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Sonos is a leading American audio technology company that is best known for pioneering wireless multi-room 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 theatre systems, headphones, architectural components, and integrated home audio solutions that revolutionize how people listen and connect to sound.

Global Head of Editorial

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 colours? 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 colouring. 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.

Enrich your holidays (now and in the future) by harnessing the benefits of nostalgia. Take a deep breath and learn how tuning into your five senses can make for a cozier, more connected holiday—one that looks, feels, smells, tastes, and sounds merry and bright.

The holidays offer up many reasons to celebrate. Delicious smells. Beloved movies. Colourful decorations. Lively parties. Cozy conversations. And if you’re lucky, presents.

But if there’s one thing that really lets you know the holidays have arrived, it’s the music.

The feeling holiday music evokes can be unexpected and sudden. One minute you’re grocery shopping while Bing Crosby croons about silver bells, the next minute you’re remembering how you once ate a handful of sprinkles while decorating gingerbread cookies with your grandma.

This occurrence might be attributed to the experience of nostalgia, officially defined as “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past.” While this feeling can come from out of nowhere, intentionally engaging in nostalgic reflection by tapping into your five senses can positively impact your current holiday, as well as future holidays.

In the short-term, nostalgia benefits us by reaffirming that our lives have meaning. That’s because nostalgia usually features significant life events—occasions like birthdays, weddings, and the holidays. Further, these events usually include close loved ones. So reflecting on these events re-establishes our sense of connection and belonging, making us feel more loved, protected, and secure about our existing relationships.

And it’s these short-term benefits that we tap into when our holidays don’t go as planned—whether it’s because of a cancelled flight or an unexpected snowstorm. In the case of the missed flight, nostalgia is what makes reminiscing in the airport lounge over a warm mug of cocoa a soothing comfort in the face of massive disappointment. With the snowstorm, it’s ordering a spread of take-out Chinese food when you can’t make it home because it reminds you of the year your parents burned the roast. These aren’t perfect substitutes, of course, but by bringing forward elements of previous cherished holidays, we infuse our present with comfort from the past.

Nostalgia has benefits that extend into our future as well. Studies have shown that engaging in nostalgic reflection is a powerful social motivator, propelling us to pursue social goals like making new friends, reconnecting with loved ones, and finding a partner to share our lives with. This turns out to be great timing; experiencing nostalgia during the holidays is setting you up to achieve the resolutions you make regarding your social life on New Year’s Eve.

With all its benefits, nostalgia might seem like it would be difficult to invoke. Lucky for us, it’s simply a matter of tapping into smells, sounds, tastes, visuals, and sensations from our past. No matter what you’re celebrating this season, consider the five senses as you prepare for the holidays. Here are some things to consider for each one.

Build a playlist that offers something for everyone at your holiday gathering. The songs that evoke wonderful holiday memories for you might not be the same ones that do so for your grandpa or your cousin. Create opportunities to get to know your loved ones better by asking them what songs remind them of the holidays in advance of your gathering. The result will be a playlist that spans generations and genres.

If you’re not sure where to start, we’ve got you. Our Global Head of Music, Brian Beck, wrapped up 

 just for you, an enduring playlist of lesser-known classics featuring Woodie Guthrie, Pearl Bailey, Loretta Lynn, Louis Armstrong, and more.

Of all the senses, smell is the sense that most directly evokes emotional memories. When we smell something, that information goes directly to the part of our brain that is associated with experiencing emotions. Consider the scents that remind you of your favorite holidays and recreate them with candles, essential oils, room sprays, or diffusers. If you have time, tackle two senses at once by cooking or baking (see “Taste” below). Lastly, experiment with different scents in different rooms—try welcoming pine for the entryway, warming cinnamon for the living room, and refreshing peppermint for the bathroom.

There’s a lot of things that brighten up holidays…twinkling lights from menorahs, kinaras, and tiny villages that overtake every available flat surface in your home. But one of the most comforting things to gaze at during the holidays—a flickering fire on the hearth—can be impractical or more likely, impossible. That’s why we teamed up with sound designer Andrew Tracy to create “

.” With the proper log sizes, wood-to-flame ratio, and bark thickness, you can enjoy the mesmerizing flames on your TV with the soothing crackle through your home theater speakers.

