Sonos' breakthrough speaker tech explained
When Sonos launched took the covers off of the Arc Ultra last year, it wasn’t just another premium soundbar for the Santa Barbara brand’s line-up, it marked a pretty pivotal shift in its home audio technology.
Building on the impressive legacy of the original- and still pretty awesome – Sonos Arc, the Arc Ultra introduced a game-changing acoustic architecture with the much-hyped Sound Motion technology on board the new flagship soundbar.
But what does this all mean for your home theater setup? Let’s dive in and explore why this soundbar is creating such a buzz and how its innovations promise to take your listening experience to new levels.
Buying success

The Arc Ultra is Sonos’ first product to feature Sound Motion, a breakthrough technology developed by Mayht, a Dutch start-up that Sonos acquired for a cool $100m in 2022.
At its core, Sound Motion a flat, compact driver technology that redefines how sound is produced in tight spaces.
The key to Sound Motion lies in its unique design: four lightweight motors and voice coils combined with dual opposing diaphragms that cancel force and minimize vibrations. The result is a more powerful bass output from a smaller, sleeker soundbar.
In comparison to the original Arc, the Arc Ultra punches a lot more speaker tech into a design that is half an inch taller, and has 0.2-inches less depth.
See also: Sonos Arc Ultra tips and tricks
This design overhaul is more than just for aesthetics. It’s part of an entirely new acoustic architecture that allows the Arc Ultra’s speakers to fire sound across the room at all angles, creating a truly immersive listening experience.
Before Mayht’s innovation, achieving big bass typically meant larger components and deeper enclosures. But with Sound Motion, Sonos is able to deliver deep, rumbling low-end frequencies without sacrificing size or clarity.
It’s a feat of engineering that allows the Arc Ultra to maintain a slim profile while producing twice the bass output of its predecessor.
Extra Arc smarts
While the Sound Motion transducer is the star of the show, it’s far from the only upgrade in the Arc Ultra. Sonos has taken full advantage of this compact technology to improve both the high and midrange frequencies.
The Arc Ultra is packed with a total of 14 precisely-engineered speakers: seven tweeters to handle the crisp highs, six midwoofers for rich vocals and mid-range sounds, and the Sound Motion woofer.
The tweeters in the Arc Ultra aren’t just doing the heavy lifting for the highs; they’re paired with newly-designed wave guides that direct sound outward to fill the room more effectively.
This, combined with the Sound Motion woofer, gives the Arc Ultra the ability to produce a 9.1.4 Dolby Atmos experience (nine ear-level channels, one subwoofer, and four height channels).
This setup creates a multidimensional soundstage that pulls you into the action like never before, whether you’re watching the latest blockbuster or listening to your favorite album.
Woofer wows
Thanks to Sound Motion, Sonos was able to fine-tune the Arc Ultra’s sound performance across the board.
The flexibility of the new woofer allowed the company to redesign the mid-range and high-frequency architecture, using multiple sizes of drivers to optimize sound dispersion.
This resulted in two wide front channels that keep the sound stage wide and immersive, as well as four separate height channels to create front and rear spatial sound without overlap.
Additionally, the Arc Ultra boasts an enhanced speech enhancement feature with three levels of augmentation, so you can customize dialogue clarity to your liking.
Will Sound Motion hit other Sonos speakers?
Sonos has already confirmed that Sound Motion technology will find its way into more of its products in the future. The potential for this technology to improve smaller Sonos speakers like the Era 100 or Move 2 is huge, especially when it comes to enhancing their bass performance.
Sonos’ smaller soundbars like the Ray or Beam lines could also benefit from this technology, making them far more appealing to customers who want powerful sound in compact spaces without needing an additional subwoofer.