Sonos is sort of the standard for multi - way , full - home speech sound systems , and now they ’ve upped their plot with their sword new flagship store ( aka , a freakin ’ castle to sound ) in SoHo . And when it comes to sound applied science , thenew Sonos storeat 101 Greene Street is a serious exploit of technology ( it literally take them about 18tries at the design leg to get it just right ) . But what does that entail to you , you audiophile , you ? We explore .
The speakers themselves are no joke
If you ’re going to build up basically the Taj Mahal to speaker engineering science in SoHo ( one of America ’s most competitive shopping destinations ) , your product itself has to be the real deal . And Sonos speaker bring it in a number of way . First off , Sonos ' flagship " playing period " line feature not one , not two , but three freestanding speaker units to supply to your space ( do n’t worry , we ’ll break down ‘ em down for you ) .
The PLAY:1 is flyspeck ( but loud ) , topnotch portable , and it ’s humidness resistant , so go in the lead and put it in the bathroom for some shatter - the - mirror shower singing . The PLAY:3 is the perfect middle earth with just a bit more oomph , but can handily be place vertically or horizontally so it can wobble into smaller spaces . And finally , the PLAY:5 , is the big papa , and large enough to satisfy a little auditorium with waves of sound . They ’re all controlled from the central Sonos app that experience on your phone or pad , which passably much reinvents the whole party speech sound organisation ( no one like run from way to room adjusting volumes ) . And the newfangled Sonos computer storage cast the whole gang front and center , waiting for you to test them all to the limitsbeforeyou buy and shlep them home .
The space itself is acoustically engineered
But with such precious aural merchandise , how do you optimise a cut edge store for genuine - world use ? Well they legit built a full , actual - sized , working prototype of the intact store in a warehouse in SoCal before breaking ground in SoHo , just to check that they got it correct . That ’s dedication , folks .
The materials themselves are a 50 - 50 rent between " absorbent " and " ruminative " acoustical surface . That mean that half of the construction of the blank space is meant to speculate phone ( giving that overnice ambient reverb ) while the other one-half is meant to absorb it , devote effectively no sound reflection . What exactly are these material ? Well the floor are mostly concrete ( reflective ) , while the ceilings have a ton of soundproof absorptive froth . The walls are metallic element with perforations in them , backed by more of the foam , passing sound through and then absorbing it . This balance , perfected by famous industriousness production pros ( more on them later ) , creates the ideal ratio of booming , resilient sound , and unmortgaged , studio - quality spatialization .
There are professionally tuned isolation chambers
Sonos , as a company , employs some of the industry ’s leading mind in euphony output . We hump what you ’re thinking : " Every speaker company probably say that ! " We were skeptical , too . But Sonos actually has Rick Rubin ( Def Jam founder and producer for way too many classic book to listing ) and Giles Martin ( George Martin ’s Logos , like , of the Beatles production team , that George ) on their official roll . Martin himself in reality assisted in contrive the store ’s construction , and sat in on the final build to make certain the blank sound just right .
And when we say that Martin made sure it fathom just right , we mean he did it with painstaking attention to detail . Housed inside the turgid space are six 2,000 lb house - determine pods with giant , 800 pound drinking glass doors that are almost completely soundproof to the outside room . Inside the pod are all the Sonos speakers , positioned in different corners to mimic Sonos ' multi - room playback control . Each one is designed other than and shows off the Sonos multi - room , multi - platform ascendance .
But the cool part is that Giles Martin sat inside each elbow room listen to the same speakers you get to listen to , acoustically tune and repositioning them to ensure the perfect - sounding quad . Now if only you could get him to sit in before your next house company .
Courtesy of Sonos
There’s a vinyl room that is a testament to music history
The Sonos stores has one passably secret up its sleeve – literally in the back , down a trajectory of stairs , past the 290 - unit wall of verbalizer . And if you could make it preceding that insanely booming wall of phone , the vinyl radical elbow room ’s outfitted with a record player connected to a stereophony couplet of PLAY:5s along with a courteous little collection of , you guess it , vinyl disc thoroughgoing for the old - schooling obsessive .
But probably the coolest part of the way is the Hellenic Braun reel - to - Virginia reel whole – a recording organization used by some of the mankind ’s good classic studios fashioned by the German design caption Dieter Rams . This affair totally belongs in a museum ! ( yes , that was anIndiana Jonesreference ) . But , you’re able to swing by and see it , and test out all the speakers yourself – the staff lets you gravely shell these things – all in the same afternoon , which is something we bet you’re able to do without bugging that wet blanket you call a next room access neighbor .
Courtesy of Sonos
Courtesy of Sonos
Courtesy of Sonos
Courtesy of Sonos
