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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.

Guest Writer

Every Sonos product, from our most powerful soundbar to our smallest portable speaker, is designed with simplicity and ease of use in mind. But we also offer countless ways to refine and personalize your sound. Whether you’re new to our products or consider yourself an expert, our ‘Essential Guide’ series is here to help you get the most out of your Sonos experience.

With the release of Ray, we’ve made it easier than ever to enjoy blockbuster sound at home. The compact and powerful soundbar  connects to virtually any TV, works with all your streaming services, fits neatly in an enclosed space, and won’t blow your budget.

Whether you’re new to Sonos or adding Ray to an existing system, our ‘Essential Guide’ will help you get the most out of your new soundbar. If Ray is the start of your Sonos system, we’ll take you through the entire journey step by step, from unboxing and initial setup to advanced features, and the possibilities when you group Ray with other Sonos speakers. If you’re a longtime owner, then hopefully you’ll learn something new, or rediscover features you haven’t used in a while.

Once you’ve unboxed Ray, you’ll start by placing it under your TV (ideally one that’s 55” or less),neatly tucking it into a shelf, or mounting it to the wall with our 

. Despite its compact size, Ray provides a surprisingly wide soundstage that can easily fill a small or medium-sized room.

Ray comes with two cables: one for power, and one for connecting to the optical audio output from your TV. Once everything’s plugged in and powered on, open the Sonos app on your smartphone or tablet and follow the instructions to get Ray connected to your home WiFi network. If you’re not automatically prompted to start the setup process when you open the app, you can find it in 

The app will walk you through syncing your TV remote, but in case you skip that part of the process initially, you can go to 

User connecting optical cable to the back of a Sonos Ray

As part of our ongoing commitment to sustainability, Ray comes packaged in our custom uncoated kraft paper, which is designed to minimize the use of inks. The external box helps streamline shipments to reduce the carbon footprint, and the internal protection removes EPE foam from our supply chain. You can learn more about our sustainable packaging efforts and our broader ecological work 

The Sonos app offers full control of Ray (and your entire Sonos system) from the palm of your hand. You can find a complete tutorial on using the app 

, but below are a few of our favorite features:

Speech Enhancement — For  more detailed dialogue, tap the speech bubble icon on the Now Playing screen. This will amplify voices while keeping sound effects, music, and all other audio at its normal level. You’ll never miss a word, even if you need to keep the volume down.

Night Sound — Not wanting to wake  sleeping housemates or irritate neighbors? Tap the moon icon in the Now Playing screen to reduce the intensity of loud sound effects and enhance quieter ones, allowing you to enjoy crystal clear audio without disturbing others around you.

My Sonos — Even with millions of songs, albums, books, and podcasts at our fingertips, we often find ourselves going back to a handful of favorites over and over again. Save your most essential music to My Sonos and  access it instantly by tapping the star icon at the bottom of the Sonos app.

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

Browse — 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 Sonos Radio or your preferred music service lead you down a path of music discovery.

You can also stream to Ray  over WiFi without leaving your favorite music app.

Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music, Pandora, and other services all let you control your Sonos system directly. Just look for the speaker icon.

Alternatively, if you have an iOS device, including iPhone, iPad, or a Mac, you can stream audio from your device to Sonos via Apple AirPlay 2.

User operating the top panel buttons on a black Sonos Ray

User sitting on a bed watching TV with a black Sonos Ray

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.

Ray is no different. Like all of our speakers, it has touch controls and buttons that allow you to manage your experience even when your device is not in reach.

Press the Play/Pause button once to mute the TV or pause and resume your music.

Press and hold the Play/Pause button to group Ray with your last active speaker.

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

If you’d prefer to only control your Sonos system from the app, you can turn off each speaker’s touch controls. From the 

, choose Ray from the list of products, and then toggle 

Ray’s convenient size and zero-stress setup are only part of the story. What really sets it apart is its exceptional sound quality.

The custom acoustics include two powerful tweeters for clear highs, a pair of meticulously engineered elliptical woofers for full mid frequencies, and proprietary anti-distortion technology for perfectly weighted bass. Split waveguides project sound from wall to wall, and advanced processing accurately positions elements in the room so you feel like you’re at the center of the action. Even better, our unique Trueplay™ software tunes your speakers to the precise acoustics of your space.

