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Interesting tease here:



https://www.engadget.com/2019/08/08/sonos-fall-event-IFA-2019/



Seems odd that no FCC popups have occurred yet, but I'm not one to be looking for those kinds of things, I count on others in our community for that 🙂
Ooooh shiny!
https://fccid.io/SBVRM017
Oh, 42 mW bluetooth seems like news to me.
Oh, 42 mW bluetooth seems like news to me.





The One Gen 2 also has Bluetooth. It's only used for initial setup, I imagine any new device will be the same.


The One Gen 2 also has Bluetooth. It's only used for initial setup, I imagine any new device will be the same.



But those devices only has <1mW Bluetooth, meaning BLE? Can't find the fcc filing for gen2, only the other BT devices
Yea, I'm pretty sure that's BLE, used merely for initial setup. As jgatie said.
They seem to have filed two devices, https://fccid.io/SBVRM023 which explicitly states "With BLE"
Yea, I'm pretty sure that's BLE, used merely for initial setup. As jgatie said.



It even has two separate test reports, one for BLE and one for BT.
Fascinating.



That would be a pretty significant turn around for Sonos.
Fascinating.



That would be a pretty significant turn around for Sonos.



Could it be for the Sonos headphones we’ve heard so much about? BT would make sense there...



Actually, any old BT headphone would work if Sonos integrates a BT transmitter. Dunno.
Interesting thought.



Some sort of "base station" for the headphones to connect to.



But if that's the case, I suspect the number of "but they support it for their headphones, why can't I use it for the speakers" post that we deal with to rise significantly.



Should be interesting, either way. I'm looking forward to it 🙂
https://zatznotfunny.com/2019-08/sonos-bluetooth/



https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/8/9/20799127/sonos-connect-refresh-fcc-filing-speakers



https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/9/20799366/sonos-bluetooth-portable-speaker-model-s17
A portable speaker would be great! Could maybe be used as wireless rear surrounds to playbar/beam too?
I don't think any of us know at this point...but I'd have to wonder how long the "battery" would last.



I've never had any trouble finding power for my my PLAY:1s. I'm just delighted not to have to run speaker cables around the whole room.



We'll probably get an announcement from Sonos in the "Announcements" area shortly after the press conference.
Interestingly, the picture I saw on The Verge's website implies that the device is in either Sonos mode, or Bluetooth mode. I would infer from that concept that you're not going to be able to "group" other speakers with the Bluetooth input....it will act just like any other Bluetooth speaker, and not provide a new input to the Sonos ecosystem.



Just a guess at this point, though.
If it works as line in does, it could receive in BT mode and still send the music to other Sonos speakers grouped with it.

Another guess.
The “button” on the back leads me to think that it won’t. Otherwise, why have the button?
i.e if it acts the same as AirPlay 2, what would be the purpose of a physical button? Wouldn’t it just be something in software?



I don’t know 😉
Heh. I should think things out more. Maybe it’s due to the fact that there’s an energy cost of searching for a WiFi signal? By switching it to Bluetooth mode, you’d be turning on the Bluetooth receiver, and powering off the search for a WiFi signal, which would suggest it can’t be used to “group” with other Sonos devices in that mode....so maybe in Bluetooth mode, it can’t be in stereo, just in mono?



How many days do we have left to speculate, and argue? 😉
The Verge has always been a pretty reliable source on new Sonos products. They updated their article with some interesting additional points.




  • When in Bluetooth mode, the speaker cannot be controlled with the Sonos app. It behaves like any other Bluetooth speaker. You pair a device and play.
  • In regular Wi-Fi mode, the speaker appears like any other Sonos device in the app — but with a battery indicator.



  • When in Bluetooth mode, the speaker cannot be controlled with the Sonos app. It behaves like any other Bluetooth speaker. You pair a device and play.


But if the target speaker has been grouped with other Sonos speakers, won't all play? In Line In also the speaker can't be controlled via the Sonos app, but does this.

Idle speculation, time will tell.
I read it as 'either this or that' and this seems to be the most logical and cost effective way to implement.
Yea, based on that, I don't see Bluetooth as an input to the Sonos ecosystem, just a way to use the Sonos speaker as a standalone speaker outside of your local LAN. So you can have the quality of the speaker at the beach, but no "multi-room" functionality. If it was meant to be part of the Sonos ecosystem, you'd have the input and control in the Sonos controller as part of the software. I think.



But yes, idle speculation at this point 🙂
Which makes sense, actually (to me...). Without wifi available, how would your controller connect to the system? How would speaker 1 communicate R/L data to speaker 2, or speakers 3, 4 and 5? Aren't these the reasons why Bluetooth has never been a multi-room streaming solution anyway?



I'll be fascinated to see how much battery time there is available...and if it's a replaceable battery. Interesting that you can recharge it (apparently) with USB-C, which already exists as a cable in my car 🙂
That's most likely due to the fact that USB-C, as a first in any USB protocol versions, supports up to 100 watts and 20 volts of constant power delivery. Should be plenty to provide the required volume levels for outside activities.



Indeed, it all comes down to battery capacity with this one. So what's the average runtime of any other odd BT player nowadays? I'm hilariously ignorant towards anything BT-related ... mea culpa. 😏
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