Everything you need to know about setting a Sonos multi-room speaker system
Sonos is still the biggest name in multi-room audio, despite facing some user issues this year following the redesign of its app in May. Still, while Amazon’s Echo range, Apple’s HomePod and Google Assistant-ready speakers may have added some much-needed mainstream competition, Sonos is the go-to option for anybody trying to organize a multi-room speaker setup for their home.
Luckily, Sonos is really simple to get started with – whether you want one speaker, a stereo-pair, TV surround sound or in-sync speakers in various rooms. The array of playback options is also staggering – think local storage, streaming services, internet radio, TV audio and more.
Almost all of the more recent Sonos speakers also come with Alexa built-in, as well as a native Sonos voice assistant called Sonos Voice Control, and the more recent speakers offer support for AirPlay and Spotify Connect too so there’s plenty of ways to get your tunes pumping.
Sonos even has a few of Bluetooth speakers in its line-up now; something you would have never believed a few years ago, and it entered in into the headphone market with the launch of the Sonos Ace headphones in June too, so there’s quite a breadth of choice when it comes to listening to music on a Sonos device these days.
Once you get on board with Sonos and start setting up your own system, you’ll be flying. However, it can be daunting trying to figure out which are the best Sonos speakers to invest in and what the best Sonos setup is. With this guide, we’ve got you covered. Read on to learn about every speaker in the Sonos range, as well as everything you need to know about creating the ultimate multi-room system in your house.
The best Sonos speakers for your setup
Sonos Era 100
Buy now: sonos.com | $199/ £199
The Sonos Era 100 launched in early 2023 and it effectively replaces the entry-level mains-powered Sonos speakers, the Sonos One and the Sonos One SL. A little like the Sonos One replaced the Play:1 when it launched in 2017. You can still get your hands on the Sonos One and Sonos One SL if you look around, but not through Sonos itself and in order to future proof your Sonos speakers, we would recommend opting for the Era 100 if you can make your budget stretch a little.
The Era 100 boasts two tweeters, angled at 270 degrees for stereo sound, and a load of extra bass compared to the One. It comes in black and white colour options, had a volume slider at the top for easy control and you’ll find both a Bluetooth switch on the back and a microphone mute switch.
You’ll notice we mentioned Bluetooth – this was the first mains-powered Sonos speaker to offer Bluetooth, alongside the larger Sonos Era 300. There is also Wi-Fi 6E support and it offers Android users a Quick Tune option that optimises the sound of the Era 100 with just a single button push… iPhone users have been able to use TruePlay for years, of course and still can with the Advanced Tuning option, but at least Android fans have an option now instead of having to borrow an iOS device from a buddy.
Sonos Move 2
Buy now: sonos.com | $449 / £449
In September 2023, Sonos took everything we loved about the original Move – which was Sonos’ first Bluetooth speaker that launched in 2019 – and threw in a bunch of new features for the Sonos Move 2.
Similar to the Sonos One and Sonos One SL, you can still get your hands on the original Sonos Move but you’d be better off with the Move 2 unless you can find the original at a really good price. Like the original Move, the Move 2 is a speaker of two parts. Indoors, it connects to your Wi-Fi like any other Sonos speaker and behaves just like a Sonos Era 100: there’s Alexa built-in, AirPlay 2 support, and it easily slips into your multi-room system. It is louder than the Era 100 however, with a serious amount of punch to its performance.
Hit the Bluetooth button on the back and you’re free to roam using the integrated handle to carry it. There’s up to 24 hours of battery life to play with (which is up from the 10 hours on the original Move), and the battery can be removed and replaced.
The Move 2 also has a revamped dual-tweeter acoustic architecture, alongside a precision-tuned woofer, allowing for stereo sound a better performance overall. Like the Sonos Roam (more on that in a second), the Move 2 can be on both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi at the same time, something the original Move wasn’t capable of.
Sonos Roam 2
Buy now: Amazon, sonos.com | $179 / £179
The little brother to the heavy hitting Move duo, the original Roam was revealed in early-2021, with its successor arriving alongside the Sonos Ace headphones in May 2024. You can still get your hands on the Sonos Roam, but like the Sonos One and Sonos Move, you’ll need do a little bit of hunting around. Of the current line-up, the Sonos Roam 2 is the smallest and cheapest Sonos speaker.
