Sonos announced a new compact smart speaker, Sonos Beam, at a recent event in San Francisco. Designed for home theaters, the new speaker is smaller than the company’s two previous home theater speakers – Playbar and Playbase – measuring in at just 63.5cm across.
Beam has support for Amazon’s voice-activated assistant Alexa. Users are able to control their television, in addition to their other smart home devices, using voice commands and the Amazon Alexa voice service built right into the Sonos Beam.
“We believe that people want a better way to listen,” said Sonos CEO Patrick Spence at the event.
With a price tag of CAD $499, the device is cheaper than Sonos’ existing home theater speakers.
Beam is built to provide quality audio with vivid detail for your TV and music player. With the combination of Alexa and a single HDMI, Beam users will be able to control their TV with their voice.
Read more Sonos One Alexa integration now available in Canada
The experience is meant to be simple and straight forward. Users can control the smart speaker by voice, through a native Sonos app, or via third-party streaming apps such as Spotify, Pandora, Audible, and Tidal. In total, over 80 different music streaming services are supported by the Beam.
Beam has four woofers: two facing out towards the front of the device and two angled out. It also includes a single tweeter and three passive radiators. All of the speakers, circuit boards and antennas are placed in a single sound chamber to reduce interference. Users can create surround sound systems by paring Beam with 2 Sonos One speakers and a Sonos Sub.
This launch is a significant one for Sonos, which is still striving to augment its footprint in home audio products. A Wall Street Journal report in April said that Sonos had filed secretly for an IPO that could take place this summer.
In Canada, Beam launched on July 17th and is available in both black and white. It is available for order now.