With sound, so much depends on the environment in which you’re listening. A cozy room with thick carpet and tons of pillows will reflect and absorb sound very differently than a larger space with bare walls and hard floors. The exact same speaker placed in those two spaces won’t sound the same, no matter how well it’s engineered.

With an iOS device, our Trueplay™ tuning technology will measure the effect that your room’s size, furnishings, and Ray’s placement have on what you hear, then fine-tune the audio output to make sure you hear everything as it was intended to sound.

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 Settings menu. Tap 

, select Ray from the list of products, and then tap 

Ray is the perfect start to your Sonos home theater.

On its own, Ray can make your shows, movies, and games sound fuller, with crisper dialogue and more impactful bass. But by adding rear Sonos speakers, you can experience 360-degree sound. Ambient effects like footsteps, whispers, and elements of the score will completely immerse you in the world on screen.

For an incredible surround sound experience, you can learn more about combining Ray with Sonos One or One SL in our guide to creating the ultimate home theater experience 

. If you prefer your speakers to blend discreetly with your home decor, Ray also works beautifully with the 

Ray isn’t just designed to enhance your viewing experience, but to bring stunning high-res audio into your home, too. One of the best ways to do this is with Sonos Radio: our expertly-curated selection of stations designed to soundtrack everything from early-morning alarms to late-night partying. With exclusive stations curated by musical luminaries like Erykah Badu, Brian Eno, and The Chemical Brothers, as well as thousands of global radio stations and our own selection of Sleep Sounds to help you fall asleep, Sonos Radio brings you music for every moment.

Sonos pioneered multiroom listening with a simple vision: Help music lovers play any song anywhere in their homes with exceptional sound quality.

But how we live in our homes constantly evolves. Sometimes sound is a shared experience with our friends, housemates, or partners, but sometimes we want a separate soundtrack in different rooms. And other times we want to take our music outside without breaking the flow. Adding multiple speakers to your Sonos system expands the possibilities for listening.

Adding a Sonos Roam to Ray is a perfect example of this. 

 on your device or in the Sonos app, you can pair whatever’s playing on your soundbar with our ultra portable smart speaker, taking your music from the heart of your home to the palm of your hand. From there, you can head to another room or leave your home without missing a beat.

If you want to explore how to expand your listening experience, visit 

A white Sonos Ray on a media console below a TV

The Essential Guide to Ray

When it came to creating a voice control experience unique to Sonos, the team behind Sonos Voice Control™ took a listener-first approach that prioritized privacy, sound quality, and inclusivity along with hands-free ease.

“Voice control makes technology very accessible,” says Joseph Dureau, Vice President of Voice Experience at Sonos. Dureau leads the team behind Sonos Voice Control, a new innovation that offers listeners hands-free control of their music and systems with any voice-enabled 

 product. His interest in the technology, however, extends beyond his professional life.

As a father to two young children, Dureau is always trying to limit screen time for himself and his family. “Being able to control music with my voice helps me stay present,” he explains. “I don’t need to pull out my smartphone to change the song or adjust the volume, and my children don’t see me constantly looking at a device.”

Drawn to the convenience of voice control, Dureau and his team wanted to find a way to improve upon the technology in a way that only Sonos could, making it even more intuitive, private, and inclusive. Oh, and it had to sound good, too.

A white Sonos Roam with examples of voice commands in animated speech bubbles

“Everything we do aims to empower listeners,” says Dureau. “When we think about a new feature, product, or partnership, it has to be rooted in our ethos. And it has to be easy.” With the addition of Sonos Voice Control, the team has realized this ambition on a new level with a one-of-a-kind experience.

Sonos Voice Control stands apart from other voice assistants that have become synonymous with smart speakers.

First, the setup is nearly effortless: There are no extra apps to download or new accounts to create. Sonos Voice Control offers complete command of your Sonos system with any voice-enabled product, regardless of generation.

Unlike other voice assistants, Sonos Voice Control has a better grasp of natural language, so it understands the way people actually talk. For example, it understands “Hey Sonos, up a bit” as well as “Hey Sonos, louder.” Whatever comes more naturally. You can also quickly follow up one request with another without having to repeat “Hey Sonos” (also known as the wake word) every single time. “It seems like a small detail,” says Dureau, “But it creates a lot of friction.”

