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Sonos is a leading American audio technology company that is best known for pioneering wireless multiroom audio systems, which make it easy for listeners to stream music and other content throughout their homes. The company continues to innovate, creating wireless speakers, home theater systems, headphones, architectural components, and integrated home audio solutions that revolutionize how people listen and connect to sound.

Global Head of Editorial

Sonos listeners are a loyal and passionate group of people. It was with them in mind that we were inspired to create our latest brand campaign, 

. We continue to be delighted by the unique and special ways Sonos shows up in your lives. In this post, we share the campaign video and a few of the stories that keep us inspired every day.

It’s my full-time job to describe what’s great about the Sonos experience and I always come up short. Always. Before I can get into why that is, I have to say something that may seem bold to anyone who hasn’t experienced Sonos for themselves, but here goes: Having Sonos in your home is not the same as having speakers in your home.

To really describe what it’s like to have Sonos, I have to communicate so much more than just the features of our products. Yes, our speakers are easy to set up and use. Yes, our speakers sound great. Yes, they are beautifully designed. But those are like pieces of a puzzle, mixed up and spread out across the dining room table. You can’t really appreciate the full picture of why people love Sonos until you fit all of those pieces together, sit back, and take it all in. That’s when it clicks. And you realize that Sonos isn’t just about listening—it’s about feeling.

One of the pleasures of working at Sonos is that when people find that out, they often want to share their stories about Sonos with us. The way their eyes light up after I tell them where I work gets me every time. And then they’re off, excitedly telling me what it was like for them the first time they heard music coming from two stereo-paired Fives. Or how incredible their favorite movie sounds with Arc. And after four years of working here, I’m still compelled to do the same, equally excited to share my own Sonos stories.

Reflecting on this, I think that one of the reasons why these encounters happen is because it’s just so fun to talk about Sonos with someone else who “gets it.” Because, like me, our listeners have probably tried to describe why they love Sonos to friends who don’t have it and felt like they weren’t really able to do the experience justice. Because of that, it’s surprisingly fulfilling to get to talk about it with someone else who understands.

It was with that in mind that we decided to let the people who best know what it’s like to have and love Sonos do the talking. We’ve included a small sampling of their stories below. Some were shared over social media, some were emailed to our CEO, Patrick Spence, and others were shared directly with those of us who work here. But they all have one thing in common: They get to the heart of what it means to experience Sonos. It’s heart-pounding suspense and the urge to dance. It’s the comfort of a classic album and awe inspired by new worlds. It’s food tasting better, loved ones getting closer, and every day feeling less everyday because you feel more.

“Last weekend my wife and I got married in a small elopement overlooking the ocean in Santa Cruz. Due to getting married on a cliff, there was a ton of wind so we weren’t entirely sure how we were going to do the music, but I decided to take my Move out just to see how well it would hold up. We were shocked. Not even at full volume you could clearly hear the music the entire length of our makeshift “aisle” that my wife walked down.

Later that night we returned to the house we had rented which had a small rooftop that we had decorated for dinner and toasts. The rooftop had built-in outdoor speakers, however when we arrived we realized they were no longer working. Luckily the Move was once again perfect and allowed us to have high-quality music during dinner and our dances. I’ve been a Sonos fan for years, but every new product I buy seems to top the last, and I think this experience has solidified my love for the Move. Thanks again for everything your company does and keep up the great work!”

“We brought our Sonos Move into our delivery room this week, and our playlist was such an important part of the birth of our first child.”

“We brought our Sonos Move into our delivery room this week, and our playlist was such an important part of the birth of our first child. I’m so glad we packed it. Just wanted to say thank you for making products that make a difference!”

“Since I’m working from home due to COVID, I took the opportunity to stay with my parents for several weeks in November and December. While there, I noticed the sound for their TV was just awful, so I knew my dad (who wears hearing aids in both ears) must have been struggling. I’ve been a Sonos customer for years, so I suggested buying them a system for Christmas. After a trip to Best Buy for a soundbar, Sub, and multiple Ones, we set up the system in minutes. My parents were thrilled with how easy it was to use and the sound quality. Later in the day, my dad and I were sitting on the patio and listening to some music. He said to me, ‘I can’t get over how good the sound is from this little speaker. It’s been years since I’ve been able to hear and understand the words in the songs.’ It almost made me cry. That statement alone made this the best Christmas gift I’ve ever given! Thank you for giving the gift of music to my dad!”

