Home theater technology is becoming more accessible and more affordable, and as in-home streaming services keep getting better (and movie tickets get increasingly expensive), more people are choosing to enjoy their entertainment at home. Although there are plenty of cheap 4K smart TVs on the market today, most televisions – even high-end models – come with pretty crummy-sounding built-in speakers. Which is why a discount on a quality soundbar and smart speaker can be so tempting.
You can always go the whole nine yards and build a surround sound speaker setup to fix this, but this is not a simple task and can get expensive quickly. A more middle-of-the-road solution to upgrade your TV’s sound experience involves investing in a good soundbar. As these have grown greatly in popularity lately, there are a wealth of name-brand sound bars available today, but if you want one with unique smart speaker capabilities, similar to the Amazon Echo, then the Alexa-enabled Sonos Beam is the one – and it’s on sale right now for a short time only.
A soundbar is, basically, a two-channel speaker (combining two drivers, left and right, in a single unit) that syncs with your television and sits underneath it. Although they’re very easy to set up and have a pretty small footprint compared to a multi-speaker surround sound system, sound bars put out much deeper and more detailed sound than your TV’s built-in speakers are capable of delivering.
Sonos makes some of the best home theater equipment around, including soundbars like the Beam, which is our favorite smart soundbar. The Sonos Beam stands apart from the competition not just because of its rich, punchy sound, but also because it features built-in smart connectivity with Amazon Alexa. Alexa lets you control the Sonos Beam with voice commands, and when connected to the internet via Wi-Fi, you can even shop online, perform quick searches, check the weather, and more.
The Sonos Beam soundbar can also function as a standalone audio device. Even when you’re not watching TV or playing video games, you can access the Beam to play music, podcasts, audiobooks, and other audio entertainment from your favorite streaming services. So if you’re looking to add some oomph to your home audio setup, you’ll be happy to know that through February 3, the Alexa-enabled Sonos Beam is on sale for $50 off, bringing this smart sound bar down to just $349 on Amazon.
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