There are several speakers within the Sonos multi-room line up, and there are three soundbars and two wireless subwoofers too.

Let us help you work out which Sonos speaker, or speakers, are the best for you.

Quick summary

The Sonos Roam is an ultra-portable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speaker that is smaller and cheaper than Move, offers waterproofing, automatic switching between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and extra features like Sound Swap. It also has built-in voice control and features like AirPlay 2.

The Sonos Roam SL has the same design and internals as the Roam, along with many of the same features, but it doesn’t have a microphone. There’s therefore no smart assistants on board, or automatic Trueplay tuning, but it’s the cheapest Sonos speaker available.

The Sonos Move is bigger than the Sonos One, and more expensive, but it brings water resistance, portability and Bluetooth audio streaming capabilities like Roam, whilst also offering all the usual Sonos features when connected to Wi-Fi, as well as built-in voice control.

The Sonos One SL has the exact same design and sound architecture as the Sonos One, but without built-in voice control from Google or Alexa, making it a little cheaper and a good alternative to the older Play:1.

The Sonos Five is a larger, more capable speaker than the One, with extra drivers inside and more a sound system in its own right. It replaces the Play:5 in the company’s line-up.

The Sonos Ray is the smallest and cheapest soundbar offered by Sonos. It uses optical instead of HDMI and it doesn’t offer as wide as soundstage as the Beam, but it’s got a lovely compact design and it’s perfect for smaller TVs and rooms.

The Sonos Beam (2nd Gen) is a small form factor soundbar, designed for your TV. It’s compact, powerful and fully connected, offering HDMI for your TV, as well as Alexa and Google Assistant voice control. It offers the same sound architecture as the original Beam soundbar but the second gen model brings virtual Dolby Atmos support and a redesigned grille.

Replacing the old Playbar is the Sonos Arc, the larger of the two soundbars offered by Sonos. Not only does it support many of the features of the Beam, it also comes with Dolby Atmos upfiring speakers and HDMI eARC capabilities.

The main reason you would invest in the Sub is to pair it with the Beam or Arc, although it could also work as an excellent companion to two Sonos Five speakers working as a pair. They are an expensive pair though so make sure you really want that extra bass.

There’s also the Sub Mini, designed to be paired with smaller speakers like the Sonos One or smaller soundbars like the Sonos Ray. It brings great bass for its size, is much lighter than the larger Sub, as well as cheaper and within a lovely design.

The Sonos Ikea Symfonisk Wi-Fi Bookshelf Speaker is a bookshelf and speaker in one. It doesn’t offer the same power as a Sonos One or Sonos One SL, but it’s more affordable and it offers many of the Sonos features, as well as Apple AirPlay 2.

The Sonos Ikea Symfonisk Table Lamp Speaker is a table lamp and speaker in one. It has the same power as the One and it’s the same price as the Sonos One SL but you get a table lamp too, and Apple AirPlay 2 compatibility.

The Sonos Ikea Picture Frame Speaker is a piece of wall art and speaker in one, with a number of interchangeable fronts available. For its shallow build, it delivers surprisingly good sound, and you also get many of the Sonos features, as well as Apple AirPlay 2.

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Best Sonos speakers

The Sonos Roam SL has the same design and sound architecture as the Sonos Roam, but it doesn’t offer a microphone and therefore misses out on a couple of features.

There are no smart assistants on board, and the Sonso Roam SL doesn’t have Sound Swap or automatic Trueplay tuning, but it still switches automatically between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and it delivers great sound in a small package.

There’s AirPlay 2 on board, waterproofing and it will switch seamlessly between being part of your Sonos system and being a Bluetooth speaker as you move around.

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The Sonos Roam is the smaller of the portable, Bluetooth speakers from Sonos and the smallest Sonos speaker available (alongside the Roam SL), as well as the smartest.

It offers automatic switching between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth - which the larger Move doesn’t - allowing for a more seamless listening experience when moving from outside to inside, and vice-versa.

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The Sonos Move is the larger of the two portable speakers from Sonos, offering Bluetooth audio capabilities alongside Wi-Fi. When in Bluetooth mode - there’s a toggle switch on the rear - the Sonos Move allows you to pair your device to it and stream audio, as you would any other Bluetooth speaker.

When in Wi-Fi mode, the Sonos Move offers all the same features you would expect from a Sonos speaker, controlled using the Sonos app. It offers Automatic Trueplay tuning so if you move the Move, it will automatically tune itself to its surroundings, and there is Apple AirPlay 2 on board too.

Additionally, the Sonos Move has built in Google Assistant and Alexa voice control - like the Sonos One below - and it is IP56 water and dust resistant so you can bring it wherever you’re going. The battery lasts around 10 hours but there is a charging dock, as well as USB Type-C.

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It features a similar design to the older and discontinued Play:1, but the Sonos One has a colour-matched speaker grille and a capacitive touch control pad rather than physical buttons. It also offers the same sound architecture as the Play:1 and while it doesn’t offer the power of the Sonos Five, the Sonos One still sounds great for its size.

It’s worth noting there is a second generation Sonos One model available which includes the addition of Bluetooth Low Energy, an updated processor and an increased memory over the 2017 model. The sound experience, design and smart functionalities remain the same as the 2017 model but the 2017 model costs £179 (if you can find it) and the second generation model costs £199.

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The Sonos One SL is virtually identical in design to the Sonos One, except the SL doesn’t offer voice control and therefore ditches the microphone array on the top compared to the Sonos One.

