Sonos Ray - Compact Soundbar for TV and Music - Black

Moved in with Mother-in-Law to because of her early stages of Alzheimers. She is also hard of hearing. Of course she does not think she has a hearing problem and does not want hearing aids. Because of her Alzheimers she would probably lose them and not be able to operate them either. She was turning the volume on the TV ip to, 50. 80, and 100. You could hear the TV throughout the whole house and it was a major health concern our ears as well as hers. I searched many different posdibilities. Most TVs and sound bars don't have Maximum Volume Limit setting. Also, we needed something where she did not have a separate remote. The Sonos Ray soundbar solved our problem. You can control the Maximum Volume, use an equilizer to cut fown loud base, and the have a setting so you can hear "speech" better It uses an optical input and does not need the HDMI ARC, or EARC. Her TV did have a setting so we could direct all the sound though the sound bar. The remote was easy to setup. You do have to have WiFi. The free Sonos app let's you make adjustment on your phone. Because of our situation, I did not need a sound bar that brings a lot of attention to itself with leds etc. On the Sonos soundbar, you can cut off the staus lights on the sound bar. The only other light was a small light in the front of the sound bar on the top center that flashes when adjusting the volume. I put a one inch piece of black electrical tape over that light. She has not even realized that anything has changed. She still feels independent an control of her surrondings. I set the volume woul go up reasonably loud but would not harm anyone's ears. The only different is the volume numbers that use to appear on the TV screen fo not show up. But, she can watch tv, adjust the volume, and we can now live in the same house and spend time with her without avoiding the headaches and ear pain. If anybody is listening, if TV manufactures would put a setting for customers to set maximum volume, it would help a lot of people anc the cost would be almost nothing. Our problem is solved!

Awesome sound! We have many Sonos products so we expected nice quality sound and Sonos delivered in this compact unit. Sounds as good as the full size units and other speakers we own. It’s in an echoey room with tile and lots of hard surface stuff (workshop) and still sounds great! Awesome for secondary spaces or compact areas too. Same Sonos quality, just less space

Great sound system! Easy set up!

The Ray is placed in a target position not sacrificing quality or Sonos sound. It's flagged 'Often Returned'. Not sure why it's being returned but I have a couple thoughts. As a standalone bar, it has well balanced highs and mid clarity with warmer tone than the Bose TV-Soundbar. Low mids are pleasing but like any 24" bar, big bass is not to be found. The single bar use is for a bedroom TV. It does wonders over TV built-in audio. The other market is for an entry theater 'immersive' system. Set the Ray up as 5.1 with a Sub Mini and a couple Era 100 surrounds. Boom - killer system under a grand. Sonos tuning changes the Ray EQ from struggling with low bass to handing only highs/mids while routing lows off to the Sub. The Ray shines as a system component in this setup. Overlaid frequency RTA graphs show the Ray is nearly identical to the Beam except the Beam could reach slightly lower with its additional passive speakers. Remember, all bass gets sent to the sub so basically there's no difference in sound other than the Beam has Atmos effect and gets slightly louder. I enjoy the Ray's premium sound clarity and punch in the 5.1 system. Having two tweeters on each end placed in angled wave guides adds noticeable separation. The Beam has only one center tweeter with L/R drivers on the ends firing toward the walls. The Ray is more directed sound not reflected. The movie experience in a reasonable sized room is actually immersive as their advertising states. Best under a grand 'Theater in a Box' out there period. Why the returns? Pretty sure it's bass response where you can find a bar with sub for nearly its price. So, a nice bedroom bar that will last years, or a sweet performer in a 5.1 system. Not so much a do-all. Know what you're buying.

All I wanted was a good quality soundbar for the 32" TV in my study. Hardware setup was straightforward, but I soon realized that I had made a questionable choice since the Ray doesn't have an HDMI port. I would not be able to use my Apple TV RF remote to control the volume. [EDIT: I have since been able to get IR volume control working]. Then the setup problems began. After fighting my way through the initial setup (more details below), and getting it to produce sound (ie via Apple TV) through the optical cable, the Sonos app says that it cannot detect any sound on the optical port. And that's where it goes off the rails. It will not complete the setup. I have to hit "Skip" to get through the rest of the sound setup steps (eg Disable TV Speakers) and then essentially abort the setup process. When I then tried to use the Sonos app to configure the sound for my room (TrueSomethingOrOther - which I now can't get back to), it just got stuck - wouldn't go forward or back. The only way out was to exit the app and wipe its saved state on the iPhone (swipe up). Lather, rinse, repeat. After deleting and reinstalling the app and logging back in, it no longer knew anything about my Ray soundbar. If I log into the Sonos website, it knows all about my Ray. Apparently, much of the trouble I am experiencing has to do with the soundbar not working well with my Unifi network. And yes, I tried the Sonos chatbot (total fail) and calling the 800 number (80 minute wait time!!!). Since posting the initial version of this review, I have become aware of the software issues related to Sonos recent software release. That seems to be the root of all my problems. The hardware is well made and sounds good.

