sonos.com.