Now it’s your turn. What does Sonos make you feel? How does it show up in your life? What are some of your favorite moments you’ve had with our products, big or small? We love hearing from you. Just tag @sonos or send us a DM. #FeelMore

Feel More with Sonos

Guest Writer

In the new episode from The Lighthouse, Brian Eno speaks about his visual art practice in conversation with curator and historian Hans-Ulrich Obrist. With this companion blog post, you can follow along as the two delve deep into Eno’s bold visual explorations.

Brian Eno has been re-writing the rule book for the past five decades. As a musician, composer, producer, and visual artist he has and continues to innovate. The Lighthouse, his collaboration with 

, echoes several of the concepts which have defined his work as a musician, producer, and visual artist, from open-minded experimentation and the sensory overlaps between sound and vision, to the use of technology to explore new forms of creativity. But the collaboration is also a bold step forward, using a treasure trove of unreleased work and random generation to construct novel worlds of sound.

In an exclusive program for Sonos Radio, Eno guides us through the inspirations behind The Lighthouse. Interviewed by curator and critic Hans-Ulrich Obrist, they touch on everything from childhood dreams of tape recorders to music as part of an infinite process. To listen to their full conversation, click 

“Unlike many people who left art school and went into music, I also carried on doing visual art. And I noticed that gradually the two different practices were drawing closer together. At a certain point, I realized that I wanted to make music that was kind of like painting, and I want to make paintings that were sort of like music. So I think it was all to do with the understanding of time, really. What happens if you have a picture that changes very slowly? It’s different when something is changing. It asks you to stay and look at it for longer. And so I started really playing around with light.”

“One of the things I like doing is taking technology that exists for a given reason and finding something else to do with it.”

“I can remember very clearly the first time I ever saw a tape recorder; I thought how amazing it was that music could be stored like that. And of course, the next thing I thought was: what would happen if you played it backwards?”

“In the late seventies, I started working with video, but just [letting] the event, whatever it was, happen in front of the camera. I was living down on West 8th street at the time and my apartment faced south. So I took the camera and laid it down on its side, pointing downtown. And then I thought, well, I'll just turn the TV round, and suddenly I wasn't looking at television anymore. I was looking at a picture.”

“A big consideration for me with all my installations was how do I make people stay longer? I didn't want people to take a quick look and then they move on to the next picture. And of course, this was connected to music. Music says something is changing, slows people down a bit, which I think is useful. When you walk into a church and there's a beautiful window there, the sun streaming through...maybe these are contemporary, non-religious stained glass windows.”

“It became very clear to me that the idea of art as a static, fixed, finished thing was not an idea that excited me anymore. Classical music is designed like architecture, with a view of what the goal is, how it is going to be when it's finished, whereas the music [Steve] Reich and [Terry] Riley and other people were composing was more like gardening. It was more like saying ‘Here are some seeds, I'm going to plant them and see what happens.’ I started to think I was more a gardener than an architect, and I still think that.”

“Drawing is important to me because it's the quickest way for me to find certain things out. A lot of the work I do begins with drawings, actually, including music.”

“I conceive of things as shapes and as systems and how those systems interweave with each other. If I make a drawing of it, does that drawing look interesting? Does it look like that would be something I would want to listen to? In a way, modern ways of making music are much more similar to painting than to traditional music.”

“I really don't finish things until I have a sense of what they are supposed to do in the world. What is this going to be? What will it turn into? If I do this to it, what will happen? My archive of unreleased work has 7,502 pieces of music. None of them are finished, but when I want to make something for a specific task, I usually start by taking one of these, and saying, Okay, this, I think I could make into that piece.”

“I don't know how to meditate, so I don't know if it's the same thing or not, but what I do like is just letting my mind wander, which means, first of all, forgetting about the fact that there's all this news going on. I don't want to be in that world of constant activity and other people's stuff. I seek occasions to enter that childlike state again. It doesn't mean you become more stupid or less adult or anything like that, but you've become less preoccupied I think, and more open to sensation, more open to your own deeper thoughts, the things that you know are always there and you don't often focus on.”

