SonosAmp
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Sonance's new architectural speakers are made for the Sonos Amp
Sonance and Sonos are two companies pretty well-versed in the speaker biz. Sonance has been designing visually unobtrusive architectural speakers since 1983, while Sonos paved the way for multi-room wireless home audio back in 2003. Now, the pair have teamed up to deliver premium speakers that draw on each of their specialties: the first architectural speakers that can be used with Sonos Amp. In other words, speakers that are hidden in walls, ceilings and outdoors, which can stream music and other audio from over 100 services (Spotify, Apple Music and so on), throughout multiple rooms.
Sonos pares back its desktop app as it prioritizes mobile
Sonos has given its desktop controller app a makeover, bringing it more in line with its iOS and Android apps. The update, version 9.2, includes a bunch of new features designed to make it easier and more intuitive to use, including automatic player updates -- so you can set your Sonos players to download and install new versions when you're not listening -- and support for the forthcoming Sonos Amp.
Third-party apps will soon work a lot better with Sonos devices
Sonos has partnered with plenty of software companies over the years to enhance its own offerings -- after all, if streaming music services don't want to play ball with the company, its products aren't very useful. Starting in September, the Sonos software department is about to get a lot more open. The company says that it is opening up access to the Sonos platform and releasing a new set of APIs to give third-party developers more access to Sonos control in their own apps.
Sonos Amp is an AV hub built to handle complex setups
Over the last decade, Sonos has slowly built up a reputation for making excellent speakers built for the age of streaming music. The company started in 2005 with the ZP100, a product that let buyers connect their speakers to the internet for streaming music, and pair units for multi-room audio. Sonos released an updated version, renamed the Connect Amp, shortly after, but since then the company has focused more on making its own speakers and hasn't updated the Connect Amp in years. That changes, as of today. The new, $599 Sonos Amp is a major upgrade to the old Connect Amp. At a high level, the box connects up to four speakers to the Sonos platform, which means you can stream music and other audio from over 100 services to those speakers. If you have any existing Sonos speakers, you can group them with speakers connected to the Amp. It also has line-in for CD players, turntables or other audio devices; once they're hooked up, you can stream that audio to other Sonos speakers. And you can have multiple Amps that can all talk to each other, as well.
