As the Adele song goes,rumour has itthat Sonos is planning to break into a new segment of the market, one it has been sitting on the periphery of for the last decade. The2013 Playbarwas the first venture into home theatre, one that’s been focused solely on speakers so far.
The plan to release a set-top box would see Sonos go into contention with the likes of Roku and Amazon, but more likely it will directly rival Apple TV based on its premium positioning and pricing. Codenamed Pinewood - presumably after the iconic UK-based studios famous for James Bond and Star Wars - the box is said to be small and black, run Android, and offer voice controlaccording to a Bloomberg report. That same report details that Sonos is also planning toenter the headphones market, something that’s been rumoured for a couple of years.
The set-top box market is saturated with low-price streamers
The set-top box market is saturated with low-price streamers, with Amazon offering the Fire TV Stick from as little as $30 (although with Black Friday deals,you can currently get one from $16), and Roku offering similar devices.
But Sonos targets a more premium market segment where there’s one notable player - Apple. Once referred to by Apple as a “hobby”,Apple TV 4Kis priced from $129, pushing the provision of additional Apple services as its unique selling point. Apple TV 4K is essentially the same streaming proposition as devices half the price, but offers additional connectivity for Apple users, such as photo streaming and FaceTime calling, as well as notionally acting as aHomekit hub.
This is the market that Sonos is stepping into. With a rumoured price between $150-$200, Sonos needs to offer more than just streaming: it’s going to need to offer functionality that you don’t get elsewhere. So where can Sonos take Pinewood to make it attractive to buyers?
What will the Sonos set-top box offer?
The Sonos set-top box is said to run on Android, but is likely to be fully skinned to offer a unique user interface for Sonos users. It’s suggested that thismight be called Home Theater OSaccording to a Protocol report. It will supportSonos Voice Controlthat already exists for the company’s speakers. This will likely move it closer tothe Fire TV Cube, which offers voice control through Alexa. The important part of voice control is really around searching for content - and cross-service search will be crucial to the experience.
Bloomberg says that Sonos has held discussions with cable companies to offer live television, but it would need to support all streaming platforms to get a look-in. Built on an Android platform, adding streaming apps should be relatively simple, the key part will be around smart integration and discovery of content, while making this work not just on the TV, but via mobile devices for control too.
All of which sounds pretty standard: these are the bare minimums that Sonos will need offer to spark any interest beyond existing TV devices. What Sonos needs to do is offer something unique that elevates it beyond other solutions to leverage and complement existing Sonos devices. The option to have some other hardware controller in the centre of your Sonos setup has many advantages, like being able to provide a more visual solution when setting up Sonos speakers in a home theatre configuration. Sonos currently supports everything from 5.1 up to 7.1.4 and being able to set this up and manage it though the TV, rather than the Sonos app, would be a great advantage.
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It’s all about control
Introducing a set-top box ultimately gives Sonos more control options. Currently, the performance you get from your Sonos home theatre setup depends on something else - your TV or other streaming box provides that information. Anyone who has an AV receiver will know that it’s all too easy to have a setting wrong that means you’re only getting basic stereo, rather than the multi-channel audio you expect. Sonos could smooth all this away, because it gets control of both the incoming source and the output, rather than just working with the audio signal it’s fed.
Beyond that, Pinewood could take over complete control of speakers, perhaps cutting the TV out of the equation altogether. Rather than sending the audio via the TV, if Sonos' streamer can decouple the audio and feed it directly to its speakers, it again avoids another set of processing or passthrough - and might lead to better overall performance.
Bloomberg says that Sonos is planning a subwoofer codenamed Lotus that will be able to connect directly to the TV set-top box as well as a soundbar that will be positioned higher than theArc soundbar. Codenamed Lasso (the immersive audio inference in that codename speaks volumes), which is said to have a target price of $1200 and use technology from theMayht acquisition in 2022.
All of this points to a major shift in Sonos' focus. From a multiroom speaker company to real intent in home theatre, it looks like Sonos wants to get control of the biggest screen in your home. The long-term aim, of course, will be sell you more hardware. But that humble set-top box might be the keystone that draws you in and convinces you that Sonos is more than just a speaker company, it’s a company that you can entrust the visual side of your home entertainment to as well.
