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After several weeks of leaks, Sonos is finally officially lifting the veil on its brand new audio product, the Ray soundbar. A model that is both easy to use, compact, practical and above all affordable, at 299 €.
Sonos Ray
Introductory price 300 €
Faced with the broad acclaim aroused by the Beam and Beam Gen 2, Sonos now wishes to fully address users wishing to take a very first step into home cinema without breaking the bank from the first investment. The Ray therefore arrives to fulfill this mission, while maintaining the simplicity of installation, use and the power of the connected functionalities which are the strength of Sonos products.
As the various leaks had already indicated, the Sonos Ray very roughly resumes the base initiated by the two different versions of the Beam, always with the idea of offering a compact all-in-one product that blends easily into the decor. . The Ray pushes the concept with an overall still reduced size (559 x 71 x 96 mm and less than 2 kg) to facilitate its integration, the manufacturer insisting moreover on the very possibility of placing the bar directly in a TV cabinet… Good that we suspect that this positioning will clearly not be ideal for the reproduction of low frequencies, Sonos nevertheless puts forward two arguments in this case of use: the presence of TruePlay calibration, always available for the lucky owners of smartphones running iOS, and an acoustic design”specifically studied” with all the elements that compose it placed on the front face.
The Ray can be placed on a piece of furniture or mounted on a wall thanks to the integrated wall mounting system.
However, there is nothing really rocket science when looking more closely at the acoustic architecture of this bar, except for a potential optimization of the placement of the two bass-reflex vents at the front of the bar. The Sonos Ray is also quite different from the Beam on this point when you inspect its innards: the passive radiators are therefore replaced by two bass-reflex vents, the two loudspeakers dedicated to the reproduction of mediums (still slightly ovoid ) are placed towards the center of the bar, while two waveguide-coupled tweeters (aiming towards each end of the bar in an attempt to recreate the best possible stage width) are positioned between these speakers and the vents bass reflex. Sonos promises us balanced sound, punchy bass and clear voices.
The Ray is therefore based on a 3.0 system and does not offer any surround virtualization system, but supports Dolby Digital and DTS Digital Surround multichannel audio streams (only in stereo for PCM). Like all other Sonos bars, however, it can be perfectly paired with two surround speakers and a wireless subwoofer. © Sonos
On the connection side, the Sonos does even more in the blueprint than its counterparts: an optical input, an RJ45 port, a connector for the power supply and that’s it! We are therefore quite surprised that the manufacturer has not left the same connection system as its other bars with a possibility of HDMI connection, so widespread. On the controls side, no change, the new Sonos soundbar still has the most basic controls on its upper side (volume control, playback management and navigation between tracks), all the rest of the interaction happening through the Sonos app. The Sonos connected ecosystem (multiroom, access to streaming services, web radio and Sonos Radio, AirPlay 2 support) is obviously essential here too. On the other hand, there is no question of live voice control since the Ray does without microphones.
The Sonos Ray accompanied by one of the new colors of the Sonos Room presented during its announcement
The Sonos Ray will hit the market on June 7, 2022 in two colors, white or black, at a price of €299, or €200 less than the Beam 2.