Sonos home theatre system smart speaker hinted at by FCC filing

Sonos is relatively new to the smart speaker game, having only released its Alexa-equipped Sonos One late last year, but a new FCC filing suggests that the company might be amount to revamp its home theatre speakers with a smart voice assistant. 

The filing, as reported by Variety, describes a speaker that’s equipped with an HDMI port — a connector that’s usually reserved for devices that connect to a television.

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However, what’s also interesting is that the device was initially referred to as a smart speaker, before being rebranded a home theatre speaker.

This suggests that the speaker might be similar in form to the company’s existing Playbar or Playbase, which are a soundbar and soundbase respectively, which are designed to boost a TV’s sound output while also tying into Sonos’ multi-room setup.

Interesting, even without the smarts

A Sonos home theatre speaker equipped with a voice assistant is interesting, but frankly we’re also just relieved to hear that Sonos is thinking about embracing HDMI.

The company’s two previous home theatre devices both exclusively used optical audio connectors, which is fast becoming an outdated way of connecting speakers to your TV, now that HDMI-ARC is becoming the standard.

HDMI also has a number of benefits, including giving your TV the ability to control external devices, meaning you can happily use a soundbar or soundbase without having to juggle a separate remote.

There’s no word yet on which voice assistant the new speaker might support. The Sonos One is currently an Alexa-exclusive affair, but Sonos has promised that Google Assistant will be making an appearance this year. We’d hope that any new smart speakers from the company go down this same platform-agnostic route.

We’ve contacted Sonos for comment, and will update this piece when they respond.

Would you buy a home theatre speaker with a voice assistant built in? Let us know @TrustedReviews