Also, Sonos Voice Control processes all requests locally on the speaker or soundbar, which significantly reduces the time to music. It’s as instant as tapping a control in the app. Most of the time, Sonos Voice Control just does what’s asked without a repetitive verbal confirmation.

Local processing also allows for limited playback controls on Bluetooth®, including pausing, resuming, and volume adjustments. Plus, because no data or audio transcript is ever sent to the cloud, Sonos Voice Control doesn’t compromise on privacy.

With the increase of smart devices in our lives, privacy has become a top priority for customers. It’s also the number one reason why listeners never set up or use a voice assistant despite being drawn to the ease. So, naturally, privacy became a top priority for the Sonos Voice Experience team.

“We don’t use any customer data to feed our engines,” explains Dureau. All requests are processed locally on the Sonos product. “At no point is your voice going to be sent to the cloud, transcribed, or listened to by anyone.”

Rather than making shopping frictionless or leveraging data to enhance voice AI and search engines, Sonos Voice Control services the listening experience. “It’s like a voice version of the app,” says Dureau.

“At Sonos, we want to make everything sound as good as we possibly can,” says Greg McAllister, Senior Manager of Sound Experience. Throughout his storied career as a sound engineer, McAllister has worked on everything from Hollywood blockbusters to award-winning albums alongside Sonos Sound Experience Leader Giles Martin at London’s famed Abbey Road Studios. When it came to choosing a voice for Sonos Voice Control, he wanted it to sound as “natural as possible.”

Rather than use a sterile-sounding option generated by AI, McAllister and his team sought the perfect human voice, which they found in Giancarlo Esposito, the beloved big-screen and Emmy-nominated actor known for 

So, what makes a good-sounding voice? “It’s very dependent on context,” explains McAllister. “For instance, if you’re listening to someone reading a bedtime story, then you want the voice to be nice, soft, and relaxing. If you’re listening to somebody making an announcement, that should be a bit more direct.” Sonos Voice Control had to do it all.

“We want something that’s warm and positive, but also informative. Giancarlo’s voice perfectly fits the bill. He has a really nice deep resonance about his voice that feels very warm.”

“I’ve had a lot of experience playing characters, but I realized with Sonos that I would have to manipulate my voice in a way that was really me. It enticed me to be a part of this because people respond to the quality of my voice—they say it can be calm, it can be reassuring. It’s a voice that people recognize before they even recognize my face.” 

Giancarlo Esposito recording voice over in the studio

Giancarlo Esposito speaking with an audio engineer in the studio

Even more important than the human output of Sonos Voice Control is the human input that informed its final articulation.

Dureau and his team paid close attention to creating the best experience for 

 existing and future Sonos listeners. While surveying a diverse set of testers for an initial launch in US English, it became clear that they would not be designing for a monolith and found a few interesting opportunities for innovation.

“In the US, we noticed a large majority of song titles and artist names in Spanish,” explains Dureau. “We wanted to make sure that words would be pronounced correctly.” He laments how other assistants tend to mispronounce or alter non-English words and names entirely, sending the people on the other end hearing them that they were not considered in this technology. “We want everyone to feel included in the Sonos Voice Control experience,” he says.

A French native, Dureau also brings a special appreciation for regional accents. The US-based testers ranged from Southern California and New Jersey to Georgia and Minnesota, and the team plans to continue expanding the pool. “Every time we launch Sonos Voice Control in a new region,” Dureau continues, “we will do everything we can to make sure it works with the variety of accents you find there.”

Also included in the Sonos Voice Control experience? Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

Sonos is all about choice, letting you stream from your favorite services, mix and match speakers to customize your system, and even use multiple voice assistants. So, listeners who want a little extra hands-free help managing their smart home devices, getting answers to questions, or ordering dinner can also use Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant on their Sonos system. Alexa even works with Sonos Voice Control on the same speaker.

“We just want to be the best conduit of sound,” explains McAllister.

Sonos Voice Control is now available in the US. Learn more 

. For a deeper dive into the ins and outs of the technology behind the feature, visit our 

Closeup of a white Sonos Roam being used on kitchen countertop 

Voice Control, But Make It Sonos

In August 2021, Sonos became the official sound partner of Liverpool Football Club. It’s our first team partnership in sport and an absolute gamechanger. As we near the end of our first season with Liverpool FC, we recognize more than ever how Liverpool—the club and city—sound like nowhere else on earth.