The Lighthouse represents Brian Eno’s ongoing exploration of this childlike, meditative space—a unique soundscape rooted equally in the restless experimentation which continues to underpin his art and the peace waiting to be rediscovered within each of us.

 and begin exploring The Lighthouse today.

Brian Eno on Playing With Light

Everything we make is intentionally designed to be easy to set up, control, and enjoy. But the Sonos experience can be as rich and multilayered as you’d like. To make sure you’re getting the most out of your Sonos products, we present the ‘Essential Guide’ series.

 in 2018, we packed incredible power, dialogue clarity, and voice control into a surprisingly compact soundbar. With the new generation, we’ve added two additional speaker arrays, a precisely perforated grille, a faster, smarter chip, and an HDMI eARC connection for higher resolution audio formats, including Dolby Atmos.

Whether you’re brand new to Sonos or a longtime owner, the ‘Essential Guide’ series is for you. If 

 is your first Sonos speaker, start from the beginning. We’ll take you through the entire Sonos journey step by step, from setting up the product to some of the more advanced features possible when you group it with other Sonos speakers. If you’re a longtime owner, feel free to look around. Hopefully you’ll learn something new or rediscover features you haven’t used in awhile.

Once you’ve unboxed Beam, the first thing you’ll need to do is 

, starting by placing it on a piece of furniture below your TV or mounting it to the wall  with 

Beam comes with two cords: one for power and one to connect the soundbar to your TV. (If your TV does not have an ARC or eARC port, use the included Optical Adapter.) Start by downloading the Sonos app to your smartphone or tablet, and follow the guided steps.

Connecting to WiFi is as simple as touching your mobile device to the near-field communication (NFC) tag on the top of the soundbar. The Sonos app will then guide you through syncing Beam with your TV remote and adding a streaming or voice service.

Woman sitting in front of TV with a white Beam

Beam (Gen 2) is the first Sonos home theater product to launch with our new sustainable packaging, featuring a more compact box design to streamline shipments, premium uncoated kraft paper with illustrations that minimize the use of inks, removal of EPE foam, and a gift box made of sustainably sourced paper. To learn more about our sustainable packaging efforts, check out 

The Sonos app is like having a control panel for your speaker (and your entire system) in the palm of your hand. Once you’ve learned a few simple icons, you’ll be able to navigate the app easily. Find a complete tutorial on using the app 

Below are a few of our most popular features that will help you quickly find your favorites or discover something new.

—While your TV is on, tap the speech bubble icon on the Now Playing screen to amplify voices so you never miss a word and can always follow the story.

—Tap the moon icon on the Now Playing screen to reduce the intensity of loud effects and enhance quieter ones.

—Even with millions of songs, albums, books, and podcasts at our fingertips, we often find ourselves going back to those handful of favorites over and over again. Save them to 

 as you explore and then just tap the star icon in the toolbar at the bottom of your screen to quickly access all the content you love.

—Tap the magnifying glass icon in the toolbar to search by artist, song, album, playlist, station, genre, and more.

—When you’re not sure exactly what you want to listen to, tap the music note icon at the bottom of the screen, and let 

 or your favorite music service lead you down a path of music discovery.

Dolby Atmos is an immersive sound technology that places you in the center of the action,   so you experience planes as if they're flying overhead, hear footsteps moving across the room, and feel the score all around you.

In order to enjoy Dolby Atmos on Beam, you’ll need to ensure that you have a TV that supports Dolby Atmos and Atmos-encoded content. To ensure you’re getting Dolby Atmos sound, check out 

The Sonos system was designed to be flexible and adjust to the way you listen. And as omnipresent as phones are in our lives, sometimes it’s really nice to forget about them. That shouldn’t mean the music has to stop.

All of our speakers have touch controls or buttons that allow you to manage your experience without the app.

Press the Play/Pause button once to play or pause content.

Press and hold the Play/Pause button to have Beam play what your last active speaker is currently playing.

