The top panel has three touch-sensitive buttons for
volume down, volume up, and play/pause. These
controls sit in the center of the soundbar near the back,
and the microphone indicator is in the back-right
corner. An additional indicator, which lights up when
you use a voice assistant, sits front and center.
All ports on the speaker are in a rectangular recess on
the back, including an HDMI port for connecting to
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power connector. A pairing button used for the setup
process also sits here. The speaker has no optical input,
but Sonos includes an optical audio adapter, in case you
want to use that instead of HDMI.
The Arc doesn’t have a remote, though it features an
infrared sensor and repeater so it can take commands
from your TV remote. It works directly with your TV
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sent from your TV’s remote. You can also use the app to
control volume.
As for audio, the Arc features eight elliptical woofers
and three angled silk-dome tweeters powered by 11
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the room by using the speaker’s built-in microphone
and Sonos’ Trueplay tuning feature.
Sonos Arc
PROS Large sound
field with powerful
bass, even without a
subwoofer. Supports
Amazon Alexa and
Google Assistant. Can
easily be expanded
with satellites and a
subwoofer. Dolby
Atmos compatibility
with angled tweeters.
CONS Expensive. Only
works with pricey
Sonos subwoofer.
BOTTOM LINE The
impressive Sonos Arc
takes the best parts
of the company’s
other soundbars and
combines them into
one Dolby Atmos-
compatible package.