CE Pro October 2022 - 85

Performance &
Conclusions
Sonos has once again scored
a winner with the launch of
the Ray.
The affordable 2.0 soundbar
provides an instant
upgrade over the sound of a
TV's stock speakers and for
a soundbar that costs under
$300 it sounds as good as
any in its price category.
I'll add that unlike many
soundbars that reside under
$300 the Sonos Ray allows
for instant, a la carte system
enhancements, including the
addition of the company's
SUB (Gen 3) subwoofer and
other Sonos speakers such
as the One SL speaker to
provide a scalable upgrade
path for true, multichannel
home theater system
solutions.
Using the Ray for broadcast
and streaming content
including TV shows and movies,
I found the stereo soundbar
to deliver full sound with
nice levels of mid-bass and
easily intelligible male and female
voices. The soundstage
is nice and wide and it covers
a broad seating area with
high levels of quality. Customers
don't have to worry
about their guests missing
out on anything if they're not
the lucky one sitting in the
" money seat. "
Listening to streaming
music videos from YouTube,
I was also impressed with
the new soundbar's musical
chops. Checking out videos
from Van Halen, Velvet
Revolver and some other
rock bands, I thought the
Ray produced a solid level of
midrange detail and enough
mid-bass information to
allow me to hear individual
instrumental elements such
as bass lines and kick drum
patterns without effort.
It struck me that as a
non-traditional, single enclosure
stereo speaker in a
whole-house audio system
the Sonos Ray would really
shine (pardon the pun), so
I also tested its capabilities
in a likely distributed audio
zone. Moving the speaker
into my dining room, I
reinserted the Ray into my
Sonos whole-house system
and started to use the
speaker as a music-only
solution, and it really excels
in this type of application.
The mid-bass capabilities
The Ray is available in black or white, suitable for TVs 32 to
50 inches.
and overall tonal smoothness
of the Ray enables
the speaker to really sound
good with rock, pop and
blues with no compromise in
quality. I could easily see the
Ray used in locations such as
bookcases and shelves where
a typical vertically oriented
speaker may not fit.
Bouncing between the
normal Sonos ecosystem and
the Apple AirPlay 2 options,
I also found the Ray was a
top-notch performer when
employing the popular Apple
wireless platform.
As you can tell, I'm
genuinely enamored with
the Sonos Ray. It's a great
little, competitively priced
soundbar for use with TVs
ranging from 32 to 50 inches,
and it's a killer speaker for
music if used in the scenarios
I described. Maybe the only
issue some will have with
the Ray is that it offers just
a single optical input for AV
applications.
Given the Arc, the Beam
Gen 2 and the Roam speaker
solutions, it is hard to deny
the run the company's
engineering team has been
on of late. The Ray perfectly
exemplifies Sonos' excellent
recent design-build efforts
and why the company
remains the top brand and
champion of the wireless
speaker category. CE Pro
cepro.com
Sonos Ray
SPECS
Streamlined, smallfootprint
soundbar from
wireless category leader
Connections include a
digital optical input, power
cable
Sonos incorporates touch
controls, Wi-Fi and Apple
AirPlay 2 into the Ray
Internally, the multidriver
Ray employs Sonos'
proprietary acoustical
design concepts
Integrates into company's
S2 architecture for
seamless system
compatibility
MSRP $279
sonos.com
CE PRO
VERDICT
PROS:
The Ray's small footprint
allows for its installation
into a variety of locations
Soundbar sets up and
installs within minutes
Versatile solution delivers
high levels of sound
quality with intelligible
dialog reproduction and
surprising amount of midbass
information
CONS:
Like all Sonos products,
more input options would
be nice
More color choices may
be appreciated by some
homeowners
OctobeR 2022 CE Pro | 85
http://www.sonos.com http://www.cepro.com
CE Pro October 2022

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