Last month, Sonos debuted its latest premium soundbar . The company initially delayed the launch , to solve the main problems that have plagued its application ever since in the spring. Now that the soundbar is here, Sonos has introduced its first product to feature Sound Motion technology, which offers increased bass performance from smaller components. This new converter allowed the company to make other improvements over the Arc Ultra so it’s not just a matter of lower-level tone. So what exactly is Sound Motion and will it be available on other Sonos products?
What is Mayht?
The story of Sound Motion begins with a company called Mayht. In April 2022 Audio company based in the Netherlands, for about $100 million. At the time, Sonos said Mayht had “invented a new, revolutionary approach to audio transducers.” More specifically, the company redesigned the main component of the speakers to be smaller and lighter without sacrificing any of the overall sound quality.
In the January 2022 interview , Mayht CEO Mattias Scheek said the company started working on speaker technology in 2016. He explained that the company will “proprietary” and license the technology rather than manufacturing the drivers themselves. Early potential use cases ranged from soundbars to compact subwoofers and smaller smart speakers. The company’s new approach will be the foundation for Sonos’ Sound Motion.
What is Sound Motion?
The first application of Mayht technology in a Sonos product via Sound Motion is inside the Arc Ultra soundbar. The Sound Motion is a flat, brick-like driver with the motors on the sides and the membrane in the middle, allowing a greater range of motion for bass than the first Arc, which Sonos estimates is twice as much. Four lightweight motors can squeeze more air inside the soundbar, which results in increased low-end tone.
By replacing one large motor with four compact units, the Sound Motion transducer is up to three times smaller than a comparable “conventional” driver. But it still produces the same amount of bass. These four motors power four voice coils, two moving in one direction and two moving in the opposite direction, allowing for a dual opposing diaphragm that cancels power and minimizes vibration. Sonos replaced fabric components with injection-molded plastics for stable, linear travel. He also designed aluminum ribs to connect the engines to stiffen the structure.
The engines themselves have a unique design. Sonos opted for dual magnets inside each to create increased power, giving the company more options when it comes to product design.
“Especially when it comes to soundbars, we’re always limited by the size of the products,” Chris Davies, Sonos’ vice president of audio, explained to Engadget. “Being able to compress the profile so much opens up opportunities for us to create something new and different.”
Even with twice the bass output of the Arc, the Arc Ultra is nearly the same size as its predecessor. This is not only because the Sound Motion transducer is smaller than a regular woofer, but because the performance is so improved that Sonos only needs one to double the bass output. This difference is immediately apparent when playing a few raucous, chaotic rock tunes from Better Lovers or Kaytranada’s electronic hip-hop, as I experienced when reviewing the Arc Ultra.
Sound Motion technology sits on the right side of the soundbar, while the power electronics occupy the same spot on the left. Because of this location, I could hear the bass coming from one side of the Arc Ultra if I stood close, but at a comfortable sitting distance from my TV, the low end blends in flawlessly.
“We’re able to get a lot more bass out of a small package,” Davies said. “We’re also able to do it in a way that gives us other flexibility around product design, product architecture, and so on.”
This flexibility has led to an improvement in the overall sound performance of the Arc Ultra, which does more than just add bass. Since the Sound Motion was designed to generate a lot of bass from a compact component, Sonos then had the freedom to redesign the midrange and high frequency architecture. The company used both midrange drivers and tweeters in several sizes for more placement options, which allowed it to amplify the sound that permeates the room.
“It’s an evolution of what we’ve seen,” he said. “For Atmos content, we’re running 9.1.4 rendering. It’s really an extension of what we’ve done in the past, but now it adds a higher channel count by having all these different elements that we can play with.”
Sonos was able to use two wide front channels to keep the soundstage immersive, and four separate height channels to keep front and rear surround sound from crowding each other. The reconfiguration inside the Arc Ultra, again thanks to Sound Motion, allowed the company to expand the speech enhancement feature with three levels of enhancement based on your needs.
“We really put a lot of energy into doing a better job in terms of dialogue clarity,” he said. As a result, Davies said, the company was able to deliver clearer dialogue than any soundbar ever had.
Will Sound Motion be in future Sonos products?
Short answer: absolutely. You don’t spend $100 million on something just to put it in a product. I’m willing to bet Sonos won’t just use it on soundbars. The company has already confirmed in press releases that it expects to “introduce more innovative products with Sound Motion in the future.” Sonos went on to explain that the use of the technology will depend on the “sound profile, design needs and price point” of future speakers, noting that its “acoustic architecture” is designed for each intended customer experience.
It’s easy to see how a small component capable of producing massive amounts of bass would benefit Sonos’ more compact speakers. Despite the excellent clarity and detail these speakers display, the company consistently lacks deep low-end tones from products like the Era 100 and Move 2. If Sonos could somehow squeeze in a Sound Motion driver in future versions of these products, it would greatly improve overall fidelity. In addition, the company’s most compact soundbar, Rayit would be a more attractive product for smaller spaces if it didn’t immediately require a separate subwoofer for adequate bass performance. For example, with the Arc Ultra, you can use the soundbar just for music, because it has enough punch when the track calls for it.
