Bose enters smart speaker market
The Bose Home Speaker 500 is designed for music applications, while the Bose Soundbar 700 and Soundbar 500 are for music and home theater. The products integrate Amazon Alexa, with other voice assistants to follow, says the company, and AirPlay 2 – for simple streaming from Apple devices – will be added in early 2019.
The new smart speaker and soundbars use the proprietary mic technology found in the company’s headsets and headphones to hear commands better over louder listening levels. In addition to Alexa, they feature built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and says the company, they deliver instant, easy access to millions of songs and tens of thousands of skills for information, entertainment, smart home control, and more.
“Voice-controlled speakers aren’t new, and there are plenty of great options to choose from,” says Doug Cunningham, category manager in the Bose Consumer Electronics Division. “But we had a different vision for ours, inspired by what we could uniquely do to make the experience better.”
“All of our new smart speakers double up on functionality. It takes just one Home Speaker 500 to deliver true stereo separation — there’s no need to pair two,” says Cunningham. “Our Soundbar 700 and 500 are thin and discreet with jaw-dropping surround sound — whether you’re streaming Spotify or watching a movie.”
The Bose Home Speaker and Soundbars each feature a custom-designed eight-microphone array precisely positioned for accurate near-field and far-field voice pickup, whether it’s quiet, noisy, or while music is playing loudly. The Bose Home Speaker 500 uses two custom drivers pointed in opposite directions and measures 8″ high x 6″ wide x 4″ deep.
The Bose Soundbar 700 measures just over 2″ high by 4″ deep and 38″ long, and features Bose PhaseGuide technology which sends multiple channels of a soundtrack or song throughout a space, placing discrete sound in places where there are no speakers. The 700 also includes Bose DSP, custom low-profile transducers, and the company’s QuietPort technology, as well as an intelligent universal remote.
The Bose Soundbar 500 measures 1.75″ high x 4″ deep and just over 31″ long. Both new soundbars use the company’s proprietary ADAPTiQ technology to acoustically adjust to their surroundings, and HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC) for compatibility with future technology.
The Home Speaker 500 will retail for $399.95, while the Soundbar 500 and Soundbar 700 will retail for $549.95 and $799.95, respectively. All the products will be available beginning in October.
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