Santa Barbara, Calif. – Beta-test software for Sonos’ wireless multiroom-audio system will eliminate the need to connect a $49 Bridge to a wireless router in the majority of homes, the company announced.
The Bridge enables Sonos’ active wireless speakers to “communicate with one another to construct a wireless mesh network” that “ensures rock-solid signal strength with no interruption, even throughout the largest homes,” the company said. The Bridge also enables multiple wireless speakers to play back in sync.
New Sonos controller software for mobile devices will in most cases “deliver all the benefits of SonosNet without a product directly connected to your router,” the company said. Nonetheless, “there are some large homes, where all players are not in the range of the Wi-Fi signal or challenging network environments [exist], that will still benefit from the Sonos Bridge, but our diagnostics and early testing show that the majority of homes will work well with the new software solution.”
Sonos will release details of its beta program in the coming weeks. The company is asking consumers to join its beta program by filling out an application.
Other wireless multiroom-audio systems don’t require users to connect a device to a wireless router. They include systems from AwoX and Pure Audio and products incorporating DTS’s Play-Fi technology or Qualcomm’s AllPlay technology.