Press the button to the left of Play/Pause to turn the volume up.

Press the button to the right of Play/Pause to turn the volume down.

Swipe right across the touch controls to skip to the next track.

Swipe left across the touch controls to play the previous track.

 You can also disable touch controls from the Sonos app. From the 

 from the list of products, and then toggle 

If you want to stream to Sonos without leaving your favorite app, you have some options.

Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music, Pandora, and other services all let you 

. Just look for the button that allows you to play to an external speaker.

And if you have an iOS device, including iPhone and iPad, or a Mac, you can play sounds from your favorite apps out loud on Sonos 

When you want to set a timer, turn on an episode of your newest streaming obsession, or find out how many cups are in a quart, just ask your 

assistant. Beam works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. The light on top of Beam signals that the microphones are on and that your voice assistant is ready to respond. It’s also hardwired, so if the light is off you can be certain the microphone is off too.

With sound, so much depends on the environment in which you’re listening. If you’re in a cozy room with thick carpet and tons of pillows, your speaker is going to sound a lot different than if you’re listening in a larger space with more hard materials. With an iOS device, our 

 tuning technology will measure the effect that your room’s size, furnishings, and other surfaces have in relation to Beam’s placement, then fine-tune the soundbar to make sure it sounds exactly as it should.

You’ll be prompted to tune your speaker with Trueplay during setup. If you choose to wait, you can always come back to it later from the 

 from the list of products, and then tap 

Couple watching TV with Sonos home theater

With Beam, your shows, movies, and games will sound fuller, the dialogue crisper, and the bass bolder. If you’d like to further expand your home theater setup, you have two options.

 to your home theater setup will give you bass you can feel. It also offloads the lower frequencies from Beam, so you can experience richer mid-range and high frequencies.

Connect two rear speakers for surround sound.

 When you add two matching speakers (Sonos 

) to your setup, you unlock your home theater’s full potential. Ambient effects like footsteps, whispers, and elements of the score will completely immerse you in the world on screen.

Learn more about creating the ultimate home theater setup 

 with a simple vision: Help music lovers play any song anywhere in their homes.

But how we live in our homes is ever-changing. Sometimes we continuously flow from room to room, crossing paths with partners, family, and housemates. At times like these, sound is a shared experience. But there are also times when we camp out in separate areas of the house, happy to stay put and have our individual experiences. With multiple speakers, the Sonos system adjusts to the unique ways we live in our homes. If you want to explore how to expand your listening experience, visit sonos.com for more information on portable speakers, architectural speakers, and more.

With access to an endless flow of incredible movies, shows, and games in our homes, our living rooms have become the epicenter of current culture. And increasingly, how we watch is becoming just as important as what we watch. From epic clashes to hushed, dramatic moments, sound plays a crucial role in immersing us in the worlds of our favorite stories. By familiarizing yourself with Beam’s features, you’ll ensure you’re experiencing your home entertainment the way it was meant to be enjoyed. Now, on with the show.

The Essential Guide to Beam

Huddle up. We want your pre-party to sound just as good as the main event, so we’re sharing five tips for throwing a winning tailgate—including advice from grilling/smoking extraordinaire Jimmy Ho on how to uplevel your outdoor cooking game. Ready, set, hut!

Whether you love, hate, or are indifferent to sports, there’s one aspect of game day we can all enjoy: the well-executed tailgate. While a game is usually the reason (or excuse), a tailgate seamlessly blends all the elements of a great party—food, drinks, games, the outdoors, and a shared cause. What’s not to love? Just don’t forget to bring 

 along to get your guests hyped for kickoff.

As the air turns cool and we start tuning in to ESPN2’s game coverage, we wanted to share some of our best tips for throwing a tailgate to cheer for. And remember, even if you’re planning on watching the game with the new 

 in your living room, there’s no reason why you can’t throw a pre-game tailgate in your driveway. In fact, we encourage it.

Imagine heading out to the field without a play in mind. It’s not going to go well. “I know this is very adult-ey, but you gotta plan,” said Austin-based grill/smoke master Jimmy Ho. “Have a checklist. And the reason why you want a checklist is because you should always over-prepare.” And he should know. Scroll through 

 and you can tell that Ho does a lot of thoughtful pre-planning in order to create his photo-worthy outdoor feasts.

