Sonos PlayBar sees Sonos enter the home cinema market
Sonos has made its first step into the home cinema market and officially unveiled its much-rumoured soundbar, the Sonos Playbar.
See also: read our Sonos Playbar review
Hoping to – in its own words – “crash the home theatre party”, the Sonos Playbar connects up to your TV via a single optical cable, offering the same simple setup that we’ve come to expect from Sonos products.
This optical connection will automatically pass all the audio from your TV to the Playbar, whether from a set-top box, Blu-ray player or games console, with the Playbar capable of understanding both Dolby Digital and stereo sound.
There are also two Ethernet ports, which can be used for hardwiring the Playbar to your router and for passing connectivity to your Smart TV, for example.
If you’re short on space, the Playbar can be used on its own to improve your TV’s sound, or alternativaly in combination with other Sonos products for a truer home cinema experience.
Add the Sonos sub unit to create a bassier 3.1 system, or the sub and two Play: 3 speakers for a standard 5.1 setup – all connected over Sonos’ wireless network.
Sonos says the Playbar will fit into most living room setups, thanks to its ability to be placed in three positions – either laid on its side under the TV or, for wall-mounted setups, on the wall above or below the screen.
This is thanks to built-in sensors that know which way the Playbar is being used, automatically adjusting the EQ and channel orientation to suit.
Take a look under the hood and you’ll find nine individually amplified speakers made up of six mid-woofers and three tweeters, which Sonos promises will add clarity to your TV’s sound, not just volume.
It also learns your TV remote’s IR signal on first use, so there’s no need for a separate controller – though its sound can also be managed via the Sonos controller on your computer, smartphone or tablet as well.
Of course, as a Sonos speaker, it can stream music from online services like Spotify and Rdio, or alternatively, tracks stored locally on your device. It can also be added to a ‘group’ with any other Sonos speakers in your house for synchronised multi-room music playing, but will automatically ‘ungroup’ itself when being used with your TV, so not to interfere with your telly watching.
The Sonos Playbar should suit any TV of 40 inches or above, measuring in at 85mm x 140mm x 900mm, and will be available on 5 March for £599.
Our full Sonos Playbar review is now online.
See all Sonos reviews on whathifi.com
Comments
Thanks Clare, yes I was aware that the app or controller can be used but I wasn't sure its very practical.
I think I have been spoilt with Viera link.
I also don't think they thought that through very well but I am still going to demo one.
I had an Arcam Solo Movie 5.1 and it was never very intuitive tbh.
Thanks again.
Many thanks Clare. That allays my primary concern. On all other fronts if it performs as well as all the other Sonos components then it will get added to my 'to-buy' list. Looking forward to the review.
@h4rdy
We're looking at a range of CYP switches/spiltters - more to come on March 5th!
Re the volume - remember, you can use the SONOS control app to adjust volume, not your TV remote, so you'll be talking to the Playbar, not the TV
@ adam_abc
SONOS has confirmed the Playbar can be firmware upgraded to support DTS. No news on if/when that upgrade will be avaiilable, but is possible.
The reason SONOS didn't make it a priority is that TVs - which it sees the vast majority of Playbars being directly attached to - typically output Dolby, not DTS.
Clare, which models are you looking at? Just so I can take a pre look at them?
I am very interested in the PlayBar but I do have a concern with using the volume buttons on my TV remote to control it as surely it will increase the volume on the TV when you increase the PlayBar volume?
I currently use a Panasonic V10 Plasma with a Pioneer AV amp which has the Viera link so thats quite nice as turning the TV volume up mutes the TV and controls the Amp.
The only way I can see this working if I pressed the Viera link button on the TV remote, which would mute the TV. But would the TV know there was no Viera link and default back to TV sound? Ill have a play tomorrow and remove the HDMI cable maybe and try.
I want to head down the HIFI road with my setup, to match my Gyrodec. I resisted with the B&W soundbar and Yamaha ones. I am glad I waited as long as the niggles I am worried about are just that, worries and not reality.
Great. Thanks Andy. Hope it covers the lack of DTS support. Reading the postings below it seems I am not the only one disappointed by this. Most blu-rays only ship with DTS audio, which means I will have to downmix my player output to 'virtual-surround' to get it to work with the playbar. While I can watch lesser quality DVDs in full DD 5.1.
Our online review of the Playbar will go live next Tuesday, March 5th.
In what monthly edition can we expect a review ? thanks.
I don't have an optical link I wonder if an RCA to Toslink converter would work. Any ideas ?
Should work fine for stereo use, yes - just need a little Analogue to Digital Converter.
We're also trying out a range of audio switchers re allowing multiple optical inputs - eg Sky box plus TV - into Playbar.
I don't have an optical link I wonder if an RCA to Toslink converter would work. Any ideas ?
I doubt there's any problem for the wireless mesh to handle DTS, it's not particularly bandwidth hungry, so that's an oversight, perhaps DTS support will be added later via a firmware update. Of course there's no TV that can output DTS so that may be the reasoning behind it.
No HDMI connection so no HD audio compatibility. Only stereo and dolby digital compatibility is listed on their website so not even DTS over optical is available! Sonos continue to shun HD audio even in the home cinema market where it's the de facto standard. This must be the wireless limitations of their network kicking in again, only this time they might find themselves even more behind the curve. Lovely design though.
Don't think my TV has a digital out. How am I going to convince the missus that we NEED a new tv as well as this play bar?
Chebby, your ship has arrived!
That just makes me surprised it isn't £700.
Err, 700 Euros is currently £602.92...
But adding rear speakers, sub and it's considerably more than devices designed for that purpose, which is why I'm interested in the review.
It's US$700 across the pond, so maybe not as cheap as we thought. Even Europe at Euro700 is cheaper than us.
It's possibly the single most requested idea on the Sonos forum, £599 is cheaper than I thought as well.
Whilst I'm a fan of Sonos, I'm not sure this will be a great option. Looking forward to the review.