The Roam 2 has Alexa built-in and it splits the power and Bluetooth into two separate buttons, making it much easier to use than the original. It’s much smaller than the Move, so it’s significantly more portable, making it the perfect Sonos speaker to throw in a bag.
Like the Move, the Roam 2 is capable of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi streaming and it can beam a received BT stream around to other Sonos speakers on your network like the Move 2.
The Roam 2 is a curved triangular speaker like its predecessor that weighs less than a pound and is waterproof enough that you can take it in the bathroom, or around the pool, without worrying about it breaking if it takes a dip. It’s also Sonos’ most colorful speaker, with five different variants to choose from.
Sonos Five
Buy now: sonos.com | $549 / £549
Technically, still the flagship bookshelf speaker, the Sonos Five is actually a highly-evolved version of Sonos’ first-ever speaker. It boasts six Class-D digital amplifiers, six dedicated speaker drivers, three tweeters and three mid-woofers.
The Five replaced the second-gen Play:5 and, like its predecessor, has a line-in on the back for CD players, turntables and the like, and also offers up a pair of Ethernet ports so it can act as a handy switch or extender for your wired devices.
It can sit in either portrait or landscape, as well, and comes in a choice of all-black or all-white. Compared to the Era 100, the Five offers a much fuller sound, but it’s also significantly larger and it doesn’t offer Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio support like the Sonos Era 300.
Sonos Era 300
Buy now: sonos.com | $449 / £449
We said technically the flagship for the Five and that’s because, in 2023, the Sonos Era 300 went live, boasting a radical new look, which was designed from the ground up with spatial audio in mind.
Designed to essentially replace the Sonos Play:3, that hourglass form factor of the Era 300 allows for six class-D digital amplifiers working alongside four tweeters pinging off in all directions for Dolby Atmos action.
There’s also a pair of woofers to maximize the low-end output, which are angled left and right to support stereo playback. It also offers Alexa on board and Sonos Voice Control, but like the Era 100, there is no Google Assistant.
The Era 300 is both a Bluetooth and a Wi-Fi (6E) speaker and it also supports line-in; although you will have to buy a separate adapter ($19 / £19) for 3.5mm aux in, as it’s a USB-C line in on the back.
Sonos Arc
Buy now: sonos.com | $899 / £899
The Sonos Arc went live in 2020, offering Dolby Atmos surround sound, HDMI connectivity (ARC or eARC) and 270-degree multi-directional sound from that curved grille.
Coming in matte black or white, it’s a step up from the hugely popular Sonos Beam, offering a dedicated TV speaker that isn’t just Atmos-equipped, but friendly with stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1, too.
Featuring 11 drivers in total – 8 elliptical woofers and 3 angled silk-dome tweeters – the Arc uses Sonos Trueplay software to make sure you get the optimum sound for your room and setup. Whether your voice assistant of choice is Google Assistant or Alexa, the Sonos Arc has you covered, and it’s also an AirPlay 2 speaker, as well.
While the Arc itself is capable of a 5.0.2 surround sound stage, you can eliminate the virtual parts by adding dedicated rear speakers (any of the Sonos One or Era 100 speakers are usually the best bet) and a Sonos subwoofer – but more on that in a bit.
There is also a Costco-exclusive Sonos Arc SL, which ditches the voice assistants and will save you $50. It’s worth keeping in mind that there are some rumours of a Sonos Arc successor that is due to appear soon so you might want to hold off a little on this one to see what the new model might offer.
Sonos Beam (2nd-gen)
Buy now: Amazon, sonos.com | $449 / £449
The mid-level member of the Sonos smart soundbar gang, the Sonos Beam – which was revamped for a 2nd-gen model in 2021 – can, of course, be used as a regular Sonos speaker, but really it’s designed to beef up your TV’s audio – it connects via HDMI eARC and, like the Arc, has high-end audio like Dolby Atmos on offer.