The Sonos One SL replaced the older Play:1, and is one of the smallest and cheapest Sonos speakers for those that don’t want a smart speaker or those that might want to use the Sonos One SL as surrounds with the Sonos Beam taking over voice, for example.

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Introduced as a like-for-like replacement for the Play:5, the Five is the biggest speaker in the Sonos line-up and the most powerful. It features capacitive touch controls and can be positioned vertically or horizontally. There is no built in voice control but users with an Alexa or Google Assistant-enabled device, or separate Sonos One, Roam, Move, Beam or Arc, can control the Five with their voice. There is Apple AirPlay 2 compatibility too.

As with other Sonos speakers, you get the same option to pair two Five speakers together for a full-fledged stereo pair, have multi-room audio, combine it with TV speakers for surround sound, place the speaker where you choose when connected to the Wi-Fi mesh network, as well as the streaming options and app features.

The main enhancements over the older Play:5 model are better processing, memory and more stable wireless connectivity.

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The Sonos Ray is the company’s budget soundbar and while it misses out on some features compared to the Sonos Beam, it’s a great upgrade to your TV sound for a good price.

It uses optical instead of HDMI so it’s compatible with older TVs and it can be a standalone Sonos speaker when not in use, offering a number of Sonos features.

There are no smart assistants on board and the soundstage isn’t as wide as the Beam, nor are there features like Atmos, but the Ray is a fantastic soundbar for its size.

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The Sonos Beam (2nd Gen) is an upgrade to the original Beam compact soundbar, adding support for virtual Dolby Atmos, a speaker grille that matches the Arc and support for not just HDMI ARC but HDMI eARC too, like the Arc.

It offers all the features of a Sonos speaker but TV smarts too, like the original Beam and Ray, while there’s built-in Alexa and Google Assistant voice control, as well as AirPlay 2 support too.

The Sonos Beam (2nd Gen) works with all other Sonos products in a multi-room setup and can also be paired with the Sub and other speakers - except Move and Roam - for a 5.1 surround sound setup, but perhaps the most attractive element is that it’s much cheaper than the Arc.

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The Sonos Arc is a 5.0.2 bar with HDMI eARC and a completely retuned experience over the Playbar, which it replaces in the line-up.

It comes with a newer design aesthetic, with sleek, curved edges and rounded ends that look similar to the Sonos Move speaker if you look at that from above, tying it in with the rest of the Sonos family.

There are a stack of speaker drivers inside, with centre, left and right channels, plus a couple angled for a wider surround effect than the Beam (for example). Two additional drivers are angled upwards to send Dolby Atmos extra channels to your ceiling and down to the seating position to envelope you in immersive audio.

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The Sonos Playbase is a soundbase rather than a soundbar, designed for TVs that are not wall-mounted, with the intention being that its super-slim build slides beneath the TV as oppose to hung under it on the wall. It follows the same design principals as the Five, with black and white colour options, a premium plastic exterior and capacitive touch control buttons.

Like the Playbar, you can connect the Playbase to your TV with an optical cable for 3.0 home cinema sound, pair it up with the Sonos Sub for 3.1 home cinema, or add two Sonos One, Sonos One SL, Play:1, Five speakers or Ikea Symfonisk Bookshelf Speakers for 5.1 surround sound. It will also work with your TV remote and it is also a very capable standalone speaker as well as a TV sound booster.

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While it looks identical, the Sonos Sub was given an upgrade to a third-generation model.

It is an extension of the Sonos Beam or Arc, and its intention is to add more depth to everything you hear by introducing more bass, offering a frequency response down to 25Hz. You can stand the Sonos Sub upright or lay it flat and it features built-in rubber feet, as well as optional feet.

Audio settings are automatically adjusted to balance the Sub and the paired Sonos component and like the rest of the Sonos system, the Sub can be controlled using the Sonos app and it will connect wirelessly to your home network so you can place it wherever you choose.

The main differences between the lastest model and last generation is the gen 3 comes with better processing, more memory and stronger wireless connectivity.

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The Sonos Sub Mini is designed to be paired with the smaller speakers in the Sonos portfolio, or the smaller soundbars.

It’s not as powerful as the larger Sonos Sub, but it still offers a frequency response down to 25Hz, it’s lighter than the larger Sub and it has a lovely neat design.

It can only be positioned upright, but it comes in black and white and it makes a good difference when it comes to watching movies.

  • Sonos Sub Mini review: All about that bass

Sonos Ikea Symfonisk speakers

Sonos and Ikea teamed up together to offer the Symfonisk range of speakers, of which there are a few options. There is the Symfonisk Wi-Fi Book Shelf Speaker, the Symfonisk Table Lamp Speaker and the Symfonisk Picture Frame Speaker too.

All offer all the same features as other Sonos speakers, including Trueplay tuning, multi-room audio, compatibility with over 100 music services, the ability to stereo pair two of the same and voice control via an Alexa or Google Assistant-enabled device.

The Sonos Ikea Symfonisk speakers are controlled via the Sonos app but they have dual functions in that the Book Shelf speaker can be a bookshelf too, as well as positioned vertically or horizontally, the Table Lamp is a lamp as well as a speaker and the Picture Frame is a piece of art and a speaker. All are AirPlay 2 compatible.

The Symfonisk Wi-Fi Book Shelf Speaker is the cheapest way to start a Sonos system, offering a decent sound for the price and size. The Symfonisk Table Lamp Speaker is more expensive, as is the Symfonisk Picture Frame Speaker, but they both offer good sound and functional designs.

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