The Ultimate Guide to a Sonos Home Theater
Caitlin Scott
Copywriter, Global Brand Creative
With the lights dimmed, a bowl of fresh popcorn, and the family cuddled on the couch, there's nothing quite like movie night from the comfort of your own home. But to truly get that theater-quality experience, the sound needs to be extraordinary. In this blog post, we’ll walk you through the process of creating a Sonos home theater — from choosing the right soundbar to adding pulse-pounding bass to demystifying surround sound — and help you make the best choice for your space.
The idea of setting up a home theater may conjure visions of wires snaked through the walls, stacks of complicated gear, and multiple remotes. While this might have been true in the past, getting immersive audio in your home has never been easier or more valuable. With advancements in technology and software, all you need are a few well-chosen speakers to experience sound that rivals the best movie theaters.
Yet the number of decisions you have to make in order to set up a home theater that works for you can be overwhelming. And let’s not get started on the confusing jargon — what on earth are speaker “channels,” and should you really care about 5.1 or 7.1.2 surround sound? With that in mind, we put together this guide to help you make a few simple decisions so you can experience theater-quality sound at home.
01
Start with a Sonos soundbar
Back when TVs were big and boxy, the screen and built-in speakers were about the same size. But as TVs have gotten thinner and thinner, the speakers have gotten smaller and smaller — leaving us scrambling to turn on closed captions just to follow the story. One of the easiest ways to improve the audio quality of your TV is with a soundbar. The sound will be fuller, the dialogue crisper, and the bass bolder.
All of our soundbars are tuned by Oscar® and Emmy®-winning sound engineers to ensure that you’re hearing your favorite films and shows as they were meant to be heard. Our soundbars work with virtually any TV and automatically pair with your existing remote for easy volume control. You can also adjust the volume and manage your system using the Sonos app, Apple AirPlay2, your favorite music app, or Sonos Voice Control. And when you’re not watching TV, stream music from hundreds of services including Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify.
Arc Ultra
Our sleekest and most powerful soundbar, Arc Ultra creates a massive soundstage that fills every inch of the room and precisely places sounds all around you. Featuring revolutionary Sound Motion™ technology, this soundbar packs unprecedentedly clear, deep, and balanced sound into an unbelievably compact design. When watching movies in Dolby Atmos, Arc Ultra takes your viewing experience to another dimension, with 9.1.4 surround sound you’ll have to hear to believe. And with its distinctive curved shape, low-profile design, and matte finish, Arc Ultra looks beautiful in your home, either mounted underneath your TV or placed on furniture.
Shop Arc Ultra here.
Beam (Gen 2)
Our compact yet powerful smart soundbar does it all. Beam provides high-definition sound for shows, movies, and games; offers a virtual spatial audio experience (more on that later); and, like Arc Ultra, when you step away from the screen, Beam can play your favorite music, podcasts, and more with rich, room-filling sound. It’s our most versatile soundbar — with the ability to dial the immersion to your exact liking with several subwoofer and rear speaker options. Place Beam on furniture in front of your TV or mount it to the wall using a custom Sonos Wall Mount.
Shop Beam here.
Ray
Don’t let its size fool you — Ray delivers surprisingly detailed sound for a soundbar this small. Our most affordable soundbar offers crisp dialogue and balanced stereo sound for your shows, movies, and games. Designed for maximum versatility, its all forward-facing acoustics make it ideal for tucking into a TV stand without impacting the sound quality. (In other words, you don’t have to worry about your furniture blocking any soundwaves.) And with an optical input, Ray is a great option for pairing with your PC.
Shop Ray here.
If you’re not sure which soundbar is best for your TV, you can learn more about setup requirements here.
Better TV sound with a tap
All of our soundbars feature settings designed to improve your listening experience. With a quick tap in the Sonos app, you can make dialogue even clearer or improve the sound for lower volume levels when watching late at night.
Night Sound
Tap the half moon icon to balance the sound so you won’t wake the rest of the house (or your neighbors). No more turning up the volume when characters whisper and then frantically turning it down when things explode.
Speech Enhancement
Tap the dialogue box icon on the Now Playing screen to emphasize dialogue so you won’t miss a word — even when the action gets intense. With Arc Ultra, enjoy greater control by choosing your preferred level of Speech Enhancement in Settings.
You can learn more about Night Sound here and Speech Enhancement here.
Pro Tip: Already have a pair of speakers you love? Sonos Amp allows you to turn your existing audio equipment into a wireless Sonos system. It’s perfect for those who want to keep their analog gear but also enjoy the ease of streaming movies and music from the cloud.
02
Add a subwoofer
Not only can a subwoofer (also known as a “bass speaker”) produce more immersive and cinematic sound, but it also improves your soundbar’s overall performance.
Your soundbar produces mid-range and high frequency sounds, like dialogue, with exceptional clarity. But because of its slim and compact design, it’s limited in its ability to produce deep, powerful bass. By adding a dedicated bass speaker to your setup, your soundbar is able to offload the lowest frequency sounds — like a rumbling engine — and focus on delivering crisper mid-range sounds and cleaner highs. Ultimately, a subwoofer helps widen the soundstage to create a greater sense of dimension and depth.
Choosing your Sonos subwoofer
Sub 4
If you’re looking for clean, pulse-pounding bass that can fill a large room, look no further than Sub 4. Our iconic subwoofer pairs best with a powerful soundbar like Arc Ultra or Beam for truly immersive sound. Its versatile design lets you find the perfect fit for Sub in your home: face it forward to put it on full display; turn it to its profile for a more discreet look; or lay it flat and slide it under your couch so it’s completely out of sight. For the ultimate home theater experience, you can add a second Sub to Arc Ultra for even more balanced and impactful bass. Dual Subs work in harmony to engulf your space with the deepest rumbles of a fiery explosion and powerful roars of a crashing wave.