The Sonos Beam 2 looks a heck of a lot like its predecessor, at least in terms of footprint and form factor. Like the original, it is modest in size, measuring just 26 inches long, 4 inches wide and 2.7 inches high.
Featuring five Class-D digital amplifiers, a single tweeter, three passive radiators and four elliptical midwoofers, it also boasts a five-mic array for voice control, which makes it easy for Alexa or the Google Assistant to hear you from a distance over whatever is being played through the speaker. AirPlay 2 is also on board.
Sonos Ray
Buy now: sonos.com | $279 / £279
An even cheaper Sonos soundbar to the Beam arrived in mid-2022 in the form of the Sonos Ray and it remains Sonos’ most affordable TV speaker to date.
For those looking to get an extra boost from their TV’s sound, while at the same time adding a further arrow to their Sonos arsenal, the Ray is likely to be very tempting indeed, especially for those with TVs that lack an eARC HDMI for Dolby Atmos.
Unlike the Beam and the Arc, which offer Dolby Atmos through HDMI, there’s just optical audio on the Ray, there’s no HDMI in sight. That means you are limited to just Stereo PCM, Dolby Digital and DTS Digital Surround.
Another omission to keep the price tag down is the lack of a microphone for smart digital assistants like Google Assistant or Alexa, but we doubt that will be a deal breaker for many people.
What you will get is both AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect compatibility and the usual array of Sonos soundbar features such as IR remote skills, Trueplay, Night Sound and Speech Clarity.
Sonos Ikea Symfonisk
Buy now: Ikea | From $99 / £115
Ok, so technically this is the cheapest way into the Sonos ecosystem, but that’s because these speakers are not actually built by Sonos.
Rather, Ikea’s Symfonisk speakers put Sonos sound tech inside Ikea-built furniture. It launched a few years back with a range of table lamps and bookshelf speakers; and we’ve since seen a Frame-shaped speaker launch, along with a 2nd-gen lamp (with a tweaked design) in some regions.
In mid-2021 Ikea introduced the intriguing Symfonisk Picture Frame WiFi speaker. This Frame Symfonisk speaker is available with an array of interchangeable fronts, with the idea being you’ll find one that suits the design of your home.
The Symfonisk Picture Frame WiFi speaker is available from $199 / £179.
Sonos Sub (Gen-3)
Buy now: sonos.com | $799 / £799
The Arc and Beam both add brilliant sound improvements to your home cinema setup on their own, but they can also be teamed up with other Sonos speakers as part of a surround sound setup – and that’s where the Sub comes in.
Looking more or less exactly the same as the 2nd-gen model, the new Gen-3 Sub has had its innards revamped with increased memory and faster processing power.
However, Sonos’ subwoofer isn’t just for a TV surround setup; it’s also brilliant for adding bass to your music, and, again, you can just throw it into a group as per a regular speaker.
Sonos Sub Mini
Buy now: sonos.com | $429 / £429
In 2022, Sonos unveiled its long-awaited affordable subwoofer, the Sub Mini; a cheaper alternative to the full size Sub with a more streamlined and less intrusive design.
The Sub Mini weighs in at 14 pounds and stands at 12 inches, though it can’t lie on its side like the larger Sub. At the time of launch, Sonos noted that the speaker was designed to be used in small or medium-sized rooms, whereas the original Sub is still best for larger spaces.
The idea is that you pair a Sub Mini up with the Sonos Ray or Sonos Beam, while the larger sub is designed for the Sonos Arc.
Sonos Architectural by Sonance
Buy now: sonos.com | From $649 / £599
Sonos also offers non-bookshelf speakers in the form of the Sonos Architectural by Sonance lineup, which includes in-wall, in-ceiling and outdoor speakers.
They will need to be hooked up to the Sonos Amp to work, which means that embracing this new range of Architectural Sonos isn’t cheap.
On top of the Sonos Amp, the Sonance line-up consists of the Sonos In-Wall, the Sonos In-Ceiling and the Sonos Outdoor.
The Sonos Amp auto-recognize and connect to the Sonance wall speakers, and you’ll be able to tune them via TruePlay.