I bought this Sonos speaker and my whole system fully expecting to spend the afternoon arguing with cables, instructions, and possibly my own sanity. Spoiler: none of that happened. Setup was so easy, I thought I did it wrong. I plugged it in, tapped a few buttons, and suddenly my living room sounded like a VIP section I’m definitely not cool enough to be in. Even my WiFi behaved, which never happens. Sonos must use wizard magic or something. The sound? Incredible. Crisp highs, deep bass, and just loud enough that my neighbors now know my entire playlist, including the songs I pretend not to like and dont even get me started on how Top Gun: Maverick sounds!!. My favorite part is how it connects every room. I can walk from the kitchen to the bathroom like I’m doing my own stadium tour. My dog didn’t sign up for this concert, but he’s fully committed now. If you want a stereo system that sounds amazing and makes you feel smarter than you actually are, Sonos is it. 10/10 would recommend — even if you only buy it to flex on guests when they ask, “Wait… how’d you set this up so fast?”

I would give this a 5 if the setup hadn’t been so miserable. Sound quality is good and it works with my other sonos speakers. The setup, take the wheel jesus, was a nightmare. The first night I called support the wait was going to be 50 minutes so I was like no I’ll try tomorrow. I think I waited 90 minutes the next day for someone when I got them I was on for an hour or more going through steps. Had to run upstairs to unplug devices. When we hung up it still wasn’t working and I was adviced to look up info on my tv. Weirdly a little bit later it started working with tv. I don’t know why. My tv is older so if you have a new tv you might be plug n play but not me. It was an awful experience. They had just updated their app like the day before I got the soundbar so I don’t know if that added to the issue. As for my overall system sometimes I do have issues getting a speaker on the house to connect. I have 2 speakers throughout house and soundbar in living room. I’m kinda committed to Sonos now bit of I want I think I’d check other companies. The speakers are great but sometimes trying to deal with the app or add on to system must doesn’t feel worth it.

Value for money

super klang für klein geldbutel statt bose

We’ve been using the Sonos sound bar for a while now and it’s been a fantastic addition to our setup. The sound quality is clear, rich, and powerful — whether we’re watching movies, listening to music, or just streaming something in the background, it really enhances the experience. Setup was straightforward, and we had it connected and running in no time. The design is sleek and modern, and it fits nicely in our space without being bulky or distracting. We also love how easily it connects with other devices and apps. We’re so happy with this purchase that we’re already planning to get a second one for another room. Highly recommend it if you’re looking for a reliable and great-sounding sound bar.

Una maravilla, para tu TV esto es una maravilla, ademas con el servicio de SONOS Radio esto hace que tenga un plus! las películas suenan de maravilla, la musica también, tuve que comprar 2 por que un cuarto no era suficiente! OJO! tiene su cable de fibra optica en la caja, pero no se nota, búscalo en su cajita chiquita porque lo pasé desapercibido y compre 2 cables por no saber que traía los suyos!

Soundbar diferenciada trouxe muita qualidade e volume de som para minha TV. É o modelo de entrada da Sonos, com dois canais. Pequena e esteticamente muito bonita. Perfeito para quem procura melhorar o som da TV e manter visual clean na sala. Não tem controle remoto, uso o celular ou controle da TV a cabo. A conexão com a TV é através de cabo ótico. Esses são os dois problemas a falta do controle e de uma entrada HDMI. No entanto, a qualidade sonora compensa. Dá também para ouvir músicas de plataformas de streaming.

Me dicen en el servicio técnico, que no funciona con fibra 5G, tampoco la señora que me atendió, parecía estar muy enterada. De todas formas en pleno 2025 no entiendo como una marca tan cara no hace una barra compatible con 5 Ghz de Wifi que lleva ya 10 años practicamente funcionando, ni bluetooth ni conexión HDMI. ES MUY ABSURDO! Creo que la devolveré...