The audio-tech geniuses over at Sonos announced the Playbar this morning, a new product in their line-up of music streaming speakers. Set to launch late this month, the Playbar is a sound bar designed to compliment the TV and act as the main speaker for a home theater setup.
Described as the “Sound bar for music lovers”, the Playbar holds inside it nine speakers, six mid-range speakers and three tweeters. “With nine amplified speakers—PLAYBAR replaces the steady drip of your TV’s built-in speakers with deep booms, crystal-clear whispers, and huge waves of live concert sound,” reads the product’s site description.
The Playbar doesn’t include its own remote; however, it does include an IR sensor for those looking to pair it with their existing remotes. Once it’s setup, the bar can be used in its normal position or can be put on its back to give it a slightly smaller profile while watching TV; the device’s audio adjusts depending on which position it is.
All of this brings the Playbar to a $699.99 total.
While the Playbar will likely produce a good quality audio experience, the real attraction of any Sonos product is its simplicity and streaming capabilities. The Sonos Playbar has a minimalist design with only an optical port, a power port and two Ethernet ports on the back. This is because most of what’s going on with the Sonos happens wirelessly.
For those that aren’t familiar with Sonos products, a key aspect of Sonos is being able to purchase multiple speakers and wirelessly pair them. All you need is one of your Sonos speakers to have a wired connection, or you could get a Sonos Wireless Bridge, and then all your speakers work seamlessly even if they’re in different rooms. The user can then control them all from their smartphone using the Sonos app, which allows them to stream music from iTunes, free radio stations, music streaming sites such as Rdio directly to the speakers without having to leave the couch. You’re also able to control what content is playing on which speaker and how loud the volume is on each one.
If you’ve got the funds, there isn’t a much better mix in terms of quality and seamlessness than buying the Playbar. If you just won the lottery and want to go all out, perhaps look into matching the Playbar with the Sonos Sub and a few extra Play:3 speakers.
