“We got an understanding of how much power was desired for different types of speakers. Fast forward a bit, and the company returned with paper prototypes for another round of evaluation and constructive criticism before settling on the Amp’s final design. Sonos sought out direct input on the Amp’s design from installers and dealersĪs it began approaching development of the Amp, Sonos surveyed 400 of its dealers and integrators, got responses from around 100, and based early concepts of the Amp around that feedback. The Amp opens up even more lucrative bundle possibilities for Sonos and the many businesses that are part of the installed solutions channel. It’s a worthwhile business effort - especially when you remember that Sonos and its partners are increasingly trying to sell bundles of multiple speakers to people with cash burning a hole in their pocket. Because then it’s a central fixture that stays there for who knows how long. The goal is for the Amp to take the Connect:Amp’s place in the brain of a connected home. Photo by James Bareham / The Vergeįor Sonos, catering to these integrators can result in their clients purchasing thousands of dollars worth of the company’s products and spending years locked into the Sonos ecosystem. Sonos Connect devices are commonly seen in home A/V racks, but they’re not optimized for that environment.
How to install sonos speakers series#
Our Home of the Future series sheds some light on the complexity of all this. They hide the wires and tuck all the necessary components into a neatly-organized rack. And then they bring order to everything so that it works under one unified system - from the likes of Crestron or Control4 - to make tech as convenient as possible for a client. These folks undertake the challenge of outfitting every room with the best entertainment and music options money can buy. The Connect:Amp became an essential piece of kit for people who make a career out of upgrading homes to be smarter and more automated. But by and large, it’s going to be a powerful hub for high end audio dealers, installers, and integrators. There will certainly be consumers who immediately go out and buy the Amp. It’s designed to tie the high-end, wired speakers you already own into the Sonos ecosystem, seamlessly joining them with the Play:5, Sonos One, Sonos Beam, Playbase, Playbar, and other Sonos hardware for multi-room audio playback.Įarly prototypes of the Sonos Amp looked much different than the finished product.
The Amp shares the same primary purpose as its predecessor. And if we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it for a long time.” Sonos views the Amp as the modern descendant of the ZP100, which was one of the first products that the company ever released it shipped all the way back in 2005. “We’re being thoughtful about what we add to the platform and when. He was kicking off a press gathering at the company’s Boston office and engineering lab last week. “Sometimes customers and our channel partners don’t think that we’re listening to the feedback that we get, but we are,” said Sonos CEO Patrick Spence. It ships globally to consumers in February, but home installation specialists in the US and Canada will be able to get it a couple months early starting on December 1st. From top to bottom, that’s who and what the Amp has been built for. Having finished its recent, consumer-focused launches of the Sonos One and Sonos Beam, Sonos is now turning its attention to what it calls the installed solutions channel. But it’s also a device that a lot of typical consumers are unlikely to ever buy. In some ways, the new $600 Sonos Amp - like the decade-old Connect:Amp it’s going to replace - is one of the company’s most vital products.