Sonos’ new flagship soundbar can’t use these older speakers as surrounds

Even as Sonos’ upcoming high-end soundbar brings new features to the table, including a new speaker technology that promises to double the bass performance of its predecessor, the Arc Ultra appears set to leave some older Sonos products behind. 

Namely, the Play:3, Play:1, and second-generation Play:5 speakers, which had worked as surround speakers for all of Sonos’ previous soundbars, won’t perform the same trick for the new Arc Ultra. 

Also dropped from the list is the Connect:Amp, a device that allows Sonos systems to connect to traditional wired speakers (a newer version of that product, the Amp, is still compatible), along with the first-generation Ikea Symphonisk bookshelf and table lamp speakers. 

There was some initial confusion about whether the second-gen Play:5 speaker would work with the Arc Ultra, as it was listed as a compatible surround speaker on the Arc Ultra product page but not on Sonos’ support site. But a Sonos rep has since confirmed that the Play:5 will not act as a surround for the new soundbar.

Sonos’ line of soundbars, including the Arc, the Beam, and the Ray, will work perfectly fine on their own. But you can add greater depth and width to their sound by pairing them with a matching set of two other Sonos speakers, which can then act as surround channels. 

For example, you can connect a pair of Sonos One speakers to, say, the Sonos Arc, thus giving that all-in-one soundbar true surround-sound channels.  

Now, you can do the same thing with the Arc Ultra, pairing it with such speakers as the Sonos One, the Era 100, or even passive speakers wired to the Sonos Amp. 

But while all previous Sonos soundbars have worked with such Sonos speakers as the Play:1, the Play:3, and the second-gen Play:5, the Arc Ultra is the first to drop support for those older products. 

To be fair, the Sonos Play:1, Play:3, and Play:5 are older speakers. The Sonos Play:1 came out back in 2013, while both the Play:3 and the newer-model Play:5 debuted in 2015. That’s an eternity as far as wireless networked speakers go. 

That said, all three of those Play speakers (which landed with original list prices of $199, $299, and $499) are still supported by the current Sonos app. (Several other “legacy” Sonos speakers were left behind, including the first-generation Play:5, although they can still be used on an isolated network with a separate app). 

It also means that loyal Sonos users who might have considered repurposing their older Play:1, Play:3, and Play:5 speakers as surrounds for the Arc Ultra–and then, perhaps, replacing those older units with newer Era 100 or 300 speakers–won’t have that option. 

Sonos announced the Arc Ultra on Wednesday, and the new $999 soundbar packs a technology called Sound Motion that promises to greatly enhance the unit’s bass response. 

Sonos is also still rebounding from the botched relaunch of the Sonos app, which landed in May saddled with buggy performance and a long list of missing features.  

Sonos has apologized repeatedly for the disastrous app launch, stating that a recent update will “reintroduce” 90 percent of the missing features. 

Updated shortly after publication to add an answer from Sonos about whether the second-generation Play:5 would act as a surround speaker for the Arc Ultra (the answer is no).