Enlarge / The second-generation Sonos Beam launched last year. It’s a bit bigger than its rumored cheaper cousin.
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Sonos smart speakers are known for their ease of use and sound quality, not their affordability. That’s especially true for Sonos’ home theater products, like the soundbar, which is only aimed at the midrange and high-end market.
According to a recent report from The Verge, that’s about to change. The site claims to have seen photos and information about a new soundbar codenamed Sonos Fury, which is model number S36. The new soundbar will reportedly retail for $249.
Of course, there are cheaper competition from other brands, but this will be Sonos’ cheapest soundbar — the Beam retails for $449 and the Arc for $899.
The Fury (probably not the final name) is reportedly set to release on June 7, and like many of Sonos’ other products, it will be available in black or white.
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It will be smaller than the second-generation Sonos Beam at 550×69×100 mm. (The Beam measures 651 x 68.6 x 100 mm.) It will lack some features found in Arc or Beam—most notably, no Dolby Atmos support, and only an optical audio port instead of an eARC-ready HDMI port . It will also lack built-in microphone and voice assistant support.
On the other hand, Sonos seems to want the product to be more flexible in some ways than Beam or Arc. The Beam and Arc are designed to be used only as a soundbar under the TV, and the Fury could do the same, but The Verge claims the soundbar will also be used as a rear speaker next to the Arc. In this case, the Fury will be positioned vertically, which will likely provide a more immersive surround sound than the Sonos One.
Home theater looks set to be a major focus for Sonos, which has historically focused more on music playback than TV, movie or video game audio. A few weeks ago, Sonos posted several job listings that mentioned plans to develop a “home theater operating system” for future living room products.