Most often overlooked, incorporating the sensation of touch into your holiday can be an act of mindfulness. Take the time to bring your attention to the tactile sensations of the holidays—a rough firelog, a hand-knit scarf, a warm clay mug, the worn pages of a beloved book read once a year. And when in doubt, wrap yourself in a soft, fuzzy blanket.

This one gets the most attention around the holidays. And for good reason. But this is also where we have the biggest opportunity to expand our traditions. In addition to Christmas, people celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, Diwali, Los Posadas, and Chinese New Year at this time of year. Get in the spirit of the season by learning about cultural traditions other than your own. Then, incorporate a traditional dish you learn about into your family’s meal and use it as an opportunity to share what you’ve learned. Or, if you’re a book lover, look to cookbooks with recipes inspired by literary giants like Charles Dickens, Toni Morrison, or Louisa May Alcott. Above all, share. Whether you invite friends to your family’s meal or wrap up baked goods for neighbors, sharing food is a great way to connect with those you normally just share a wave with.

The holidays can be stressful. And don’t always go as planned. By getting in touch with your senses during the season, you can tap into comforting memories of the past, get motivated to create a better future, and savor each moment of the present.

Abeyta, A. A., Routledge, C., & Juhl, J. (2015). Looking back to move forward: Nostalgia as a psychological resource for promoting relationship goals and overcoming relationship challenges. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109(6), 1029–1044. 

Hepper, E. G., Ritchie, T. D., Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T. (2012). Odyssey’s end: Lay conceptions of nostalgia reflect its original Homeric meaning. Emotion, 12, 102–119. 

Hertz, R., Eliassen, J., Beland, S., Souza, T. (2004). Neuroimaging evidence for the emotional potency of odor-evoked memory. Neuropsychologia. 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0028393203002161

Pearsal, J. (Ed.). (1998). The New Oxford dictionary of English. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Routledge, C., Arndt, J., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Hart, C. M., Juhl, J., . . . Schlotz, W. (2011). The past makes the present meaningful: Nostalgia as an existential resource. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 638–652. 

Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Arndt, J., & Routledge, C. (2006). Nostalgia: Content, triggers, functions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 975–993. 

https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.91.5.975

Secrets of Nostalgia: Simple Ways to Warm Up Your Holidays

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 favourite 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 favourite 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

Listening is the world’s most versatile drug. Administered in the right quantities—and at the right quality—music, podcasts and other forms of culture can supercharge our mood, productivity, fitness routine, and personal relationships—yes, even our sex lives. That’s not just marketing hype from a speaker company. It’s backed by data.

Imagine, if you dare, a week without listening. No music, no podcasts or audiobooks, no dinnertime chatter with loved ones—Not even a movie or your nightly TV binge. If that sounds cringeworthy, the reasons may run deeper than you realize. As a growing body of scientific research suggests, consuming culture with our ears is an essential element of the human experience—one that naturally enhances many aspects of our daily lives.

Put another way, listening is the world’s most versatile drug. Not only does it help us feel less stressed and more productive, but the sound of music, podcasts, and other types of culture can motivate us to exercise more, supercharge our sex lives, spark new ideas, and even strengthen our bonds with family and friends. This isn’t just hype of the sort you might expect from a sound experience brand. It’s backed by science.

“Scientists have found evidence that we are wired to perceive and enjoy music as well as to bond with each other through music,” says Daniel Müllensiefen, a professor of music psychology at Goldsmiths College, University of London. “This explains why music is a ubiquitous part of the human experience, supporting the theory that music has a special, important function in our lives.”

The Brilliant Sound Survey is a new round of research that helps bolster the case for better living through listening. In an online survey of 12,000 listeners in 12 countries around the world, Sonos and its research partners found that listening, particularly to music, is reported by participants to have a significant positive effect on four key areas of life: mood, fitness, relationships, and productivity.