On any given matchday, it starts with the scuffs and shuffles down Skerries Road and Arkles Lane as 50,000 people make their way to Anfield Stadium. Then the beeps and clacks of each supporter moving through the turnstiles, the local Scouse chatter between them, followed by the echoes of the stadium announcer around the ground as the players of Liverpool FC take the field to warm up. Slowly, as the stands fill, chants and songs charge the air. These are the sounds that make the heart beat a bit faster if you’re lucky enough to be there.

And then, a few minutes before kickoff, a bit of modern magic. Those of us who can’t be there in Anfield turn on our televisions to hear the

When you walk through the storm, hold your head up high

, the stirring opening lines of Gerry & The Pacemakers 1963 hit, “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” Liverpool FC’s official anthem. The song suddenly seems to collapse the distance between wherever we are and this glorious, hallowed ground of sport. Within seconds Gerry Marsden’s velvety croon is overtaken by the roar of Liverpudlians singing every word, there to support their team through thick and thin. This is the distinctive shared experience that inspires Sonos’s partnership with LFC.

“Being in the stadium and singing the anthem of Liverpool is such an amazing feeling,” says Ian Cowen, a local supporter who’s been going to games since before he can remember. “The hairs on my neck still stand up each time I hear it.”

Sonos allows the rest of us around the globe to truly feel these same emotions at home, as they happen, like never before. Perhaps we sing along from Germany or Japan or California, but in the moment, we can be transported to this iconic ground near the River Mersey. Perhaps our hearts beat a little bit faster too.

LFC fan holding up a Liverpool banner at a match

The song ends. A brief hush, then the whistle. The rousing rumble of Anfield—the Kenny Dalglish, Anfield Road, and Main Stands, and of course, the legendary Kop—launches the players into action. There’s nothing like it.

Liverpool FC’s current coach, Jürgen Klopp, believes this sound and energy has the power to push the team forward. “The atmosphere at Anfield is the best I have ever experienced,” he says. “It should serve as an example to everyone about how supporters can influence a team and influence a game.” You can often see Klopp on the touchline exhorting the fans to make it even louder, a fitting frontman for what many pundits have taken to calling “heavy metal football” for its relentless and rollicking style of play.

But that hardly gives this team enough credit. They are a symphony to watch. An international squad—Senegalese, Egyptian, Brazilian, Dutch, Japanese, English—all coming together, defending and attacking as one, driven by the unmistakable spirit of Liverpool behind them.

This is not lost on those who have to watch their beloved Reds from home. The passion of Anfield comes clearly through the speakers, the lift it gives to the players visible as they battle to the very last second of every match.

“With millions of Reds globally, Liverpool FC’s sound sits well outside the walls of its stadium, reverberating through countless towns and cities, and creating a sense of community over shared moments of celebration, loss, or encouragement to keep fighting,” says Pete Pedersen, Sonos’s Vice president of Marketing.

“Sound has always been an essential part of sports,” Pedersen adds. “It breathes energy into every game, whether it’s the music that players listen to while getting hyped for a match, the vibrating chants from fans in the stands, or recreating a stadium experience at home. Liverpool is also a city famously steeped in music. We wanted to embrace that heritage and connection.”

Closeup of Liverpool match on TV with Sonos Beam

As part of our partnership with the club and to celebrate Liverpool’s deep musical roots, we’re installing Sonos products throughout Anfield Stadium, giving players and fans the best-sounding matchday experience ever. And for anyone who wants to get those matchday feelings any day of the week, Sonos Radio has created a special Anfield Pre-Match Anthems station, with music selected by players from the men’s and women’s first teams along with some VIP voiceover by Liverpool legend John Barnes and the latest hits from dance, hip hop, Afrobeats, and R&B.

In recent years, the club’s on-pitch successes have made it Liverpool’s greatest export since The Beatles. Since Klopp’s arrival in 2018, the team has harnessed the power of their support like no other. LFC won their first league title in 30 years in 2020, after capturing Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup trophies in 2019, and have since added a League Cup in March of this year. The trophy case might need expanding soon if they can add another Premier League title, Champions League, and FA Cup by the end of May.

