The opening night of the new Star Wars film. The latest Game of Thrones’ season premiere. The new Ed Sheeran album, (although that one’s debatable)… There’s not many things in life that are as eagerly anticipated as a new SONOS product.
Garnished with an assortment of industry awards, like a veritable menagerie of excellence, SONOS is not short of admirers. Even from the early days it’s been apparent the company has valued usability, performance and design in equal dollop-sized amounts. You only need to pick up one of the speakers to appreciate the solid build quality and tactile, weighty design. It’s this dedication to thorough product research & development that creates a series of speakers that give SONOS’ customers (and there are a lot of you out there) the usual high standards you can rely on.
It also means that SONOS would be the last manufacturer you’d expect to bring out a new range of speakers every year, just to keep up with the Joneses. So when SONOS bring out a new product, it really is time to roll out the red carpet.
Introducing the SONOS PLAYBASE – more than meets the eye!
As the latest generation of TVs get thinner and more advanced, the sound quality suffers in equal amounts. The wafer thin designs simply can’t accommodate the components needed to produce sound to match the picture performance. The TVs then handle the finer details of movie soundtracks with all the grace and finesse of a stomping tyrannosaurus. That’s where home cinema, soundbars and sound bases come into the equation.
The SONOS PLAYBAR is a well established, great sounding solution to improving your screen’s sound. However, like myself, many people don’t want to wall mount their TV. This can sometimes mean the PLAYBAR isn’t quite the right choice for their environment. Thankfully we have SONOS to rely on, and logic prevails. The new PLAYBASE is the ideal solution. Designed with the three core principles in mind (usability, performance & design), the sleek sound base is designed to sit underneath the TV, forming a shallow plinth to display the TV in all its glory.
The PLAYBASE is available in white or black.
Under the hood is a work of beauty. OK, I suppose it is if you take the same kind of geeky interest in bass ports, drive placement and acoustic ventilation as we do. The product design team at SONOS have managed to fit ten speaker drivers (six mid-range, three tweeters, and one woofer), powered by ten discrete Class-D amplifiers into the speaker. This all results in sound that meets the high standards you’d expect from a SONOS speaker. A simple single digital optical cable connects to your TV, and you’re away! Feeling in the mood for fully immersive surround sound? Wirelessly hook-up two PLAY:1s as your rear speakers and a SUB to handle the cinematic rumble, and you’d be forgiven for thinking you’ve got your feet up at the local movie theatre.
Close inspection on the front of the unit will reveal the SONOS logo. Fans of all forms of music will be familiar with this is logo. It means there’s far more to this sound base that meets the eye. As well as improving your TV’s sound, the PLAYBASE can also connect to your home wi-fi network and play virtually any song you would ever want to, thanks to premium streaming services, such as Spotify and Tidal, and internet radio too. It’s a two-in-one speaker solution for the modern living room: Cinematic sound when you want to immerse yourself in entertainment: A musical maestro when you want to get your groove on!
Speaker refinements are also carefully designed to give the best possible sound, no matter the size or shape of your room, or how good (or questionable) your taste in music may be. For example, Trueplay is the simple solution to tune the speaker to the acoustics of the room, no matter where you place the speaker. Adjustable bass, treble, and loudness controls are there to customise your sound preferences. Night Sound for those late night movie marathons, and a special Speech Enhancement setting keeps dialogue volume consistent, while reducing the intensity of loud sound effects.
The end product of all these fine-tuned features is a fantastic speaker designed for the modern home. Whether you’re looking to start your own multiroom system to fill the home with music, improve the sound from your flatscreen TV or projector, or do away with the wires from your surround sound set-up, the SONOS PLAYBASE could be the perfect solution.
Click to find out more about the Sonos PLAYBASE.
Author: Jake, Holborn store
