I recently bought a Samsung 8K TV, a Sonos Arc soundbar and a Sonos Sub Gen 3.
It wasn’t cheap, but after slumming it on the home AV front for so long, I figured it was time to treat ourselves.
I was like a kid in a candy store waiting to open all the boxes once we got them home and let me tell you, now that everything is setup and working, I’m so happy that I decided to take the leap.
If you’re in a rush, here are some links to check out the exact products that I bought in case you want to check them out too:
I was pretty excited to get these products set up!
Unboxing the TV
I thought 4K TVs were overkill and didn’t even know 8K TVs were a thing until I started looking more closely at what our options were. I knew that we wanted something “nice”, pretty big and something that would serve us well for at least a few years, but that was about it.
The store that I was looking in had a clearance sale on the TV that we ended up buying. It was the last unit they had in stock and the price looked pretty good compared to comparable models…
Unboxing a TV so big isn’t easy and you should probably try to get some help. I definitely did something silly by lifting it alone and could have easily hurt my back, so don’t do that.
I found most things pretty straightforward, but getting the stand attached to the back of the television is definitely at least a two-person job, but more likely a three-person job.
You’ll need two people to hold the television while someone else slides the stand underneath and screws it in securely. I have no idea how I managed to do it by myself with a bunch of cushions, but it certainly wasn’t fun.
Trying to figure out how to attach the stand!
Unboxing the Sonos Products
What a beautiful design from top to toe. Seriously, it’s very similar to unboxing an Apple product in that it’s minimalist and elegant and there’s nothing you don’t need in the box. I really like it.
Setting them up and configuring things in the app are very intuitive and it guides you every step of the way. Nothing to worry about there.
The back of the soundbar is very clean and simple.
The Results
Mindblowing.
I’ll be honest and tell you that I’m easily impressed with just about everything in life. I would make a terrible food critic because I would just give everyone an A+.
However, I really couldn’t imagine how things could be much better.
The picture quality is sharp and I’m really enjoying watching things in 4K. I still think having 8K is overkill, but if I can find something to watch in 8K, I’ll watch it to see what the TV can do.
Netflix and Youtube both have quite a bit of content that you can watch in 4K and it’s nice to have a TV that can help you to appreciate things in the quality the filmmaker intended.
But the sound is at least half of the experience and Sonos is a premium brand for a reason. The range of sounds, the base, the ability to ratchet up the volume without losing any quality is very very nice.
I remember when I was a kid watching shows on a little TV in what was probably equivalent to 360p or less. This is so far from that it’s incredible.
What Now?
Now we’ve got Alexa connected and working flawlessly through the Sonos Arc. I’m loving the ability to talk to my Arc and have it hear and understand perfectly. Its range is also surprisingly good too.
We have music playing from Amazon Music in the background for a few hours a day, ask Alexa for various things during the day and then in the evening we might watch some Netflix or something on YouTube for a while.
This is all new to me, but I love being able to walk inside and say aloud “Alexa, play the best of the 80s” and have The Police playing a few seconds later. It feels like magic and I’m not getting sick of it yet!
Should You Treat Yourself?
That depends on whether you want to really enjoy the time that you spend watching television, movies or listening to music.
If you don’t really care much for the quality and you just want the “content”, then no, you can probably live without it.
It’s also not cheap, so if cost is a concern, you probably also want to give it a miss.
But if you do want the quality and if you can afford to jump in, let’s be honest, you’re here because you want me to help you get off the fence and dive in.
So if that’s you, I would say just go ahead and treat yourself. I think you’ve probably already made your decision, so here’s where you can check them out on Amazon: