According to Spotify , 42% of all users stream their music in the home, but most make do with their smartphones or tablets rather than stream through better quality speakers. The Philips Spotify Multiroom speaker range, officially revealed earlier today, aims to change that - at a price that might make the average Sonos owner weep.
Announced during the Philips press conference here at IFA in Berlin, the flagship SW750M and slightly smaller SW700M both use Spotify Connect to stream music directly from the cloud over Wi-Fi, rather than grab them from a connected smartphone or tablet - meaning you don't have to leave your device connected in order to keep the music playing.
Although they can be used in isolation, the Spotify smartphone app can be used as a remote, choosing playlists for a particular speaker or grouping multiple speakers together for simultaneous playback throughout the house. With prices starting from €99, significantly less than a Sonos Play:1 , you could fill the average home three times over with Philips Spotify kit before you could afford a Sonos speaker in every room.
A dedicated Spotify Connect button will automatically pick up where you left off in a playlist, so you're able to go from outside with your smartphone and headphones to indoors and room-filling audio almost instantly. Because the music comes from the internet rather than your phone, a call won't interrupt playback either.
The SW750M looks to be the pick of the pair, with two 3in drivers and a pair of tweeters for the best possible mix of sound and value for money. The smaller SW700M is no slouch either, mind; it has two full-range 2in drivers with bass ports to give the low-end some extra presence.
Both speakers are expected to go on sale throughout Europe from October onwards, with the smaller SW700M set to cost €99.99 and the larger SW750M €149.99. Before tax and VAT, that could mean £80 and £120 respectively in the UK. We're hoping to give the range a full review a little closer to launch.