“Music is unique in that it appeals to different psychological functions,” says Dr. Müllensiefen. “It can trigger exactly the same areas in the brain that food and sex and other recreational activities and drugs can trigger. It can also be physical in terms of participating, like dancing along or playing drums.”

If sound matters, so too does its fidelity. According to some research, the transformative effects of listening may well be amplified when the sound quality is higher.

“It’s perfectly plausible that sound quality makes a difference, because it’s often small and subtle cues that trigger emotions, like the breath of the singer or the squeak of the guitar strings,” explains Dr. Müllensiefen. “If the sound is blurred or muffled, then it doesn’t have the same effect.”

Of Sound Mind: Listen Better to Feel Better

It hardly comes as a shock that listening has an impact on our moods. But the Brilliant Sound Survey results illustrate just how deep and multifaceted that connection between music and mood is perceived to be by listeners. Seventy-four percent of participants said listening to music helps reduce stress. Another 42% said that podcasts had a relaxing effect. Of course, the genre makes a difference. More than half (55%) of comedy podcast listeners said that those more humor-oriented shows helped relax them.

In the survey, majorities of listeners said they’re happier when listening to a favorite song (52%) and that music helps boost their mood at work (58%). More on that below.

Well sure, you might say, of course listening to one’s favorite music makes them feel happy. The connection between mood and music isn’t always predictable, however. In the survey, 36% of respondents said music has made them laugh unexpectedly. Even more (40%) said it’s made them cry unexpectedly.

“Many people probably aren’t aware of how much they rely on music to regulate their moods throughout the day,” says Dr. Müllensiefen. “We take it for granted because music is so much more available than it used to be. You can virtually listen to anything at any point in time these days.”

Once again, the quality of the sound appears to make a difference. A large majority (82%) of listeners said that a great sound system can make a party more fun.

Fitness Tune-up: The Power of Performance-enhancing Sound

Does getting yourself to the gym turn into an epic internal struggle? Next time, try putting on an uptempo playlist. According to the Brilliant Sound Survey, 68% of respondents say that music helps motivate them to workout when they’re tempted to skip it. The motivational role of sound and listening doesn’t stop when the workout gets going. Majorities of listeners say that music helps encourage them to workout longer (52%), push themselves further (55%) and exercise with greater intensity (51%).

When we’re exercising, music seems to play at least two distinct and important roles, according to Dr. Mullenfiesen: Distraction and stimulation.

“It basically distracts you from how hard you’re working out and takes your mind off how many more miles you have to run,” he says. “But you focus on something else, which is really important.”

Music also helps to stimulate us while we’re working out. “High paced, dynamic, loud music would cue to your physiology that you need to be in an alert state, keep going, and to keep the adrenaline flowing,” he says. “And if strong emotions are expressed, this can also boost your physiological system because strong emotions signal that there’s something important going on.”

If music operates somewhat like a drug when it comes to physical fitness and motivation, it appears to be a potent one. Three quarters of listeners say that music has a bigger impact on their workout regimen than any supplement does.

Sound quality can boost the impact of listening on fitness performance, according to one recent experiment conducted in the United States by Sonos and its research partners. The three-day experiment measured the physical and mental responses people had while working out in a high-intensity interval training in three scenarios: Listening on low-quality wireless speakers, listening on a pair of Sonos Ones, and working out in silence. When exposed to high-quality sound, participants reported a 26% increase in positive feelings about their workout and 34% increase in feelings of connection with their workout partners (despite a 3.5% increase in average heart rate and 2% rise in energy exerted). In other words, great sound enabled people to work out harder without feeling like they were doing extra work.

Sound & Relationships: Listen, Live, Laugh, Love

Listening also has a major effect on our connections with other people, from friends and family to lovers and long-term partners. Indeed, scientific research over the years has shown that musical taste and ability can play a role in our sexual attraction to one another. That finding is backed up by the Brilliant Sound Survey, in which 70% of respondents said they find others more attractive when they have similar taste in music. Even more people (76%) said they feel an instant connection with others when they realize the have similar taste in music.