If they do, the fans, both home and away, will have played no small part, but even if no further silverware arrives, this season has already been triumphant, as fans finally returned to Anfield after more than a year away due to the pandemic.

The team’s star striker, Sadio Mané, has paid tribute to the importance of having them back.

“Like I have always said, the Liverpool fans are the best fans in the world,” Mané said. “It was fantastic to play in front of a full Anfield again. Having them back can be massive for us, and they can play a huge part in our success.”

Liverpool taking the field at the start of a match

Their return has meant just as much to the fans watching at home. Whether it’s that collective rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” or the unmistakable roar of the Kop, the sounds of Anfield are what make watching Liverpool FC so visceral and emotional. Sonos brings these sounds closer than ever. Whether you’re watching at home with Arc or Beam, or on-the-go with Move or Roam, every product allows fans across the globe to feel a little bit more of what makes Liverpool FC so special on matchdays.

Take it from legendary local Red, Paul Tremarco, who has owned the world-famous Arkles Pub across from Anfield since 1981. He’s been supporting Liverpool FC since 1966 and welcomes fans from around England and around the world every week with open arms. “Liverpool is a very, very vibrant, and a very, very welcoming city. Not just about football. It’s about culture, it’s about history, you know, it’s got everything. And I am very much a very proud Scouser,” he says. “For me, Liverpool Football Club—the ground, the atmosphere—we’re just unique. There’s no fans like Scousers. There’s no fans who sing as passionately as Liverpool FC fans. We’re the most passionate fans in the world.”

​​This passion and the marriage of music, sound, and sport are precisely what make the partnership between Sonos and Liverpool Football Club so harmonious. And now, through the power of Sonos, it is easier than ever to hear the game at home as if you were in Anfield. Whether you’re in a Liverpool living room or on the other side of the world, every wholehearted yell, every thud of foot against the ball, and every soft rattle of the net makes you feel as if you’re right there, part of this legendary club.

And for those in the UK, Germany, The Netherlands, Finland, and Norway, we’ve got a way to feel even closer. Sonos is offering you and your football club the opportunity to 

 to level-up your dressing room and amplify pre-game energy, just like Liverpool FC’s first team does at Anfield.

(2) Create an Instagram feed post (video or picture) showing your love for football

(3) Tell us your favorite song that gets you in the mood for the match in the caption

(4) Tag @sonos, @liverpoolfc, #FeelMoreLFC

Closeup of Sonos Move with Liverpool jerseys hanging above

Group watching Liverpool football at home with Sonos Beam

Sonos x Liverpool Football Club: Champion Sound

, Sonos is expanding how we think about the environmental impact of our work, committing to carbon neutrality by the end of the decade, and taking bold new steps toward a sustainable future.

At a time when the climate crisis threatens the future of the planet, it’s vital that we think holistically and critically about how our actions affect the world around us: from broad political change to individual actions, and from waste reduction to ecosystem protection.  With the launch of our new Climate Action Plan, we’re entering a new phase in our commitment to environmental responsibility, building on work we’ve been doing for many years, and setting ambitious targets for the future.

 itself, and its focus on reducing Sonos’s carbon footprint: with the commitment to become carbon neutral by 2030 and net zero by 2040. This year, Sonos will partner with the nonprofit Sustainable Surf to invest in carbon offsets for 2021, with a portion of our funding used to restore kelp forests along the California coast. Alongside the specific focus of our 

 on carbon emissions, we’re also announcing a raft of wider sustainability measures including: dramatically reducing the energy our products use, extending the product lifespan by making them easier to repair and recycle, switching to 100% paper packaging by 2025, decreasing the environmental footprint of our supply chain, and working with world-leading organizations on research, accreditation, and accountability.

This is a major package of commitments and policies, reflecting many years of existing work at Sonos and setting out our priorities for decades to come. But how did we get here? Deji Olukotun, Director of Policy and Corporate Social Responsibility, emphasizes the connection between past and present. “We've been on this journey for a number of years now not just thinking about sustainability, but also our supply chain, how the people who make our products are treated, and how our facilities and offices are managed,” he explains. “So we've spent the past few years listening and learning, seeing how we can improve, and then putting that into practice. The climate crisis demands action. Every single office where we have employees has experienced extreme weather over the past couple of years, and that makes this work feel real and urgent to all of us.”