Sonos Ace headphones
Buy now: sonos.com | From $449 / £449
Sonos launched the Sonos Ace headphones in June 2024, delivering a very comfortable pair of over-ear cans that deliver great sound performance, as you would expect from the company.
The headphones don’t necessarily do a great deal with the Sonos system however so while there is a TV Audio Swap feature that you can read all about in our separate feature, there’s nothing like the Sound Swap feature you get on the Roam speakers, for example.
The TV Audio Swap feature does work with Sonos Arc, Sonos Beam (Gen 2) and Sonos Ray soundbars now though, allowing you to switch your TV audio between your Sonos soundbar and your headphones, which is good for if you want to watch a movie without waking up the whole house. They support Dolby Atmos and head tracking and they come in black and white.
The extras and Sonos components
That’s your lot when it comes to audio output, but there are some additional accessories to make your Sonos system harder, better, faster, stronger.
Sonos Port
Buy now: sonos.com | $449 / £399
Sonos’ Port is an update to the older Connect systems and will allow you to hook up your old speakers to your Sonos system, rendering what was once dumb very much smart.
Brilliantly, it also includes a 12V trigger, meaning it can turn those devices on and off without you needing to get up and do it yourself.
Sonos Amp
Buy now: sonos.com | $699 / £699
A replacement for the Connect:Amp, the Amp is twice as powerful as its predecessor, coming with support for up to four speakers with 125 watts per channel. It also supports AirPlay 2.
Sonos TV surround sound system
As well as being able to pair up your Sonos speakers for stereo sound, and the multi-room synced music, you can also create a dedicated TV surround system from within the Sonos app.
It used to be limited to 5.1 but you can now create a Sonos 7.1 system thanks to the launch of the Era 300.
You’ll need a mix of some key ingredients to get started – one of the Sonos TV soundbars: the Beam, Ray or the Arc, some rear speakers (Ones, Era 100s and Symfonisk bookshelves are great options) and also a Sub.
A soundbar and the Sub is a 3.1 system right there and Sonos actually sells 3.1 bundles with surround sound setups from $777 / £677 – that price is for a Ray-based system, you’ll pay a bit more to get an Arc or Beam involved.
To get to 5.1 you obviously need to add a couple of rear speakers and you can do this with either a pair of Ones, One SLs, Era 100s or even a pair of Ikea speakers. Technically, you could throw some Sonos Fives at the back, but that would be some level of overkill.
You can also, if you want to really go all out, also throw a couple of Era 300s together as the rear speakers of a true multi-channel 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos experience in a surround sound setup, when paired with an Arc and some Sonos Subs.
Sonos actually sells this high-end bundle for $2,526 / £2,596.
How does Sonos work?
Sonos started life way back in 2005, as a remote control (with a display) and an amplifying box – the ZP100 – that effectively made dumb speakers connected.
The ZP100 had Ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity and, using the controller, you could stream your locally stored digital music, as well as tap into some internet radio services.
Nowadays, Sonos is effectively a collection of connected speakers that team up with an app – mobile or desktop – to let you stream your music from a huge array of sources. You can have just one Sonos speaker in your setup but the fun starts when you begin to team them up.
Whether you’re setting up a solo Sonos speaker, or connecting up a bunch of them (you can have a maximum of 32, by the way), you’ll start by creating a Sonos account.
On a PC or mobile device, operating on your home’s Wi-Fi – the same Wi-Fi that your Sonos system will use (to begin with, at least) – get the Sonos app and create an account. You’re then walked through the process of adding speakers to the mix.
The best way to do this is using an iOS device so you can make use of Sonos’ Trueplay tech – essentially a calibration tool that uses your iPhone or iPad’s microphone to measure sound reflections off your room’s walls to decipher room size, layout, furniture, speaker placement and any other acoustic factors that impact on sound quality.
It takes a few minutes of you waving your iOS device around the room and then the app adjusts the speaker’s woofer and tweeter for the best sound.
Sure, the HomePod can do all this without you walking around a room with a phone in your hand, but it does mean the best possible sound from each speaker.
