Soundbars are becoming more and more popular nowadays and may one day be the component of choice for setting up a home theater due to its ease of integration.
Another new development comes in the form of wireless soundbars that will really make this segment take off. The new Sonos Playbar is a case in point. It could signal a transformation for the mass market who are not very particular about sound quality but more inclined towards ease of implementation. And a big factor is its asthetics – it looks great and neat under your flat screen TV, a big plus for the ‘wife approval rating’.
Sonos Playbar
The Sonos Playbar is the latest entry in Sonos’s line of streaming audio products. It is very simple to set up. All you need to do is to connect an optical TosLink cable to your TV and plug the Playbar to your power socket. Streaming music from a computer, NAS or server on your network is just as easy with an Ethernet cable or wirelessly using the optional Sonos bridge which costs an additional $50. The 35 inch-wide soundbar can lie flat at the base of any TV larger than 40 inches. Soundwise the Sonos is not a slouch either. The surprisingly wide soundstage flooded the room with music and the bass response is adequate for most parts. It can play pretty loud without distortion. At $699 it represents excellent value for money for what it can do.