Sonos first debuted the Playbar in 2013. Since then, the company introduced the Playbase (2017) and compact Beam soundbar (2018). But for those who wanted a more robust arrangement with either a soundbar on its own or one paired with a sub and/or satellite speakers, the Playbar was still your best bet. However, that device is seven years old, so it's hard to justify investing in one. Enter the Arc ($799): a completely redesigned soundbar that offers all that we've come to expect from recent Sonos products, plus Dolby Atmos audio, and one potentially big headache.

Nearly two years ago, wireless speaker-maker Sonos released a $400 soundbar that quickly became one of the company's most popular products. The speaker, called Sonos Beam, addressed a few converging trends at the time. It was an easy way to improve the crappy sound coming out of our ever-shrinking flatscreen TVs, it incorporated voice control into the home theater with the inclusion of Alexa and Google Assistant, and its affordable price allowed the company to compete with the flood of cheaper connected speakers on the market. With the Beam established as the best choice for the frugal buyer, Sonos is focusing again on the high end of its product line. The Santa Barbara, California company just revealed the Sonos Arc, a new $799 soundbar that's much sleeker looking than its previous high-end soundbar, the Sonos Playbar.

The Sonos Beam is a new $399 soundbar, but to Sonos, it's a heck of a lot more than just a speaker that sits under your television. It's a fabric-wrapped representation of how Sonos sees the future--one in which all the voice assistants from Apple and Google and Amazon can live next to one another. In this future, hip urban millennials parents will use Beam not just for Netflixing and HBOing, but queuing up the soundtracks to their hip, urban lives and for controlling their hip, urban smart home. And they'll do it all with spoken commands instead of an app or a remote. Development on the Beam has been going on for more than two years (during which time the speaker was referred to internally as "El Rey," Spanish for "The King"). And it's being released at a critical time for Sonos: It's been reported that the 16-year-old audio company will soon file to go public.

Sonos has unveiled its Playbase – a huge, smart speaker that TVs can sit on. The new speaker is similar to its existing Playbar, which is a long flat set of speakers that sits under the TV and throws out wide and loud sound for films or music. But it is built into a body that can have a television sit on top of it – which Sonos says is perfect for people who don't have the space or the setup for a soundbar. The new speaker will go on sale in April in black and white and cost £699. Customers can sign up to be notified when the new speaker goes on sale. Like the rest of Sonos' speakers, the Playbase can connect to the internet and pull down music from a wide variety of streaming services.