Sonos Introduces Zones For Managing Rooms With Multiple Speakers

Sonos has announced that the Era 100 Pro, their inaugural speaker specifically designed for the professional installation market, is now available for order and shipping. This innovative speaker utilizes an Ethernet cable for both power and connectivity and is sold exclusively in pairs through select Sonos partners that focus on professional setups. Pricing for the Era 100 Pro is determined by these partners, and Sonos has not disclosed any pricing guidelines. I have contacted a few professional installers to obtain an estimated price range.

It’s important to note that the Era 100 Pro requires a powered Ethernet connection (PoE), which means it won’t operate on a standard wired home network without additional equipment.

To coincide with the launch of the Era 100 Pro, designed for commercial environments such as restaurants where numerous speakers may be used in a single area, Sonos has also updated its app, introducing a feature called “zones.”

A diagram of two zones of Sonos products in a commercial space. Sonos

The new zones feature resembles the existing Groups function, allowing users to add up to 16 compatible Sonos devices to create a “semi-permanent” grouping of speakers. All devices within a zone will play the same audio at the same volume level, unless the “volume trim” settings on individual speakers are adjusted to vary from the zone level. Additionally, users can fine-tune the EQ settings for each speaker individually.

A key advantage of zones is their ability to combine with other zones or individual Sonos speakers. Since groups can’t be nested inside one another, this feature enables users to manage specific collections of speakers as a cohesive unit, allowing for easy reconfiguration without creating new groups each time.

Users can add, modify, or remove zones through the Sonos app. There’s also a chime feature to help identify a specific speaker within a zone, which can be useful when the name alone isn’t sufficient to pinpoint its location.

However, there are certain limitations for the zones feature. Unlike groups, it is only compatible with specific Sonos components, namely the Era 100 Pro, Era 100, Era 300, Sonos One SL, Sonos One (all models), and Sonos Five. Other components such as Sonos soundbars, portable speakers, headphones, and devices like the Port and Amp are not currently compatible with zones.

Sonos emphasizes the importance of an Ethernet connection for every speaker within a zone. If that’s not feasible, it’s advisable to limit zones to a maximum of six Wi-Fi-connected devices for optimal performance.

Alongside the Era 100 Pro and the zones update, the Sonos app has received a series of fixes and enhancements as the company works to address issues stemming from the problematic redesign launched in May 2024.

Notable updates include: