How to Build a Budget Sonos Surround Sound System

Hand it to Sonos. They’ve created an Apple-like cult following by creating a halo of perceived quality with the rarified air of eternally high prices. You’ve got the 4K TV, and you know that you need to do something about its built-in speakers. Seriously, they’re junk.

But you can’t drop several grand on the best Sonos has to offer. You’re not entirely up Bad Audio Creek without a speaker. Sonos has a few cheaper components that together can form a major upgrade to your sound. It’s not cheap, but it is a good value for a good system.

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Sonos

Beam Soundbar (2nd Generation) (opens in a new window)

Available at Sonos

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small bucks, big upgrade

Even though the Beam doesn’t have the power (or the size) of its larger, more expensive Arc Ultra stablemate, it supports the same Dolby Atmos premium audio format. It won’t fill the room as richly as the Arc Ultra, but it costs half as much.

The Beam does work with Sonos’ Trueplay that creates, through the Sonos app on a connected device, a sort of three-dimensional map of your room so that it knows just how to bounce sound around and off the surfaces, creating more of a three-dimensional feeling of the listener being surrounded within the audio, rather than having it fired straight out of the speakers at their face.

Trueplay will automatically sync all your compatible Sonos speakers into one system. It’s smart enough to recognize that a complete surround system requires more fine-tuning than a bunch of disparate parts.

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Sonos

Sub Mini Subwoofer (opens in a new window)

Available at Sonos

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Available at Amazon

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After the sidebar, but before you add the rear speakers, make sure you get a Sub Mini soundbar. The Beam has OK bass for a soundbar in its price range, but it’s nothing like the room-thumping lows that a proper subwoofer will provide.

The Era 100 rear speakers, those you put behind you on the couch, don’t support Dolby Atmos. You’d have to upgrade to the Era 300 to get that. But two Era 100s, at $200 a pop, cost less than a single Era 300 at $450 (and you’d need two), so you’re saving a pretty penny by going with a pair of cheaper rear speakers for your budget Sonos sound system.

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