Jada Jones/ZDNETZDNET’s key takeaways
- Sonos’s portable surrounds feature is now available in a software and firmware update.
- Compatible portable speakers can now act as home theater rear speakers.
- This feature allows select Sonos portable speakers to have several different uses.
Sonos’s September launch event brought two new devices — and several upgrades — to the Sonos operating system, including an AI-powered upgrade to its voice assistant and new ways for existing devices to communicate with each other.
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Sure, custom AI agents and seamless switching between headphones and speakers are exciting, but Sonos’s portable surrounds feature is easily the coolest, most forward-thinking home theater feature I’ve seen in a while.
Essentially, what Sonos proves is that one speaker can wear three hats: a portable Bluetooth speaker by morning, part of a multi-room system by midday, and a home theater element by evening.
My belief now is that competing brands such as Sony, Bose, and Samsung may be underutilizing their existing hardware, and Sonos’s portable surrounds may be the one feature that keeps me from ever wanting to switch home theater brands or operating systems. Here’s why.
No locked configuration
Sonos’s portable surround feature is limited to its Move 2 and Play speakers and to the Sonos Arc, Arc Ultra, Beam (Gen 2), and the new Beam Ultra soundbars. This feature is wrapped into a free software and firmware update, but you’ll need a compatible soundbar and either two Move 2 or two Play speakers to access it.
Traditionally, once you set up Era 100s or Era 300s as rear speakers to a soundbar, they’re locked in that configuration forever. Or, until you remove both as surrounds in the Sonos app.
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My living room consists of an Arc Ultra and two Era 300s, which operate as one giant speaker; I can’t play media or adjust the volume of any one speaker independently of the others.
So you can keep one Play speaker on your kitchen counter and the other in your bedroom. Once movie time comes around, they can both act as surrounds to your living room’s Beam Ultra. When you take them out of the soundbar’s range, they revert to their individual audio-playing capabilities.
‘Wireless’ does not equal ‘portable’
Sonos isn’t revolutionizing the wireless rear speaker — JBL did it with its soundbar with detachable rear speakers, and Sony’s SA-RS5 rear speakers are wireless. What sets Sonos apart is that a rear speaker can also serve as a portable Bluetooth speaker while remaining a Wi-Fi-enabled smart home speaker.
With two Play or Move 2 speakers as portable surround speakers, you can set them up with your room’s soundbar in the morning to watch a movie, then immediately take one to the park, all without removing and re-adding them to your Sonos system. Plus, with an IP67 durability rating, a Play speaker can accompany you in the shower or to the pool. I hear that bringing an Era 100 into your shower is ill-advised.
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The result is physically and functionally flexible portable speakers, though you’re paying a small premium for them. Technically, it’s more cost-effective to buy a Beam Ultra plus two Era 100s for $1,137, but they must remain tethered to an outlet. A Beam Ultra plus two Play speakers totals $1,300.
Traditional rules don’t matter anymore
If you’re like me and you don’t live in a McMansion, the few rooms in your house can serve multiple purposes. Though my living room has the space for anchored home theater speakers, the rest of my house doesn’t.
My house’s upstairs entertainment room is a multi-purpose room, making it the perfect candidate for portable surrounds. Some days, this room is my husband’s gaming room; other days, it’s my movie room. Additionally, there are few outlets and little room for wall-mounting speakers.
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During my testing, I realized that you don’t have to get fancy with setting up Sonos portable surrounds, and that’s part of what makes it great. I grabbed two empty laundry baskets, turned them upside down, and used them as rear speaker tables while I watched “Oppenheimer.”
This moment was a rare one when I didn’t have to be tactical or wary of veering from the traditional rules of home theater, and the result wasn’t punitive. I didn’t need power tools for mounts or cable management, nor did I even need to consider speaker placement, my room’s dimensions, or how the sound would interact with my furniture — Sonos’s positioning and calibration tech did that for me.
Once I was done, I could put my Play speakers back on their charging pads in my office and bathroom, tuck my laundry baskets away, and return my entertainment room to its original state.
It felt like one of those instances where tech blended into my life, rather than overtaking my home, routine, or preferences in exchange for the exciting experience it promises.
Who will benefit?
Sonos’s ecosystem reminds me a lot of Apple’s: the more devices you have, the cooler and more useful the ecosystem’s features become. On top of that, if you’re unfamiliar with the ecosystem, it’s harder to gauge its benefits. It’s one of those “if you know, you know” situations.
Sonos power users with several rooms in their home and multiple soundbars will find immediate use in this feature, especially if they have a room that they don’t want to commit to outfitting with a complete home theater. If their system is missing only one Play or Move 2 speaker, it’s easy to add one more and have newfound utility.
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On the other hand, I can see someone living in a one- or two-bedroom or a studio apartment maximizing portable surrounds, too, especially when moving day comes around. Era 300s are ten pounds each. With little space for a comprehensive home theater but the ability to create one from a compact soundbar and two portable speakers, investing in this approach to home audio makes the most sense.
In summary, the interesting thing about Sonos’s portable surrounds isn’t that they are wireless surround speakers. What’s interesting is that you can suspend your belief that a $300 to $800 pair of home theater speakers serves one specific purpose that begins and ends with your TV.
