Amazon Alexa amplifier, receiver, subwoofer

I’ve been using Alexa in the car via the Roav Viva for a while now. I can ask it to play on any home Echo or Sonos from the car now, not that there’s a compelling use case for this. Turning on house lights, unlocking doors, etc from the driveway, however, yes.

There is a compelling case if you want to cast what you're currently listening to speakers in your home as your pulling into the driveway. Particularly if it's triggered by geofencing or connecting to the home wifi network.

What are the chances that the Echo Connect and Amp are licensed from Sonos? If that's not the case, can we finally get the promised Google home integration now that Amazon is invading your turf?

I hate Alexa but Sonos' lack of Google Home integration is the only reason I still use it.

What are the chances that the Echo Connect and Amp are licensed from Sonos?

Since Sonos invented and patented just about everything having to do with multi room WiFi audio, chances are high that Amazon and plenty of others are having to pay licensing fees to Sonos, or some other form of compensation.

The Amp looks pretty decent. $300, analog, coax and optical inputs, sub out, 60WPC. Good enough, with quality speakers, to satisfy a lot of music lovers. What do you think, Kumar? A pair of Harbeths with this? They don’t need huge power to sound great.
Yes but...
For one thing, I am no longer a big Harbeth fan, from a value for money perspective. The all built in UK tag is used to justify over the top premium pricing for a product , passive speaker, where obtaining long service life can be done just as well at lower price points. As can pretty close to equivalent sound quality be achieved for a lot less, because at the end of the day, it is just a well engineered passive speaker. It isn't an ESL...
I haven't seen the Amazon amp details, but I would not go for it if it has a built in smart front end; what happens when this tech evolves to a better place in a couple of years? Get a new amp? Better to not pay for the built in front end, and get a third party amp instead that will work with Amazon standalone front ends that are cheaper. Third party because there would then be nothing special about the Amazon amp. I would consider the best amp+speaker combination one can afford, assuming a 10+ year service life from it so that no corners need be cut on sound quality. Or even quality active speakers from someone like Dynaudio. And then marry them to a throwaway front end from either Amazon or Google.
On the other hand, Sonos must be looking at all of this with concern. For someone that knows little of Amazon or Sonos with respect to difference between the two offerings, Amazon starts to look compelling.

For a throwaway front end it is going to be hard to beat the new "Echo Input". Full price is $35 so I wonder what it will go for on Black Friday?

If I use an Echo Input for $35 plus an OSD XMP 100 amplifier for $100 and some existing speakers for $0 I can have a pretty decent sounding multi-room system for $135 per room with full Alexa features like phone calls that an "Alexa Enabled" product can't do. Depending on the legacy speakers I have around it might in fact sound quite a bit better than just decent.

That is also a good approach; at USD 100-150, even a 4-5 year service life for the amp is acceptable, IMO. So if it fails and after sales isn't possible, just replace it. Get the best passive speakers that are easily driven by normal power amps, and those will last for decades without service. Going the active speaker route, one has a choice between cheap but good pro monitor type of speakers or better looking but expensive ones like Dynaudio.

That is also a good approach; at USD 100-150, even a 4-5 year service life for the amp is acceptable, IMO. So if it fails and after sales isn't possible, just replace it. Get the best passive speakers that are easily driven by normal power amps, and those will last for decades without service. Going the active speaker route, one has a choice between cheap but good pro monitor type of speakers or better looking but expensive ones like Dynaudio.

A possibly useful new Alexa feature that is announced: It will soon be able to understand when a person is whispering and will reply in a whisper.
Will Sonos One/Beam get this automatically, or will it take an extra 10 months?

If Sonos ever kills off my Connect:Amp and Connect, the Link with my old QUAD 405-2 would be a nice combo with the ESL-63s. Built like a tank.

Would someone today desiring to make those already awesome caps smart, add a Connect or the Link? Or a Spot - Why the Link, leave alone the Connect, when the Spot is there with always visible artwork?