New Product showing on FCC - S15

How do you know that ?

I posted this in another thread but my money is on a design update of the PLAY:1 that incorporates a microphone array for voice control. Amazon are up to something as well. The Amazon Echo is available at a heavily discounted price of just $100 for the next few weeks. There were rumors circulating last month via Engadget of the Echo 2 with improved construction materials and acoustics.

https://www.engadget.com/2017/07/12/amazon-echo-homepod/

Could it be a collaboration with Sonos? They have been working together for over a year.

Amazon have a roadshow running through the fall showing off all that Alexa can do in the smart home. Sonos are a tour sponsor and according to the copy on the Amazon developer site "More Alexa-enabled products, smart home devices, and Alexa skills will be added and demonstrated over the course of the tour." Here's the link for more info:

https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/8e2af64c-e4f5-4358-bb27-a16a7d82cd8a/amazon-alexa-and-intel-hit-the-road-with-the-smart-life-roadshow.

I think it's going to be an interesting few months.

Echo needs to emanate sound 360° so that it can be heard anywhere in a room. The Play:1 is a hi-fi speaker, more directional, so that it sounds far better, and produces an excellent stereo image when paired. I hope Sonos doesn't make the voice-enabled Play:1 omnidirectional.

I see why the microphones are omnidirectional but don't understand your assertion that the speakers need to be too. I can hear my Play 1 just fine no matter where I am in the room.

I typically place my echo dots somewhere there are most likely to hear me. For example, my kitchen and living room is one open room, so I have the dot on the counter in the middle between the two. If the dot was against the far wall, it wouldn't hear me well when in the kitchen. If it was against the kitchen wall, it wouldn't hear me well in the living room. Getting 2 dots for each room wouldn't work well as the wrong dot would hear me (it matters sometimes). So in the middle is where the dot goes.

I would not want to place a PLAY:1 in the middle of my kitchen/living room.

Looking at it another way, speakers are almost always up against the walls of a room. However, you never see microphones up against a wall. They are always either held, attached closed to your face, or placed above near by to pick your voice. Voice Assistance are different as quality of the voice is a bit less important, but the concept is still in place.

So it's very difficult to get ideal speakers and ideal microphones in the same device/location. IMO anyway.

So it's very difficult to get ideal speakers and ideal microphones in the same device/location. IMO anyway.

Yep, which is why I'll be using Dots to control my Sonos speakers. Omnidirectional speakers aren't meant to sit near walls, and thus can't take advantage of the bass reinforcement that near-wall placement provides. They will never sound as good as proper hi-fi speakers like the Sonos line. I'm hoping this new device is just a microphone array, perhaps with Chromecast built in (to allow Google voice integration from Google Home, and casting).

In total contrast to all the current voice recognition buzz, I'd really love to finally see a Gen2 Play:3. The original model looks rather vintage by now and could certainly use an update in sound characteristics as well, compared to those of the Play:1 and Play:5.

Not long before I am put out of my misery:)

For this to be a Play 1 equivalent it would have to use about 1A, the label at FCC shows 100mA.

For this to be a Play 1 equivalent it would have to use about 1A, the label at FCC shows 100mA.

100mA sounds like a battery charger... for a very small battery.