Shop Sub 4 here.
Sub Mini
If you’re wanting to add bold bass to a smaller space, such as an apartment or simply a bedroom, go with Sub Mini. This compact interpretation of our premium subwoofer features advanced processing that helps reproduce the full-toned bass of a much larger subwoofer but at a smaller scale. Its minimal footprint and unique cylindrical design fits nicely all around your home. Display it in plain sight or slide it under a desk for a more discreet look. For the best bass experience, we recommend pairing Sub Mini with Ray or Beam.
Shop Sub Mini here.
03
Connect two rear Sonos speakers for surround sound
You have a soundbar, and a subwoofer. How much of a difference can two more speakers make? Plenty. When you add two matching rear Sonos speakers to your home theater setup, you’ll uncover greater details in songs, and you’ll find yourself completely enveloped in what you watch.
Understanding surround sound
As you dive into the world of home theater, you’ll likely see a lot of numbers, like 5.1 or even 9.1.4. If you’re confused, don’t worry. You don’t need to get too caught up in these numbers (known as “channels”) when it comes to building your home theater, but they’re an important way of understanding the type of surround sound experience you’ll hear. Let us explain.
The term “channels” simply means “points of audio.” However, back when audio enthusiasts first started building their home theater systems (the ones with all the tangled wires and stacks of receivers), these numbers became synonymous with how many physical speakers needed to be present in the room.
For example, if you were looking to create a traditional 5.1 home theater system, you would need three front speakers (placed underneath and to the left and right of your TV) and two rear speakers (typically placed to the left and right of your couch). The .1 indicated the addition of a subwoofer. But with the emergence of the soundbar, this tried-and-true cheat sheet for building a home theater system began to fall apart. You now had one speaker doing the work of three.
This traditional way of thinking about channels is not as applicable to today’s technology. With the advancements of audio hardware and software, you no longer need to scatter your room with speakers to get an incredibly immersive sound experience. Premium soundbars like Arc Ultra have the ability to render 9.1.4 surround sound from the soundbar alone. (Yes, that means one soundbar doing the work of nine ear-level speakers, one subwoofer, and four overhead speakers.)
A better way of thinking about channels these days is in terms of levels of immersion instead of number of speakers. If you are someone who likes a good cheat sheet, a general rule to follow is that the higher the number, the more immersive the sound experience.
5.1 Classic surround sound
7.1.2 Immersive surround
9.1.4 Multidimensional sound
Choosing your surround sound speakers
Now you may be thinking, if a soundbar can produce incredible surround sound on it’s own, why should you add two more speakers? While adding rear speakers won’t always impact the channel configuration (such is the case for Arc Ultra), surround speakers will help disperse audio more evenly across your space, ensuring sound reaches every corner and angle of the room. This will add even greater depth and detail for truly lifelike sound that feels like the action is unfolding in your living room.
Sonos Era 100
Our most versatile and compact smart speaker delivers rich, impactful surround sound when paired with Arc Ultra, Beam, and Ray. With custom-built woofers and tweeters, Era 100 evenly disperses sound across the room to create a wider soundstage that allows you to hear more details and subtle nuances in your favorite music and movies. Its sleek, minimalist design blends seamlessly into your home and fits nicely on furniture or using custom Sonos stands.
Shop Sonos Era 100 here.
Sonos Era 300
If you want the ultimate Dolby Atmos experience at home, choose Era 300. You’ll feel the bass pound deep in your chest. You’ll hear the dialogue as if the characters are standing right in the room. And you’ll feel completely enveloped in the story. When paired with Arc Ultra and Sub 4, Era 300 offers a true multi-channel surround sound experience without the need for multiple overhead speakers or complex wiring. The upward and side-firing drivers project sound all around the room to create a soundstage that completely immerses you, with sound coming from forward, behind, and above.
Shop Sonos Era 300 here.
A note on placement
One of the tricky parts of adding rear speakers to a home theater setup is where to place them. We’ve made it easy with a variety of speaker stands and mounts. Choose what works best for your viewing room here.
Learn more about placement tips for Era 300 here and Era 100 here.
Pro Tip: Add Sonos Voice Control to your system in the Sonos app to turn on your TV and adjust your home theater audio settings hands-free.
Recommended Sonos home theater setups
Now that you understand the basics of home theater sound, it’s time to find the right setup for you. To help take the guesswork out of building your system, we've put together this chart with our recommended speaker pairings based on the size of your space, the size of your TV, and level of immersion you’re hoping to achieve.
5.1 (Small room size, TV up to 55”)
Ray + Sub Mini + 2x Era 100
7.1.2* (Small to medium room size, TV up to 65”)
Beam + Sub Mini + 2x Era 100
7.1.4* (Medium to large room size, TV up to 65”)
Beam + Sub 4 + 2x Era 100
7.1.4* (Large room size, TV up to 65”)
Beam + Sub 4 + 2x Era 300
9.1.4 (Medium to large room size, TV 50” and over)
Arc Ultra + Sub 4 + 2x Era 100
9.1.4 (Large room size, TV 50” and over)
Arc Ultra + Sub 4 + 2x Era 300
*Some channels rendered using virtualization techniques. Requires compatible TV and Dolby Atmos-supported streaming service. Learn more about compatibility requirements here.
Once you’ve chosen the right setup for you, there’s no need to build it yourself. Save when you get it as a set.