Make a game plan.

Ho shared a few more things to consider for your pre-planning: “You want to have extra fuel, whether that’s charcoal, wood, or pulping. You don’t want to be caught needing extra fuel in the middle of cooking and then have to leave your food unattended while you go find more.”

As you’re planning your meals, consider how long things take to cook and your balance of high-maintenance food (which needs to be kept cool or hot) and low-maintenance food (which keeps well at room temperature.) “And always bring extra,” Ho said. “When you’re cooking things that take a lot of time to cook, like brisket, you need a plan B in case you run out. But if you run out of brisket, you won’t have time to cook another one, so bring easier meats to cook, like sausage.”

Bonus Tip: If you slept through cooler-packing 101, here’s a refresher: Drinks at the bottom, then a layer of ice, and finally: food. Pack it with as little air at the top as possible. And if you want to get drinks cold quickly, remember these three elements: ice, water, salt. Then swirl, wait, and enjoy.

Depending on where you live and in what part of the season you’re tailgating, the weather can vary widely. When it’s hot, make sure to create oases of shade with easy-to-assemble tents, water spritz bottles, and hand-held or battery-powered fans. For colder games, bring extra blankets and sweatshirts. And regardless of the weather, bring plenty of water to keep everyone fully hydrated.

Make it comfortable.

While most people stand at a tailgate, provide lots of seating options for eating and relaxation. Because, really, no one wants to have to ask Grandma to get up in order to get a drink from the cooler.

Is it even a tailgate if it’s not drenched in your team’s colors? Everything is in play—cups, plates, napkins, silverware, table cloths, streamers, banners, and more. Raise everyone's spirits with a dessert featuring a healthy dose of food coloring. Cupcakes designed to look like mini footballs? That's a win for everyone.

Make it festive.

To offer more drink options (beyond those that come in cans and bottles), you don’t have to bring your full home bar. Pre-mix drinks in jars and add them to the selection of other alcoholic beverages. You can do this with mocktails too. Just make sure that you clearly label what’s what. Note: this is also your moment to shine with a signature cocktail. Name it after your mascot, or take it as an opportunity for some good-natured ribbing of your opponent.

When we asked Jimmy Ho for his advice on making a great meal on the grill, the first thing he brought up was food safety. In addition to recommending wearing gloves so that you don’t cross-contaminate the food and bringing things to help keep cold food cool and hot food warm, he recommended getting a meat thermometer—but not just for safety reasons. “For the average Joe, getting a meat thermometer is important for both safety and tenderness reasons,” he said. “Pros often know when meat is done by feel or touch. But if you haven’t been doing it long enough, you might not know what the meat should feel like when it’s done. So if you have a thermometer, this will help make sure you’ve cooked the meat long enough, but also, from a tenderness perspective, not too much.”

Make it safe.

He also recommends giving yourself plenty of time to fully cook your meal. “I always think I know how long something will take to cook—and it always winds up taking longer,” he said.

Ho encourages bringing along a source of power, such as a generator or a power inverter for your car, because “At the very least, someone always needs to charge their phone.”

No matter how thoughtful you are about using reusable materials at your tailgate, you’re going to generate some trash. Rather than awkwardly hang a trash bag off the side of the table (which will inevitably end up on the ground, susceptible to bugs), bring two collapsible laundry hampers—one for trash and one for recycling—and line each with a trash bag.

We saved the best for last. Nothing gets everyone more pumped up for a game than music.

Make it fun.

 help create the ultimate mood for a tailgate. Just place them wherever it makes the most sense to get the best sound—and don’t worry if that’s in the direct sun or next to the cooler. They’re designed to hold the line against both heat 

Now, what to play? Create a collaborative playlist and fill it with your team’s fight songs, upbeat classics, tracks that bring you back to high school or college, and Jock Jams. Lots and lots of Jock Jams.

Or, to make it easier, check out ESPN’s collection of 

, featuring the “top hype up music of all time.” Each playlist covers a different genre, from pop, hip hop, and dance to country, rock, and Latin.

