‘There’s no way that can fit inside the soundbar’: Sonos tells me how it developed Sound Motion, the groundbreaking new speaker design in the Arc Ultra

Two versions of the Sonos Sound motion speaker driver – an early concept on the left, and the final version on the right.

In 2024, Sonos introduced its new flagship soundbar, the Sonos Arc Ultra, which packed in more speaker units than its predecessor could manage at the same size, for more impressive Dolby Atmos sound.

The key technology that made this possible was a new super-compact bass speaker design, which Sonos calls Sound Motion. Sonos acquired this technology from a company named Mayht back in 2022, and the Arc Ultra was its long-awaited debut in an actual product. (Long-awaited for those of us who follow interesting speaker design innovations, at least.)