Assortment of sustainable packaging for Sonos products

The first step was to map and disclose our global carbon footprint, which yielded surprising results. “We learned that the biggest source of our emissions wasn't our supply chain, production, or distribution. Less than a quarter of our overall footprint involves the pulling of materials out of the ground, building our products, and getting them to our retailers,” Deji says. In fact, 75% of our carbon emissions come from the energy consumed during each product’s lifecycle, which in turn guided the focus of our 

“In some ways, it was a welcome surprise because it's an area that we have more control over. We want to help our customers make responsible choices, so we’ll be able to present them with more options about energy use, like shutting down parts of their system while other parts are active, or being more intentional with speakers using voice assistants.” Sonos has also committed to extending the sleep mode we introduced with Roam to all new products from 2023. This renewed focus on efficiency will reduce the energy consumed by our products by 35% within the next decade, forming a key part of our carbon neutral and net-zero goals.

Fully auditing and then reducing our carbon footprint is only one part of the puzzle, though. “These climate-focused steps are extremely important, but there are other aspects of sustainability that matter,” explains Deji. “For example, the moment when a product reaches the end of its life has a relatively low impact from a carbon emissions standpoint, but it could have a big environmental footprint in terms of e-waste or materials ending up back in the soil.” In 2022, Sonos will move beyond mapping our products’ carbon emissions and begin auditing these wider environmental impacts too. “It’s going to give us a very granular level of detail into our products,” says Deji. “These important insights will help us make good design decisions in the future.”

We’ll also be working on groundbreaking projects which use sound to support fragile ecosystems. “We’ve been thinking a lot as a company about the concept of regeneration—the idea that you shouldn’t just be reducing your environmental footprint, but giving back more than you take out to leave the Earth better off than when you found it.” This commitment to regenerative work has seen Sonos collaborate with organizations that specialize in using sound to improve the environment, from joining the Music Declares Emergency coalition and hosting the Climate Blowout Conference summit on climate solutions within the music industry, to funding cutting-edge bioacoustic research. One of the high-impact projects Deji and his colleagues are already supporting involves a team of scientists using multi-mic arrays and machine learning to track the sounds of endangered spotted owls across California as they return to ecosystems ravaged by recent wildfires. A key marker species whose presence indicates re-established biodiversity further down the food chain, owls (and their sonic signature) gives researchers a clearer understanding of how quickly different ecosystems are recovering so they can decide where to focus their efforts.

A person carrying a white Sonos Roam strapped to their backpack on a hike

All of this is great, but we know that talk is cheap: what really matters is putting these lofty principles and ambitious ideas into action. There are two clear paths to making sure that Sonos is living up to the standards we’ve articulated in our 

. Firstly, we’re setting clear goals so that all of our stakeholders have a tangible sense of the progress we’ve made: “The key difference between a company that says they’re going to do something, and one that actually does it, is the use of performance targets,” explains Deji. “For the past five years, we’ve had these in relation to our packaging, our energy efficiency, and auditing our supply chain. But now we’re layering on these new climate targets as well.” This doesn’t come without challenges, though. “One of the interesting things with these targets is that you have to say when you didn’t meet them. I think it’s a real challenge for a lot of companies to be transparent about where they’ve missed the mark. Announcing those goals publicly, as we’ve done, and reporting back on them, as we’re going to do, is a huge part of that accountability.”

The second way in which we’ll be making Sonos’s progress transparent and accountable is by partnering with outside agencies that maintain industry-wide standards on carbon, sustainability, and ethics. By the end of 2021, Sonos will be a full member of the Responsible Business Alliance, an organization that will help audit our supply chain and ensure we adhere to best practices, and the Forest Stewardship Council, which certifies our use of sustainable paper-based  products. In both cases, these gold standard organizations will make sure that we’re meeting our aspirations.

Across all of this work, our underlying philosophy can be summed up in two words: Listen better. Initially created as a project title for Deji and his colleagues’ work on social impact, this phrase has since been adopted as a mantra across the whole of Sonos, embodying not just our commitment to high-quality sound, but ensuring that we help make the world a better place.

