Sound & Vision (2019-04)

d110

10-inch driver, 750 watts

Dimensions* (H x W x D):

13.4 in. x 12 in. x 15.86 in.

340 mm x 305 mm x 403 mm

d108

8-inch driver, 500 watts

Dimensions* (H x W x D):

11.37 in. x 10 in. x 13.23 in.

289 mm x 254 mm x 336 mm

• All height dimensions include feet, depth dimensions include grilles.

© 2017 JL AUDIO, Inc. For more information on our

complete line of subwoofers, please visit your local

authorized dealer or http://www.jlaudio.com. Authorized

JL Audio Dealers do not sell via the Internet. Subwoofers

pictured with grilles removed. Customers in Canada

should contact GemSen Distribution: http://www.gemsen.com.

Built in USA with global components.

With all the finesse and quality

that their larger siblings are

known for, Dominions establish

a new benchmark for audio

quality in super-compact

powered subwoofers.

Audition a pair at your

authorized JL Audio retailer to

hear what all the fuss is about.

test report

not for everyone. If all you’re looking for

is something that’ll let you use beer

speakers than your TV’s crap built-in ones,

there are plenty of other, cheaper options.

On the other hand, if you have, or are going

to build, a multiroom audio system with

other Sonos speakers, the Amp becomes,

well, not a bargain, but definitely a versatile

addition that’s worth every penny. The

Sonos folks told me that aer 13 years of

shipping products, 93 percent of them are

still active. I have no doubt that the new

Sonos Amp will continue that tradition of

longevity.

Technology Invisa Signature Point Source

in-wall speakers. The zippy high end

became much more aggressive when I

switched to a pair of much larger Legacy

Classic HD speakers, though, with the so-

dome tweeters in the Legacys sounding

more shrill than the folded-ribbon drivers

in the GoldenEars. In both cases, however,

bringing down the treble seing a notch or

two quickly eliminated the issue.

THE PHANTOM OF THE CENTER

The Amp doesn’t do any creative, faux-

rear surround processing for movies,

but it does do a splendid job of creating

a phantom center channel that’s nearly

impossible to distinguish from the real

thing. The “speech enhancement”

seing was also very useful for increasing

dialogue intelligibility. When I watched the

opening segment of The Ballad of Buster

Scruggs on Netflix, for example, engaging

the speech enhancement seing brought

Buster’s voice out into the forefront of the

scene, and it did so without detriment to

the le and right audio channels. Dio

when the bank teller’s monologue picks up

speed in front of an agitated thief played by

actor James Franco in the following Buster

Scruggs vignee, “Near Algodones.” The

performance here was very impressive

considering it was all done without the use

of a discrete center channel.

Configuring a pair of Play:1s as the

rear speakers in my system through the

Sonos app required only a couple of

buon presses, choosing the distance

from the listening area to the surrounds,

and waiting two or three minutes for the

seings to kick in. For so lile effort, the

system’s seamless, cohesive performance

when it came to side-to-side panning and

front/surround speaker integration was

quite amazing. I was also surprised to hear

that subtle effects were clearly present.

For example, when the robbers in Baby

Driver successfully finish the first job and

are speeding into the parking garage, the

concrete pillars distinctly and convincingly

whooshed by from right to le. Also, as the

crew in Guardians of the Galaxy fought to

escape the prison and the missile-firing

drones, the sound of projectiles retained

their integrity from their launch in the rear of

the room to their impact in the front.

CONCLUSION

Even though the new $599 Sonos Amp

does almost everything, it’s absolutely

The Verdict

The new Sonos Amp is a marvel of simplic-

ity and versatility that will enhance and

expand any Sonos multiroom audio system

in ways that are worth far more than its

$599 price tag.

RATED POWER: 125

was x 2 (8 ohms)

INPUTS: HDMI-ARC,

RCA stereo analog

OUTPUTS: Auto-

detecting RCA subwoofer with adjust-

able crossover (50 to 110Hz)

OTHER: Ethernet (2), Wi-Fi, SonosNet

2.0, AirPlay 2

ACCESSORY: optical digital-to-HDMI

audio adapter

DIMENSIONS: (W x H x D, Inches):

8.54 x 2.52 x 8.54

WEIGHT: (Pounds): 4.6

PRICE: $599

Specs

SONOS AMP STREAMING AMPLIFIER

The Amp's high level of installation

flexibility makes it the Swiss Army

knife equivalent in the Sonos

product line.