Sonos multi-room audio
Once you’ve gone through the process of adding all of your Sonos speakers, naming them and assigning rooms (and creating dedicated pairs of stereo-speakers, if you wish), you’ll have a multi-room audio setup at your fingertips.
You can choose to play back different music sources in different rooms, or you can group speakers so they play back the same source, at the exact same time, perfectly in sync. Once you create groupings, your Sonos system will remember these until you ungroup them – it really is as simple as checking or unchecking a box in the app. You can have as many groups set up as you like, but a speaker can only be in one group at a time.
These groups also stay intact when driving Sonos from another source. For example, you can associate Amazon Echo devices with Sonos speakers, creating groups where the Sonos speakers are the default music playback for a command heard by your Echo devices. Same with Google Assistant too.
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Boost setup and more
Sonos speakers were historically not Bluetooth speakers but all of that has changed in the past couple of years with the launch of the Roam, Move and Era speakers.
Bluetooth aside, all Sonos speakers operate on the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi spectrum. That means a larger range, uncompressed audio and better control around your whole house. It also means that the speakers themselves are streaming the audio, rather than simply relaying what your phone sends over to them.
When you first set up a Sonos speaker, though, by default it just runs on your home Wi-Fi network – and the speakers need to have a good signal to your router to operate without lag or drops.
But you can improve things by creating a Boost setup (sometimes referred to as ‘SonosNet’). What this means is a separate 2.4GHz mesh network that operates away from your home Wi-Fi, while at the same time still using your router’s connection to the web for its internet-based sources.
The easiest way to do this, if possible, is to connect one of your Sonos speakers – any one will do – to your router using Ethernet. This will make your Sonos speaker a hub for the Boost network.
However, the best setup – albeit at an extra cost – is to add a Sonos Boost (£99) to the mix; a dedicated wireless booster that broadcasts 360-degree signals around your house.
Recent advancements in Wi-Fi tech has made a SonosNet system somewhat redundant though, both the Era 100 and 300 won’t play a part in SonosNet, for example, because they don’t really have to thanks to their Wi-Fi 6 skills and home mesh Wi-Fi systems now common place.
What can you play on Sonos?
When Sonos started life it was essentially a streamer for your locally stored digital music – think MP3s stored on a NAS drive or within your iTunes library. And while the system is still capable of that, it now offers a whole lot more.
All of the major streaming services are on offer through Sonos speakers (you simply need to sync up your accounts in the app). The list includes Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, Soundcloud, Google Play Music, Qobuz and Tidal.
In terms of radio playback, you can tap into the millions of digital stations from around the world through TuneIn or SiriusXM – or even make use of the Sonos Radio service.
Spatial audio is the ‘big thing’ in music right now. You can get spatial audio tracks streaming on Sonos using Amazon Music Unlimited and also Apple Music also now offers spatial audio to Sonos users.
Finally, you can also use a Sonos device with a line-in option, or a Sonos TV speaker with digital optical audio, to stream pretty much anything you like around your house – whether that be sound from your ancient hi-fi cassette deck, the audio from a TV broadcast or even your record player’s vinyl.
One piece of advice – if you are planning on streaming anything other than compressed digital music (i.e internet radio, stored MP3s, Spotify and the like), then you’ll want a Boost setup to avoid choppy playback.
In June 2020, the S1 (old) and S2 (new) systems went live – the biggest shake-up to the Sonos system to date.
At the start of 2020, Sonos announced that it would stop updating ‘legacy products’. This list included original Zone Players, first-gen Connect and Connect:Amp, the first-generation Play:5, the CR200 and the Sonos Bridge.
Sonos S2 was not only the name of the new app at the time, it’s was also a new OS for your non-legacy Sonos speakers. The app added some sweet new software features for upgraders, such as preset groupings that you can use for speakers at certain times of day, or for events – think ‘Good morning’, ‘Party’ and so on.
But the biggest deal was perhaps that Sonos was promising that S2 will “enable higher resolution audio technologies for music and home theater”. We’re hoping that means high-resolution audio for the likes of Tidal and Amazon Music HD. The first signs of this were the Dolby Atmos features of the Sonos Arc, which has since transcended onto Era 300.