“We seem to be hardwired to music,” says Dr. Müllensiefen. “It’s part of our evolution as a species that music has played a part of in social bonding, as a function of grooming within larger groups. It might have been useful for sexual mating as well, for example.”

The lust-fueling characteristics of music don’t just dissolve once that initial connection is made. According to the survey, most people say that music makes sex much better (59%) and that it can even make them more adventurous in bed (56%). It may come as a surprise, given how sexually-charged our relationship with music can be, that only 20% of listeners said they have a dedicated playlist for having sex.

Listening doesn’t just tighten our bonds with others in the bedroom. As the 2016 Music Makes It Home study commissioned by Sonos and Apple Music helped demonstrate, it can have all kinds of effects on our interactions with the people in our lives. In this new survey, 64% of people said that music helps them feel connected with family, while 69% said it can ease tensions at home.

“Listening to music and singing together has been shown in several studies to directly impact neuro-chemicals in the brain, many of which play a role in pleasure, closeness, and connection,” says Dr. Müllensiefen.

Your Brain on Listening: Productivity and Creativity

The notion that listening to music can help us focus and be more productive isn’t exactly breaking news. But would you believe that music is more potent than coffee? Sixty-seven percent of listeners say exactly that, according to the Brilliant Sound Survey. And just as many say music helps spark new ideas when they’re feeling stuck.

When it comes to listening and work performance, the survey results offer some pretty glowing endorsements. More than half (52%) of listeners say they wouldn’t be successful at work if they didn’t listen to music. Aiming for a promotion? Curating a playlist of your favorite focus-friendly music isn’t a bad place to start; A staggering 76% of respondents to the survey said that listening to music helps them produce their best work.

“Generally, music can have a strong stimulating effect that makes us alert and focused,” says Mullensiefen. But as with any other mind-altering substance, the results may vary based on the person and their circumstances. “There are several studies in the scientific literature that show that the right kind of music can enhance the performance on the right kind of task for the right kind of people.”

The Science of Listening: How Brilliant Sound Makes for Better Living

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 around, 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

At Sonos, brilliant sound includes the technical smarts needed to easily listen to what you want, where you want, how you want. But it’s our commitment to how our speakers sound that truly defines our work. Over the next few weeks, we’ll share what “brilliant sound” means to us. To kick things off, today we’re unveiling Inventing Brilliant Sound, a short film introducing you to sound at Sonos.

Smooth. Light. Comforting. Neutral. Cozy. Honest. True. Brilliant sound may be hard to define, but it’s easy to recognize. Studies have shown that casual, everyday listeners prefer the same speakers as those who have been professionally trained, despite the latter group’s experience analyzing audio for the specific attributes that make it great. When you set up your first Sonos speaker, you probably noticed that the sound was richer or more detailed than you were used to—even if you weren’t able to explain why. Here’s a three-step process to help you understand why your Sonos speakers sound brilliant.

1: Prepare your environment (and yourself)

To truly evaluate sound, you’ll need to create the right conditions. Make sure the space in which you’re listening is as free of ambient sounds and distractions as possible. Position yourself at the centre of your speaker (or speakers). Then take a moment to centre yourself, allowing your ears to adjust to the silence before starting the song.

Art is designed to engage us intellectually, emotionally, or absolutely. You’ll need to detach yourself from the song at first in order to draw your focus to the sound quality alone. Try concentrating on one element of the track—the lead guitar, backing vocals, or the bass line. Notice where it sits in the overall mix and if that changes over the course of the song. How does it sound in relation to the rest of the song’s disparate elements? Then try turning up the volume to observe the clarity of the detail you’re focused on.

As Emily Lazar, President and Chief Mastering Engineer at The Lodge and Sonos Sound Board member explains in 

, great sound “fills the room with an emotion.” While there are many aspects to evaluating great sound that fall on the scientific end of the spectrum, don’t discount the artistic part of the process. Allow the entire song to wash over you. How does the sound make you feel? What emotions or feelings does it evoke? Where do you feel it in your body? If that feels esoteric, remember that sound is ultimately just vibrations in the air. As Greg McAllister, Sound Experience Manager at Sonos notes, “Sound is just slightly less tangible than other senses.”

