Why thank you, FCC. Looks like Sonos is making good on their foreshadowing survey of last spring and intends to introduce a smaller, less expensive networked speaker system.
As regulars know, we’re big fans of the dead simple yet high quality Sonos whole-home music streaming solution. And what they’re calling the Play:3 looks like it could be a solid addition to my bedroom nightstand. The Sonos S5 houses five speakers and clocks in at about 9lbs, $400. If branding is a reliable indicator of speaker count, versus model generation or something else entirely, the Play:3 might include three audio drivers. More certain would be a lighter weight and lower price tag. Also, based on the dual labels, one can assume the Play:3 will be offered in white and black finishes. Additionally, like the S5, both wired and wireless connections (via a ZoneBridge) are covered.
Now there could be detail on the unit’s actual dimensions somewhere in the FCC test reports, but it wasn’t immediately apparent and I moved on. Let us know if you have better luck deciphering the data. Of course a shipping date and price would be nice, too. But that’ll have to wait until Sonos comes clean. Not to mention I’m still pining away for Slacker support. At least we know it’s coming.
Whily any expansion is good to their product line I think this would be a heck of a lot more useful if there was a clock in it. This would definitely replace my alarm if it idid, but not it would be an additional piece so no thank you.
Yeah, a clock would be very nice. But it’s also harder to do in a way that’s universally appreciated in terms of appearance. A small neutral speaker array for the kitchen or bedroom is easier to pull off and probably more bang for their buck. But if the 3 doesn’t represent speakers, perhaps a Play:1 or Play:2 might address that need.
No doubt there is definitely a market for it, just unfortunately not for me. If you look at the straight on picture I can only see two speakers in the unit and based on the center cone not much if any room for a third speaker unless it is fairly tiny but with the quality of the pictures its hard to tell for sure if that is even the center of the cones.
If it had a display, a way to set an alarm, and a snooze bar, it’d be great for a night stand. As it is, no thank you.
Sonos sucks because of the price. i bet this thing will be $499, after you buy the ridiculous over priced proprietary wireless doohickey in order to make it work.
wait till the cheap chinese airplay alarm clocks, toasters and coffee makers are released for the full sonos pants sh*tting to happen.
There won’t be cheap airplay alarm clocks because the companies would have to pay apple to use airplay in the clock and paying apple is never cheap
You can be sure it will be a quality component based on what Sonos has already produced. Best music system/solution I ever purchased- not cheap, but definately worth the $$!
Mike, could be two speakers up front and one in back for lower frequencies. Or 3 could refer to their third type of ZonePlayer, although this would probably be 4th (powered, unpowered, S5).
Engadet read one of the docs closer than I did and noticed the device is also known as the S3….
….anyone who knows if it includes a rechargeable battery option like Pure’s radio devices…? Then I could use it in my bathroom…. nice.
Ben, apple charges a few bucks to license the audio portion of airplay. hell of a lot cheaper than the 1000 you have to spend to have a sonos alarm clock.
Dimensions are 27cm x 16cm x13cm
SONOS already features alarmclock settings. Works fine. This used as R/L setup with two units should be real nice.
Sonos is a mesh network and Wifi/Airplay is a star network. Good luck with your Wifi playback being consistent. I prefer not to have dropouts and room sync issues. The mesh network only gets stronger as you add more devices.
The mesh provides Sonos with some wireless insurance and greatly eases configuration. However, for some of us who successfully stream HD video around the house find it could be an annoying additional expense.
To those wanting an alarm clock, I highly suggest iHome’s products. They have a bunch of different devices, but I bought their top-of-the-line iA100 in December and have been very, very pleased.
It works best with iDevices (charges all, incl. iPads; has two special iApps) through AppleConnector or Bluetooth (came out before AirPlay). For everything else, there’s Bluetooth or line-in.