Sonos S1, which launched alongside the new S2 experience, is basically Sonos as it is was. Sonos S2 is still around, but the app was redesigned in May 2024 and a couple of features were lost. Sonos is currently in the process of rebuilding those features and restoring some of elements that were removed with the update. It’s been a rocky road since May but things are looking up with a number of older features now available again.
Do old Sonos speakers still work?
As we’ve just noted, Sonos has stopped updating its older, ‘legacy’ products in the last couple of years.
If you’ve got any of these older Sonos devices, you still have the option of using your Sonos setup as is; you just won’t receive software updates and new features as they launch.
However, if your Sonos system comprises even just one of those legacy devices and a bunch of the newer speakers, you’ll have to ditch your old one or condemn your new speakers to the same no-more-updates fate.
You can split your system apart – which is a non-runner for most Sonos setups – or simply let your old Sonos speakers die. You can also upgrade your old Sonos kit using a 30% credit trade-in program.
Sonos in the smart home – Alexa, Google Assistant and more
Sonos is getting better on the smart home front – its Works with Sonos program has partners like Wink, Lutron, Logitech and Yonomi on board, making things like automation recipes possible.
Alexa is also friendly with Sonos – Amazon’s assistant lives inside a range of Sonos speakers – as did the Google Assistant, although not recently though (Sonos and Google had a very public legal spat in the past few years).
Also, via the Sonos Skill, any Alexa or Google Home speaker can control your existing Sonos speakers. In essence, that means you can add voice control for as little as $30 / £30 using an Echo Dot, and totally transform your setup.
Check out our guide to Sonos and Alexa to find out exactly what you can and can’t do – but remember, you’ll need a Sonos One with Alexa on board to actually control things in your smart home.
You can also now associate Amazon Echo devices with Sonos speakers using the Alexa app; creating groups where the Sonos speakers are the default playback for a command heard. Sonos has also fixed the problem of its speakers lowering the volume every time you talk to Alexa on your Echo, but it’s a little tricky – check out our guide on how to fix it.
Sonos also has its own voice assistant now too. Voice Control is solely about accessing your music, so isn’t looking to compete with Alexa or Google for smart home controls.
It supports Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora, Deezer and Sonos Radio media controls. Spotify is not supported at the moment.
You can use both Sonos Voice Control and Alexa at the same time, on the same speaker – but not Sonos and Google Assistant, which is… odd.
All requests are processed locally rather than in in the cloud to provide complete privacy, and hopefully reach customers who’ve previously held out due to these concerns.
Great news – Apple’s AirPlay 2 plays nicely with your Sonos system. Sort of. Some of it at least. The likes of the Sonos One, One SL, Sonos Move, Move 2, Era 100, Era 300, Ray, Roam, Roam 2, Five, Beam, the second-gen Play:5 and the Playbase are all AirPlay 2-enabled speakers and can sync up with the HomePod and other AirPlay 2 speakers.
Older Sonos speakers – but you can include them by pre-grouping them with one of the speakers listed above in advance. That’s because the new Sonos speakers will act as “hubs” while the old ones will just stream the music or audio they need to.
We’ve spoken about adding a Port, Amp, Connect or Connect:AMP to the mix in order to bring your non-connected audio equipment into your Sonos groups, and one of the most common requests is for people to stream their vinyl record collections over their Sonos speakers.
The good news is that it’s not only possible but also easy to set up. You can either use a Port or Amp as stated – using the line-in port – or just go straight into a Five’s line-in port, or into a Era 300 via an adapter.
Simply group up speakers to whatever Sonos device your record player is connected to, click play on the Line-in source and you’re away.
IFTTT compatibility lets Sonos users integrate their speakers into the wider smart home in a number of interesting ways. For example, you could add a recipe that starts Sonos playing your favorite song when your smart lock registers you arriving home, or a recipe that stops all music playing when your Nest Protect alarm detects smoke.
IFTTT has control over the basic playback functions: pause/resume/next/previous, and the volume controls. The integration is in beta right now, and Sonos says it will be adding more functionality as the beta develops.