Adele’s “Lovesong” was produced and mixed in a way that allows an aspiring sound expert to clearly identify distinct elements of the track. Make sure you’ve tuned your speaker with Trueplay, pull up “Lovesong” on your favourite streaming service, and follow along for a brilliant sound journey. Intro (0:00-0:25)

Clean guitars during the song’s intro are ideal for hearing more subtle details, like the sound of the musicians’ fingers on the strings.

If you have two speakers stereo paired or a home theatre speaker like Beam, Playbase, or Playbar, you’ll notice that the first acoustic guitar comes distinctly from the left for the first four bars of the song, while the second acoustic guitar is situated far to the right.

When Adele’s vocals join in, they are positioned squarely in the centre of the two guitars. One way expert listeners assess sound is by evaluating the spatial arrangement of a song. You can think of it like a giant movie screen, with a character in the centre and supporting cast members at the edges. With “Lovesong,” the spatial arrangement of the guitars and vocals is clearly defined.

The song should sound natural—as if you were in the same room as the musicians playing live. Without audio effects like reverb or distortion altering the guitars and vocals, you can more easily appreciate their tone and character.

When additional instruments join at the end of the first verse, you have an opportunity to appreciate how your Sonos speakers handle a range of frequencies in a song. The bass’s long, sustained notes are at a lower frequency, while the crisp hi-hat cymbals are at a higher frequency. All of the frequencies should sound well balanced, not like they’re competing with one another.

The strings should sound full and lush. While they were playing a counter melody to the main vocal melody during the verses, they swell during the chorus, evoking an emotional response.

Finally, take a step back to evaluate the song more holistically. The track’s instrumentation changes throughout the song. How does that impact your experience of listening? Try playing the song a few more times, choosing different elements to focus on and paying attention to how your assessment evolves with each listen.

Ready to go deeper? Now that you know what it’s like to experience brilliant sound, check back next month to find out how we ensure each and every Sonos speaker delivers on that promise.

What We Mean by Brilliant Sound

Our Global Head of Editorial, Steven Saftig, managed to get his hands on the new Sonos Arc right before we closed our offices. He couldn’t stop talking about our newest soundbar, so we finally told him to just write a blog post about it. From setup to Dolby Atmos, he shares what it’s like to have an Arc in your home when you’re spending the entire day there. He also talked with sound engineer Chris Jenkins about his Oscar-winning sound mixing for Mad Max: Fury Road and what it’s like to hear it in Dolby Atmos, the gold standard for home theater audio.

I was on a train, coming back to Santa Barbara after visiting my family when I got the email from our head of HR: “All employees, please work from home.” We were a little under two months away from announcing Sonos Arc to the world and I hadn’t even heard what it sounded like yet. Whenever I write about our products for the blog, I immerse myself in the experience because I want to be able to share what it’s like to actually live with them. How was I going to write about our new home theatre speaker without ever having heard it? And, to be honest, I still didn’t fully understand what Dolby Atmos was—one of Arc’s most exciting features. So when I received that email, asking us to get everything we needed out of the office by the end of the day, I panicked. So I started texting. Desperately.

Hey, does anyone have one of our new, top secret speakers lying around? Just, you know, waiting to be picked up? Like, right now?

Fast-forward through a cinematic montage of secret closets, product handoffs, and I finally had an Arc in my hands—an hour before our offices shut down.

Unboxing Arc: A shape-defying design. And 76,000 individually-drilled holes.

Back at home, I began one of my favourite parts of setting up a new Sonos product—the unboxing. The experience with Arc is as exciting and dramatic as I had hoped. More importantly though, we’ve continued to look for ways to minimize the environmental impact of our products. As Michelle Enright, Senior Design Manager, Packaging Experience describes, “For Arc, we had a clean slate opportunity to design packaging from the ground up. We created a 96.1% paper-based construction—moving away from foam-based cushions, which would have been the easier and more cost effective path.”