When it’s time for kickoff, don’t worry if you weren’t able to score tickets. Stream 

 of the game to your speaker via Bluetooth. If you’re closer to home and within range of your WiFi, you can find local sports coverage on 

, which is especially helpful if you don’t live in the same city as the team you’re rooting for.

And, to get everyone in the competitive spirit (and distract them while the brisket cooks just a little bit longer), bring along yard games like cornhole, ladder toss, and spikeball.

Football has been bringing people together for generations. And a tailgate is a fun, easy way for both casual and hardcore fans to connect. Win or lose, if you show up prepared with food, drinks, and great 

It’s College Football Season. Let’s Tailgate.

When we set out to collaborate with IKEA on the SYMFONISK Picture frame speaker, a flat speaker that’s also a piece of art, they were firm: it couldn’t be any thicker than 60 millimeters (about 2.36 inches). Find out how we created a panel speaker with sound that’s anything but flat.

At Sonos, we thoughtfully design each one of our speakers to look like a work of art. With the most recent addition to the SYMFONISK product range as part of our 

, we took our design philosophy to a new, more literal level. Of course, that’s the thrill in our collaboration with IKEA—finding innovative ways to create incredible-sounding speakers under the guise of traditional home furnishings.

After the success of the debut of SYMFONISK in 2019, which launched with table lamp and bookshelf speakers, we were enthusiastic to find even more unexpected ways of bringing sound into the home. We started by reviewing customer research, which told us that there are certain spaces in a home where some people feel that a traditional speaker just doesn’t “fit.” A variety of reasons were given for this, from not having enough counter space or wall outlets to technology not being a part of a particular space’s intended design aesthetic. With this in mind, the acoustic engineers at Sonos and the product designers at IKEA set out to answer a question: how do we hide a speaker in plain sight? During the joint ideation, the concept of a speaker that could be hung on the wall like a picture surfaced. And with that came a number of challenges, including, how to design a speaker with a thin enough profile to be hung on a wall. IKEA ran the numbers and came up with the maximum depth for such a product: 60 millimeters.

“The challenge with creating such a thin speaker is that it requires space to make sound,” said Sara Morris, Principal Product Manager at Sonos. “Because ultimately, a speaker creates sound by moving air. And the less space you have to move air, the more expensive it gets. So, we had to get creative.” Rather than daunting the engineers at Sonos, the space constraints only served to invigorate them.

At the beginning of development, the team had to acknowledge a seemingly obvious fact: people would place the picture frame speaker where they wanted a piece of art in their home, which is not necessarily where they would normally place a speaker. Chris Davies, Senior Director, Audio Engineering at Sonos explains, “With a conventional speaker, it's not too hard to envision where somebody will set it up. But when you've got something that's hanging on the wall, it's not the same decision process. It's like, there is a spot on the wall and I'm going to hang it there. And what you get out of it will be what you get out of it. So our need was to think about how we could make this product as flexible and functional as possible.”

Davies elaborates: “If you have a speaker on the wall in a dining room, someone who is sitting right in front of it is going to have a very different experience than someone who is sitting much farther away. So our challenge was to create a speaker with coverage that was as wide and consistent as possible for everyone in a given room. That way, the person who is sitting right in front of it isn’t hearing excess high frequency content and the person who is sitting on the other side of the room isn’t hearing something that sounds dull.”

To address this, one of the biggest things the team tackled was the “hot” high frequency sounds made by a tweeter. Morris steps in with a vivid, all-too-relatable explanation, “The way sound works is that low frequencies are omnidirectional and high frequencies are extremely directional. The way to think about this is when your neighbors are having a party. From your home, you can probably hear the bassline easily. But you probably can’t make out what specific song they’re playing because you can’t hear the singing or any of the other high frequency elements of the song. If you’re at the party though and close to the speaker, you know exactly where the sound is coming from because the high frequency sounds are coming directly at you.”