“This is a collective action opportunity—particularly for climate change, but also in terms of broader sustainability—in that the more companies that get involved, the easier it becomes. At Sonos I think we can be proud to recognize that people really care, that there’s been a big cultural shift, and that we’re all committed to this journey.”

A black Sonos Move on a bench next to a mug and a jacket in a forest.

Increasing Our Commitment to Sustainability

To celebrate our partnership with innovative furniture designer Floyd, we’re sharing a recent interview they did with artist and designer Hassan Rahim. Find out what drew him to design, how music inspires his work, and his advice for emerging artists and young designers.

Inside Hassan Rahim's Brooklyn apartment, you'll find a zen space filled with collections and unique pieces that keep him working, inspired, and relaxed. The artist and designer channels childhood interests in his work, which are distinctive and strong, contextual and reflective of his own nature. Rahim spoke with us about his self-made journey into design, inspirations, and work within the music industry.

My name is Hassan Rahim. I'm an artist, but I don't like to just stick with one title. I find I'm sometimes an artist and graphic designer or art director and designer. I grew up in Santa Ana, California, lived in L.A., and moved to Brooklyn, New York, six years ago. I like to focus my work on versatility. I'm drawn to projects based on concepts and ideas from a range of mediums—directing videos, designing logos, and my own personal work of printmaking and collage. I kind of freestyle it, and I've been doing that since I was 15 years old when I first downloaded Photoshop.

You are self-taught. So what was your journey into design, being self-taught?

My design journey started with skateboarding. I was a skateboarder, but I really was obsessed with graphics, skateboard art and ads, and magazines.  These are what caught my eye, and I wanted to make those things. I had a desire to make stickers and shirts and was curious about how to make them. I'd ask myself, "Oh, how did they do that?" and then try to recreate some things. From there, I figured out different techniques and developed tools to start using my own imagination.

You got your start in t-shirts. Tell us more about that.

I was posting some of my own t-shirt work on Myspace when I was 15. People came across my work and asked me to make shirts for their brand. Then, through skateboarding, I met people who worked for brands like Obey and Diamond Supply Co., and they asked me to make shirts for them as well.

You do a lot of collage in your work. What inspired you to get into that?

That was the way my brain put pieces together. I'm made up of all the little bits and pieces of inspiration from everyone else, you know? All the little snippets, memorable quotes, and things people told me...All of those things combined are me. Also, the way somebody like Madlib or J Dilla makes beats was a big inspiration; it's like sampling, cutting, pasting, and chopping. I was inspired by watching beat-making, and I saw that my work felt that way visually, that my brain assembled pieces like that.

“I was inspired by watching beat-making, and I saw that my work felt that way visually, that my brain assembled pieces like that.”

When you think of breaking down these aspects of music and transcribing it, if you will, to art, are you often using music to inspire your work?

My process has evolved. I used to play a lot of music, but now I usually try to get into an internal meditative state. At one time, I could work until 4 am with high-energy club music. As I grew in my work, the process changed. I feel zen just staring at the screen and getting the work done, and it's a different type of focus.

I've also been playing slow focus on NTS radio; it's like ambient zen music. So I wake up to that. That's my alarm, actually.

So it's pretty safe to say that music has been a strong inspiration for your work.

I work from home and have been doing so since before the pandemic. I used to have a studio, but I just realized that my work is so personal. It comes from such a personal place that I get my inspiration from being in my house with my books and records and stuff. It's a small New York apartment, so there isn't a lot of space. My desk is in the middle of the room. But it's really nice working from home.

You do have an extensive book and record collection. How did these collections come into your life?

The collections do come into your life. But very slowly. It's an accumulation. There are things that I'm really passionate about and the things that I am no longer passionate about, I make sure to get rid of. As far as records go, I have a few different collections. I have some that are records that I like to listen to, some are just rare, and then some are just for visual inspiration. I shop the dollar bin for cool records. I used to do it when I was younger. It got me interested in design—seeing really rad records from the 70s with crazy cover art, and it was always conceptual. It made you think. I still buy records in a dollar bin based on the cover because I want my record collection to resemble my book collection.

“I have some that are records that I like to listen to, some are just rare, and then some are just for visual inspiration. I shop the dollar bin for cool records.”

How has your work been shaped by the places you’ve lived or the spaces that you're in?

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