I peeled back the final layer of protective packaging and there it was. Now, by that point I’d seen a ton of photos of Arc, but because of the subtlety of its design, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I finally saw it in person. I carefully carried it over to my media console, placed it in front of my TV, and stood back. (You can also mount Arc to the wall.) Here’s the thing about the design of Arc: It’s actually quite difficult to describe its shape. It’s not a box. It’s not a rectangle. It’s not even a cylinder. It almost appears like it’s in motion, as if undulating. The overall effect is that Arc doesn’t feel like it’s trying to compete or stand out from the rest of your home theatre setup. As Kitty Suidman, Director, Color Material and Finish says, “[Arc’s] design is purposeful, delivering a seamless, soft familiar profile. It feels like a piece of furniture in your home.”

I started to circle around Arc. And with each angle from which I observed, a new dimension of the design was revealed. There are no harsh edges, clunky protrusions, or jarring cavities. In short, it’s stunning. Turns out, this is all very intentional. “We take a 360-degree approach,” says Philippe Vossel, Industrial Designer at Sonos. “It doesn’t matter where you first look at the product—it all matters. If you look at it from the side first, that’s where it matters. If you mount it to the wall and look at it from the bottom first, that’s where it matters.” Vossel and the Industrial Design team were also thoughtful about how your eye travels along the product. “We want to make sure you don’t get hung up or distracted by unrefined details,” he said. “And in the end, it’s how these details all tie together that allows us to create a visual story about sound.”

There’s one more thing you should know about the design of Arc. Every Sonos product is the result of a creative, collaborative balance between what the hardware and software teams want to put inside the speaker and how the industrial design team wants it to look. There is a lot of technology packed into Arc. (More on that in a moment.) And the grille is the bridge that brings these two interests together—the piece that encases all of this incredible technology, while allowing the product to look as seamless and beautiful as you expect from all Sonos products. Building on the success of technological advances we made with the grilles on Play:5 and Playbase, Arc’s grille is a single seamless sheet, carefully molded and drilled with more than 76,000 holes to ensure exceptional sound and wireless performance. “It’s the latest version of something we’ve been working on for years,” says Dana Krieger, Senior Director of Design, Product.

I set up Arc in the middle of a work day, so I couldn’t immediately sit down to watch a full movie. But I was so anxious to hear what it sounded like that I decided I had to at least listen to a song. And, as anxious as I was, I still used Trueplay™ to tune Arc to my living room, which is not a uniform shape. (Trueplay is, by far, my favorite Sonos feature. Not using Trueplay is like riding around in a new car without adjusting the seat and setting your favorite radio stations. You’ll still enjoy the ride, but you’re missing out on an experience that’s customized just for you.)

I queued up my test song. (You have a test song, right? I play the same song whenever I test out a new speaker: “Rhiannon” by Fleetwood Mac. I’ve been listening to that song since I was a baby, so I know every corner of it. If you don’t have a test song, check out this playlist of tracks we created to show off your system at its best.) I then sat down on my couch and listened the way that Greg McAllister, Sound Experience Manager at Sonos taught me how to listen.

Two things were immediately obvious to me—spaciousness and clarity. What do I mean by “spaciousness”? I don’t just mean that the sound fills the room, which it does. But imagine that you were given a one inch by one inch piece of paper, 6 colors of paint, and then told to paint a picture of your house using all of the colors. With a steady hand, you might be able to create a crude depiction. But there wouldn’t be much definition to the front door. You wouldn’t be able to draw the flowers in the window boxes. And some of the colors would blend into a pool of muddy brown. Now, imagine that you were asked to do the same thing, but with a five foot by five foot piece of paper. This is the type of spaciousness that Arc gives to music. For me, it meant hearing additional layers to “Rhiannon” that I’d never heard before. And alongside that spaciousness is remarkable clarity. The vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass, and drums all sound crisp, clean, and pure. In short, the song sounded glorious.

