Sonos’s new Amp isn’t for you—nevertheless it might spark a much-needed comeback
Abstract created by Good Solutions AI
In abstract:
- PCWorld reviews that Sonos launched the Amp Multi, an 8-channel skilled audio system designed for installers reasonably than common shoppers.
- This launch alerts CEO Tom Conrad’s technique to refocus Sonos on its audio-first roots following current struggles with app redesigns and product missteps.
- The Amp Multi handles 4 audio zones with pro-level calibration, representing Sonos’s effort to rebuild credibility by specialised audio experience.
Sonos’s first new product since 2024’s Arc Extremely soundbar has lastly arrived, however it’s not one thing you’ll ever discover in Greatest Purchase.
Slated to reach “quickly,” the Sonos Amp Multi is sort of a super-changed model of the Sonos Amp, a wi-fi system that allows you to join conventional residence audio parts like turntables, wired audio system, and different gadgets to your Sonos setup.
Whereas the $800 Sonos Amp can solely deal with a single zone of audio, the 8-channel Amp Multi can juggle as much as 4 zones, and it additionally boasts pro-level room calibration expertise plus a 2U rack mount for set up in an A/V closet.
No query, the “bespoke” Amp Multi is a severe piece of {hardware}—so severe that it’s meant just for the skilled installer market. Certainly, the standard “purchase now” button on the Sonos web site has been changed by a “discover an installer” button.
Sonos
Even when the Sonos Amp Multi isn’t for you, the arrival of the brand new—and really a lot “audio-first” — system alerts that Sonos could also be again on monitor after 15 months of turmoil.
The final massive {hardware} launch for Sonos was in October 2024, when the Arc Extremely arrived. A follow-up to the Sonos Arc, the newer soundbar packs 14 drivers, 9.1.4 channels of audio, and a particular ingredient dubbed Sound Movement, a part that permits the Arc Extremely to ship spectacular low-frequency efficiency with out a separate subwoofer.
The Arc Extremely acquired heat evaluations, in stark distinction to the drubbing Sonos endure following the disastrous reception to the revamped Sonos app in mid 2024, a debacle that left the corporate reeling and spurred the resignation of its longtime CEO Patrick Spense.
Riddled with bugs and bereft of such fundamental options as an editable music queue or help for native music sources, the redesigned Sonos app was greeted with close to common derision, with longtime Sonos customers threatening to bail on the once-acclaimed wi-fi speaker platform.
On the similar time, Sonos launched the Ace, and pair of wi-fi headphones that would join on to Sonos soundbars however lacked Wi-Fi help, a function that many keen Sonos followers had anticipated to ship with the cans. Opinions have been middling, and gross sales figures have been stated to be disappointing.
The sinking Sonos ship slowly started to proper itself with the arrival of interim—and now everlasting—CEO Tom Conrad, who oversaw the a lot wanted revisions to the brand new Sonos app whereas reportedly capturing down what might have been one more debacle for the corporate: a rumored $400 streaming video participant that may have probably seen Sonos leaping into an unfamilar and oversaturated market with a wildly overpriced system.
As a substitute, the Amp Multi reveals Sonos returning to its roots as an audio-first wi-fi speaker firm. Hopefully Sonos’s subsequent product—made for on a regular basis shoppers, one would hope—will observe the identical path.
This information story is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of one of the best good audio system.
