Sonos, a leader in whole home sound systems, has unveiled a new offering in their home theater speaker lineup: the Sonos Ray soundbar ($279). The Ray joins the Beam Gen 2 ($449) and ARC ($899) as the company's new entry-level sound bar offering. The Ray is designed to enhance the sound of your TV or home projector while also integrating into the Sonos whole home multi-room music platform.
As with other Sonos soundbars, the Ray can be upgraded into a true surround sound system by adding a pair of rear speakers or a powered subwoofer. For details on how that works, check out our Sonos 5.1 surround guide. You can also get an optional wall-mount, for a more discrete look with wall-mounted TVs or projector screens.
Similar to the original PlayBar and PlayBase, the Ray connects to any TV or projector via a single optical cable. Some recent televisions have omitted this type of audio output, favoring HDMI ARC instead. So check your TV for compatibility before purchasing a Ray. For TVs without fiberoptic outputs, you may need a fiberoptic switch connected from your your cable box and/or streaming set-top box to the Ray in order to get sound from video sources.
The Sonos Ray has touch controls on board the unit but it can also be controlled within the Sonos app for Android or Apple. This means you can easily play music on the Ray from virtually any music streaming platform (e.g., Spotify, Amazon Music, Pandora) or from your own local digital music library. Just select your music source within the Sonos app and select which speakers you want to play that music. You can route your music to the Ray alone or to any or all of the other Sonos speakers within your home. You won't need a separate hub or bridge device as the Ray connects to other Sonos speakers via WiFi. The Ray can also work with your current TV or cable box remote so you can control the volume without reaching for another remote or having to load the app on your phone.
The Ray's intelligent auto-switching function detects when your TV or projector is on, and automatically switches to that input. If you want to listen to music instead, just bring up the Sonos app on your phone or tablet and choose your music selection from there. The Ray does not support Bluetooth (nor does it need to) but it does come with Apple AirPlay 2 support on board.
In terms of performance and sound technology, the Ray has four Class-D Digital amplifiers on board, driving a pair of tweeters and a pair of midwoofers for true stereo sound. Split waveguides aim the high frequency sounds out to the sides of the unit for wide stereo separation. The bottom end is augmented by a low-velocity port which minimizes distortion while extending low bass frequencies. The Ray has Sonos Trueplay on board to measure the acoustics of the space it is in and adjust the sound for your specific room.
The Ray is compact (less than 2 feet wide) measuring in at 22 x 3.74 x 2.79 inches (559 x 95 x 71 mm) and weighs 4.29 pounds (1.95 kg).
The Sonos Ray can be pre-ordered at the Sonos web site and will soon be available at authorized retailers. Shipping is expected to begin on June 7, 2022.
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