So, to ensure that the picture frame speaker would not be uncomfortable for someone sitting right in front of it, the team did two things to the tweeter. First they created a unique geometric shape around it, then they placed a star-shaped "lens" directly over it. Both of these things serve to help diffuse the high-frequency sounds throughout the room, creating a more consistent experience for everyone listening—regardless of how close or far they are from the actual speaker. Morris comes through with another vivid analogy to explain: “It’s like putting your thumb over water coming out of a garden hose. It’s going to force the water to spread out—or in this case, the high frequency sound—which will more evenly distribute it throughout the space. That way, everyone in the room gets a nice mist rather than just one person getting soaking wet.”

Unexpected Advantages and Big, Flat Complications

While the limited depth of the picture frame created constraints elsewhere, the overall volume of the speaker actually allowed for quite a bit of bass. But what seems like an advantage also came with its own set of challenges. As with all Sonos speakers, having well-balanced, natural sound was crucial for this product. Therefore, the team was careful to use a woofer that would provide the perfect amount of bass, something that wouldn’t overpower the mid- and high-range frequencies.

The large overall area of the speaker created another complication. “The flip side is that because you've got something that is big and flat, big and flat things tend to bend,” said Davies. “So we did a lot of work with the construction on the inside of the speaker, adding in ribbing and a bunch of mounting points so that you get something that holds together really well and doesn't deform or buckle as it’s making sound.”

While it was important for the picture frame’s physical structure to not be too flexible, Sonos and IKEA wanted the ways that people could place and enjoy the speaker to be as flexible as possible.

With exchangeable cover art and multiple ways to place it (horizontally, vertically, on the wall, on a piece of furniture, or even on the floor), the SYMFONISK Picture frame speaker was designed to give a plethora of options for any home. Each orientation is supported with subtle but useful touches, like a custom power cord guide and adjustable feet.

You can also easily integrate it into your existing Sonos system. Group it with other speakers throughout your home, pair two together for stereo sound, or use two as rears for a home theater setup when you don’t have a ton of space behind the couch. Combine this with (dozens of streaming services, Apple AirPlay 2, direct control from your favorite apps, and Trueplay tuning for unique room configurations, and you have one of our most versatile speakers yet.

Complementing the extensive thought and effort that went into ensuring incredible sound from a flat panel speaker, is the care and expertise IKEA brought to the aesthetics and overall look of the SYMFONISK Picture frame speaker. To learn more about how IKEA and Sonos created something beautiful enough to hang on your wall, read more on IKEA Today 

If These Walls Could Play Music

The packaging for Sonos Roam sets new standards in environmental sustainability without compromising on a premium aesthetic. Find out how Sonos prioritized the planet—and the unboxing experience—at the same time.

We all know the old saying about never judging a book by its cover, but in today’s world that sentiment feels less and less relevant. Whether we realize it or not, packaging plays a vital role in all of our lives: shaping global commerce, influencing how we use our products, and prompting difficult questions about the legacy we’re leaving for future generations.

Sonos thoughtfully considers how it packages its products—from crafting a simple, joyous unboxing experience to ensuring that its packaging prioritizes ecological sustainability. The groundbreaking packaging system it developed and introduced with Roam, offers a fascinating glimpse into how all of these complex threads weave together.

Michelle Enright, Head of Packaging Experience, has led Sonos’s packaging team since 2012. Roam’s launch represents the culmination of years of tireless work to refine the design, materials, and manufacturing processes involved. For Michelle, creating beautiful and tactile packaging goes hand in hand with reducing Sonos’s environmental footprint. “We wanted the unboxing to feel like it’s your birthday,” she says. “But the beauty of Roam’s packaging is that we didn’t need to sacrifice other priorities to achieve that. By making a few strategic trade-offs, we were able to get what we’d always dreamed of.”

“We always design with sustainability in mind,” she explains. “When I joined Sonos, we had one product which was packaged in paper pulp rather than less sustainable materials. But that created a precedent. We’d done it once, and it worked, so we knew we could do more.”

“For Roam, we wanted to set the bar higher and have as much of the packaging made from paper as possible. Our development focused on uncoated paper as a material driver during conceptualization, progressing to sketches exploring surface treatments, then CGI mockups, and finally, working with our suppliers to bring it all to fruition.”

