Sonos Debuts New 'PLAYBASE' Home Theater Speaker - MacRumors
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Sonos Debuts New 'PLAYBASE' Home Theater Speaker

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Sonos today announced the PLAYBASE, its newest speaker designed for home theater sound systems. According to Sonos, the PLAYBASE is a thin, powerful speaker that sits under a television set to offer enhanced sound for TV shows, music, and movies.

The PLAYBASE measures in at just 58mm tall, but it includes 10 drivers (six mid-range, three tweeters, and one woofer) for what Sonos says is great sound. Design wise, it's meant to meld into a home's decor, with a polycarbonate body that features clean lines, no visible seams, and 43,000 holes for a transparent grill.

playbase1

"We have built a product that can not only handle the complexities of home theater - delivering open and natural sound, clear dialogue, and immersive bass that fills the room - but also fits perfectly in any home environment," said Giles Martin, Sound Experience Leader at Sonos. "The challenge with PLAYBASE was upholding the desire for it to be beautiful from all angles without compromising any of our design, acoustics or engineering principles. We were obsessive in our approach and decisions, resisting every urge to pack anything in here that wasn't needed, and custom built everything else to find the perfect fit - it's our thinnest, most beautiful speaker yet."

PLAYBASE is specifically meant to be used with TVs that sit on furniture rather than those that are wall mounted. It includes two cords and connects to other Sonos speakers for a whole house sound solution. Like all Sonos products, it can be used with more than 80 music services.

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Sonos will begin selling the PLAYBASE on April 4, 2017. It will be priced at $699 and it will be available in black or white to match any home decor. Existing Sonos owners will be able to pre-order the PLAYBASE starting today.

Tag: Sonos

Top Rated Comments

canadianreader Avatar
120 months ago
Horrible design something like that should melt into the decor even Ikea does better in its catalog.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
120 months ago
Sigh. Again, no HDMI.
Agreed. I think HDMI is far more consistent with higher quality audio than optical. And most home theatres/Sound bar should offer both optical and HDMI.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Marshall73 Avatar
120 months ago
That's horrific. If you had the cash to splash on that I would assume you would have a decent TV so why would you want to spoil the look of the TV by putting that under it?

Meld into the decor???? Just look at their example pic, it stands out by miles and matches nothing, plus, loads of holes = dust trap.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
120 months ago
OK, so it has an optical in but no HDMI in.

The AppleTV 4 has HDMI out but no optical out.

Anyone else see an issue? It's like Sonos are working against Apple most of the time.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
shanson27 Avatar
120 months ago
No HDMI ARC, no DTS, no buy :mad:
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
120 months ago
I keep wanting to love Sonos, to finally take the plunge and "go all in". But my current setup of an Apple TV hooked up to my A/V system and 5.1 speakers does everything I need in my loft. And this addition to their lineup, which I was kind of anticipating, does nothing to change my mind. In addition to not having HDMI, it is butt ugly and wayyyy too light colored to be near my TV. There's a reason TV's are black—the focus should be onscreen. Anything that takes away from that is bad design.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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