Pricey Sonos Playbase Speaker Doubles as TV Stand

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Looking to upgrade your home theater audio but can't decide between a full surround-sound setup and a sound bar? Enter the Sonos Playbase, a TV stand with a built-in center-channel speaker that works on its own or with a subwoofer and rear speakers.

Unveiled on Tuesday, the Playbase will start shipping in early April with a steep $699 price tag that's nevertheless in line with Sonos's other wireless home audio products, like the Playbar. Part of the reason for the high price is that the Playbase is designed to support the weight of your television while still delivering full-theater sound, which took years of development, according to Sonos.

Sonos claims that 70 percent of all TVs are resting on a piece of furniture instead of mounted on a wall. That creates an obvious problem for center-channel audio: where do you put the speaker if there's no space for it in the cabinet below the TV?

So Sonos engineers set about creating a product that was strong enough to support a TV's weight without distorting the sound. In fact, the Playbase requires some weight: if you put anything less than 5 pounds on top of the speaker, vibrations from the sound may send it flying off. The maximum weight is 77 pounds.

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As with other Sonos devices, you can control everything from the smartphone app, although the speaker itself also has capacitive touch controls for volume, skipping tracks, and playing or pausing music. Inside, there are 10 amplified speaker drivers—six midrange, three tweeters, and one woofer.

If you'd like true surround sound (well, minus the front right and left channels), the Playbase is compatible with Sonos' subwoofer and the Play:1 speakers, two of which can be used for the rear channels. Each component connects via Wi-Fi, although the Playbase also has an Ethernet port.

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