Sonos Releases The Playbar, A Sound Bar With Built-In Streaming Magic

The Playbar (or PLAYBAR, in Sonos’ inimitable all-caps style) is a nine-speaker soundbar that can be placed above or below your TV and connects to your in-home Sonos network as well as your television. The device connects to your TV or receiver via an optical cable and can also stream music through the standard Sonos system for playback of local music, Pandora, Rdio, and other music services.

The bar (or BAR) has six mid-woofers and three tweeters. It’s tuned and managed to sound good for gaming, movies, and music playback. It works with both the iOS/Android-based Sonos remote or a standard TV remote. Most interestingly, you can pair the bar with a Sonos sub-woofer or PLAY:3 speakers to create a wireless surround system.

PLAYBAR_RENDER_FINAL

In addition to the new Playbar (or pLAYBAR), Sonos has updated their app to allow one-touch access to favorite channels as well as the addition of an Android widget so you can control the Sonos right from the lock screen. The update is available now.

The Playbar (or PLayBaR) costs $699 and will be available online and in stores this month. Now all they need to make is a TV and Sonos’ march towards living room domination would be complete.