Sonos Inc. is revamping its line of home speakers, aiming to go after that market more aggressively at a time when rivals like Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Amazon.com Inc. are rolling out fewer new products.
(Bloomberg) — Sonos Inc. is revamping its line of home speakers, aiming to go after that market more aggressively at a time when rivals like Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Amazon.com Inc. are rolling out fewer new products.
The audio company showed off two new models on Tuesday: the Era 300 and Era 100. The 300 version is a high-end home plug-in speaker that focuses on outputting spatial audio — a form of advanced surround sound. The Era 100 is a replacement for the company’s Sonos One, one of its best-selling speakers and a key rival to Apple Inc.’s HomePod, Google’s Nest audio products and the Amazon Echo.
The launch comes at a time of upheaval for the the smart speaker industry. Previously, Amazon and Google were rolling out several new speakers annually, but neither company has upgraded its lineup recently. And both are reassessing their hardware plans as they undergo layoffs and budget cuts. Apple, which has lagged behind in speaker market share, released a new high-end HomePod model in February.
In an interview, Sonos Chief Executive Officer Patrick Spence said that the move from stereo sound to spatial audio is as significant as going from mono to stereo. He anticipates that the Era 300 will create a “halo” over the company’s product line and attract both upgraders and new customers.
Spence said that the company is able to invest more than other speaker makers right now because it didn’t hire too aggressively during the pandemic. It also has no debt and a strong cash balance, he said. Spence added that the company is working on more new products at the moment than it ever has before.
Like many of its tech peers, Sonos suffered a stock rout last year, with the shares falling 43%. But they’ve bounced back nearly 20% this year, and the Santa Barbara, California-based company is looking to shore up growth by gaining market share. It also has expanded into new sound bars and battery-operated speakers in recent years.
The Era 100 has two tweeters, three amplifiers and one midwoofer, up from two amplifiers and one tweeter in the Sonos One. The Era 300, meanwhile, has six amplifiers, four tweeters and two woofers — letting it fire sound in more directions and support the spatial audio output. The higher-end model has an hourglass-like shape, while the Era 100 looks like a rounder and taller Sonos One.
The devices also have a new control panel on the top that can adjust volume with a touch slider and adds keys for skip and replay. There’s also a new control to disable microphones. Some users have complained in the past that the buttons on Sonos speakers weren’t intuitive.
The speakers support Sonos’s own voice assistant as well as Amazon Alexa. But they won’t run Google Assistant, which is available on Sonos’s older models. Sonos said this is due to changes by Google and isn’t related to a patent lawsuit between the two companies.
On the Era 300, getting spatial audio will initially require a subscription to Amazon Music Unlimited. Apple Music support is coming later, Sonos said, while a Spotify Technology SA offering isn’t currently available.
Both models also address what Sonos said are two of the most common requests for its plug-in speakers: Bluetooth pairing with a hardware button press and the ability for Android users to enable TruePlay, a feature that analyzes the surrounding environment to optimize sound. Support for Wi-Fi 6 is also included, along with a USB-C port for connecting to an audio source.
The new models, which will come in black or white, launch on March 28. Sonos will charge $449 for the Era 300, down from the $550 price of the comparable Sonos Five. The Era 100 will cost $249, up from the $219 price of the Sonos One it will replace. The company will also sell bundles at a slight discount.
Those prices are a bit higher than what most rivals offer for smart speakers. Apple’s models cost $99 and $299, while Google charges $49 and $100. Amazon speakers range in price from $50 to $200.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.