TV shows with Arc: Sound from a galaxy far, far away

For my first TV show with Arc, I chose The Mandalorian, streaming on Disney+. Sound is integral to the Star Wars universe, so I decided that this would be a good place to start. I wasn’t disappointed.

To hear the roar of the Razor Crest’s engines and the coos of The Child with the same spaciousness and clarity that I’d heard with “Rhiannon,” was electrifying. Even without rear surround speakers, the immediate feeling of listening to Arc is one of total immersion. And that’s because, as Chris Davies, Senior Director, Audio Engineering, explains, “Arc creates an ultra wide soundstage by using highly optimized beam-forming rays. These rays bounce sound off the wall in your room to create a truly immersive sound experience.” In other words, Arc doesn’t just send sound towards you. It uses sophisticated technology (and the information you provide about the size and acoustics of your room with Trueplay) to bounce sound off the walls in order to truly envelope you in the show’s soundscape. The magic, of course, being that the sound reaches your ears at the exact same time, completely in sync.

Later, when I turned down the lights, something subtle but amazing happened. The status light on Arc dimmed automatically. Arc has an ambient light sensor that adjusts the status light based on how bright the room is—another small example of how Arc is made to seamlessly blend into your home.

As you can tell, I was beyond thrilled with my experience of Arc, completely on its own. Without Sub. Without rear surrounds. Without Dolby Atmos. But Arc was designed to evolve along with the rapid advances in home theatre technology. And that means playing Dolby Atmos, the new gold standard of home theatre audio. I had to see what Arc could do with a full Atmos setup.

But first, what is Atmos? While there are lots of videos and explanations on the internet describing this technology, I’ll describe it in my own words here. Prior to Atmos, elements of sound from a film or show had to be assigned to a particular channel (left, centre, right, rear left, rear right, etc.) With Atmos though, sounds are treated as objects—and all of the channels work together to project those sounds into different parts of the room. Here’s where it gets cool—Atmos also adds height to the equation. (Arc achieves this by utilizing upward-firing drivers that bounce sound off the ceiling.) This allows those projected sounds to be heard—not just along a horizontal plane—but anywhere in the entire three-dimensional space of your room. What does that mean for your listening experience? I was hoping you’d ask.

Movies with Arc: The Dolby Atmos Experience

I paired Sub and two Sonos One SL rears to Arc. I used Trueplay to tune my system again (to account for the addition of the rear speakers). I popped popcorn. And then I sat down to watch Mad Max: Fury Road. From the very first scene, it was immediately obvious to me why Atmos is the new standard in home theater sound. In the opening sequence, a flood of voices and ambient sounds swirled around me. It’s surprising and thrilling and has made me completely rethink the way I’ve used the word “immersive” in the past. Over the next two hours, I felt completely a part of what was happening in the film. The sound design of the movie is bold and vibrant—and watching it in Atmos adds so many layers to the experience. At the same time, I could hear every word of dialogue perfectly—even amidst a thunderous score and barrage of epic sound effects. As Chris Jenkins, Oscar-winning sound engineer and Sonos Soundboard member would later tell me, dialogue is the backbone of every movie. Even without Speech Enhancement turned on, Arc delivered the dialogue with detailed clarity. And then there are the quiet moments in the film—serenely beautiful scenes that offer delicate sounds and whispers. With the sonic precision of Arc, I found these scenes just as engaging as the action sequences.

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

Secrets of Nostalgia: Simple Ways to Warm Up Your Holidays

Feel More with Sonos

The Science of Listening: How Brilliant Sound Makes for Better Living

Brian Eno on Playing With Light

What We Mean by Brilliant Sound

I Got a Sonos Arc and Then Didn’t Leave My Home for Weeks. Here’s What Happened.

4 Ways to Haunt Your House with Sound

Things That Stuck: The Mandalorian’s Composer on the Second Season and His New Sonos Radio Station

How Sonos Works With Creators to Fine-Tune the Home Sound Experience

The Science of Listening: How Brilliant Sound Makes for Better Living

Arc’s Stealth Superpower

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