That conceptual phase included thinking not only about what Sonos’s packaging was made of, but also about what it said. “We looked at other packaging across the tech industry and saw a sea of samey black-and-white palettes,” Michelle explains. “We decided with Roam that we wanted a visual design system that moved away from that. Something we could distinctly own. But we always think about our packaging as part of a family,” she continues, “which means that Roam’s packaging also needed to live alongside our existing products.”

Michelle and her team aimed to create a design which would set Sonos apart, but also felt like a natural evolution from earlier branding, something which embodied the premium quality Sonos is known for and significantly reduced environmental impact. Part of what makes Roam’s packaging so special is the harmony the team found between those potentially conflicting goals.

“From the beginning, we wanted to find a paper that we didn’t have to laminate,” explains Michelle. “Most packaging that you’ll see in stores will have a plastic coating to prevent scuffs and fingerprints. It also makes those materials far less recyclable. We tested a number of off-the-shelf papers, but we ultimately created our own, working directly with a paper mill: we developed everything from the color and smoothness to the way the paper wraps around corners.”

That process included understanding how the physical qualities of this bespoke paper impacted other aspects of the design process. “One of the challenges with uncoated papers is that they all react differently to ink,” Michelle continues, “so the visual system we created had to cater to the specific qualities of this new paper.” She shows off a huge A1 sheet printed with varying designs, ink colors, font types, and logos, underlining the exhaustive process undertaken by her team to align Roam’s visual identity with the materials.

“Uncoated kraft paper isn’t generally considered premium, but we wanted to change that paradigm and create a tactile experience for our customers, so we used a foil stamp to create debossed and embossed areas around the box,” explains Michelle. “It’s things like that, combined with the feeling of the paper, the color, the finish, the treatments, and the graphics, which make the finished product feel premium. If one of those things hadn’t come together for us, it wouldn’t have worked.”

That sense of quality is a huge part of Michelle’s work. She explains how her team devotes hours to thinking about where a customer will first make contact with the box as they lift it from a shelf, or the order in which they’ll unpack the contents.

Nowhere is this attention to detail more evident than in the question of environmental impact. Michelle’s team were able to use 100% sustainably sourced paper for Roam’s box—even the hanging loop on the top is made from paper fibers—completely negating the need for plastic foam, a far less environmentally friendly substance. “Foam was never an option for us on Roam,” says Michelle. Even factoring in smaller elements inside the box for which plastic was the only viable option, like the product bag, the overall total for the packaging system is still 96.5% paper. A stunning achievement against an initial target of 85%.

In terms of what that means once Roam is shipping around the world, Michelle’s team have already crunched the numbers and estimate that by the end of 2021, their redesigned packaging, applied across the product portfolio, will have removed 62,000 kilograms of plastic from Sonos’s supply chain.

Deji Olukotun, Director of Policy and Corporate Social Responsibility, is hugely proud of what Michelle and her team have achieved, and sees the reduction of plastic packaging as a crucial part of Sonos’s wider commitment to social impact. “Packaging is an area where we’re seeing a lot of success. It’s great to be able to hold Roam up as an example and celebrate Michelle and her team."

When Michelle’s team finalizes a design, that isn’t the end of the process, but instead sparks a whole new set of possibilities. Deji explains that they will regularly go back and rethink old packaging designs: even something as simple as reducing the size of a box used to package an older product might enable us to fit more of them on a pallet or into a single shipping container, reducing their overall carbon footprint.

The impact of Roam’s packaging extends beyond Sonos too, from sharing recycling data with scientific researchers to applying for a Forest Stewardship Council licensing trademark, with the goal to display an FSC label on Sonos products by the end of 2021. “This is a really important signal that our packaging work isn't just greenwashing,” says Deji. “It's respected within the packaging business and by sustainability advocates, which helps set the bar even higher for the future.”

Ultimately, the future is what matters. The work undertaken by Michelle, Deji, and the team isn’t just about ensuring that products meet the needs of our customers today, but also preserving our collective tomorrow. When asked what motivates her, Michelle muses,“The greatest joy we have in our team is knowing that someone will open that box and love their product. But also as a mom I’m concerned about the future of the planet. In the end, it’s about making sure that we’re putting good things out into the world.”

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