Sonos has arrived in SoHo. Next week, the company that's become synonymous with premium home speakers will open its first retail store in New York City. The space is located at 101 Greene Street, right around the corner from another successful electronics maker: Apple. And it's roughly 2 miles away from Samsung's recently opened "digital playground" in the Meatpacking district.

But unlike Samsung 837, where you can't actually buy and walk out with Samsung's gadgets, the Sonos Store is as much a retail store as it is a listening boutique and destination for trying out the company's product lineup. And visitors will be sampling them under ideal conditions. Walk into the store and you enter a foyer that's a series of sound-proof rooms. They're rather small — only three or four people can comfortably fit inside past the glass doors — with each of the three walls meant to mimic various rooms in the home where the company would like you to place its speakers. There's the study/office (perfect for a $500 Play:5), the living room (why not invest in a $700 Playbar?), and the kitchen (no reason not to stick a $200 Play:1 somewhere).

That kitchen/living room/study design continues in every listening room, but the atmosphere within each is quite different. Sonos sought to bring a unique vibe to each of them, which led the company to partner with artists like Mark Alan Stamaty and Mark Chamberlain on some of the interiors. There are other touches geared for the music lover as well; one of the first things you see upon entering is a very zen portrait of producer Rick Rubin. There's a collection of mixtapes from Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore. And opposite all those listening rooms is a wall that displays a number of New York fanzines spanning decades. For whatever reason, there's also a bronze turntable, which if nothing else adds another bit of character to the room. But the biggest thing that will catch your eye is located at the back of the main hallway. It's a massive sculpture of Sonos speakers, something the company calls its "Wall of Sound." It's got some working speakers in there, too; the people outside the listening rooms will be hearing music as well. Sonos says it took a meticulous approach in engineering the entire space so that it showcases the best sonic characteristics of the company's speakers. That listening environment, plus a friendly no-pressure staff (and extremely generous 45-day return policy) could make the new Sonos shop worth visiting if you're in the area starting July 19th. But if the product is all you're after, Amazon and Best Buy still work just fine.