Bass to the pit of your stomach

The cinematic feeling in your living room begins with the TV and ends with the sound. Sonos now has a subwoofer in its small but powerful range.

Audio professional Sonos from the United States has created something new again. The name of the subwoofer may be misleading at first glance. The Sonos Sub has been dubbed ‘Mini’. The naming becomes understandable when you look at subwoofers from other manufacturers or compare them directly with the 16-kilogram Boomer from Sonos. By analogy with this, the Sub Mini’s dimensions are again put into perspective. However, it weighs six kilograms. With a height of 30 cm and a diameter of 23 cm, the device does not fit seamlessly into the interior. Friends of a well-groomed bass will be more than willing to compromise when it comes to aesthetic demands. But is the Sub Mini worth any discussion about?

Furniture defects. A place can be found in the test environment. As already known, the setup works only via the Sonos app and in this case only with the speaker. Caution is advised for those who wish to connect the Sub Mini to a WLAN at home and rely on a mesh network. There are increasing reports of problems that lead to the necessity of connecting to a LAN (ie directly via cable). The subwoofer is connected via smartphone directly from the app by briefly clicking on the top. This is where Sonos makes setup a breeze again. And if you set it up with an iOS device, you can also use “Trueplay”. In this way, the device is measured in the room and the sound is individually optimized.

In addition, crucial in terms of bass reflexes and perhaps also because of the optics, it is finally possible to determine whether the mini will be played in a standing or lying position. How intense or restrictive the bass can be can be set directly in the app, and levels can be set from -15 to +15; So the subwoofer can be finely tuned. But beware: with maximum preparation, you can get to know the neighbors in an apartment complex faster than you might like.

By default, the subwoofer levels are set to zero. If you want to test the qualities first hand, you should choose songs with decent bass. It is a good idea to bring “Regulate” to Warren G. or Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody for testing purposes. Sub Mini can really show that. The bass travels directly under the skin and into the pit of the stomach. This is due to the speakers installed by Sonos, whose diaphragms are 11.5 cm in diameter. To prevent the cylinder from sabotaging itself due to its own recoil forces, it was fitted opposite. As a result, the diaphragms squeeze the sound out of the layers and ensure that the casing remains completely consistent and quiet. But Sub Mini can shine not only with music, but also with movies. Adjustments can be made easily in the app.

cost point. Sub Mini will be available from October 5 for 500 euros. Judging from the fact that this only works with other Sonos speakers, it’s a nice addition but it’s pricey. For the surround system from Sonos, the cost including the sub is more than 1,400 euros. Sonos Beam and Sub come in at just under €1,000.

(“Die Presse”, print edition, 02.10.2022)