Sonos unveils the Sub Mini: Release date and pricing revealed

Rumors about the Sonos Sub Mini have been swirling for almost a year. Sonos accidentally revealed the Sub Mini’s existence in November 2021, when a mention of the speaker slipped onto a Sonos support page.

Roughly six months later, a regulatory filing for a speaker that appears to be the Sub Mini hit the FCC, while The Verge published a 3D rendering of the rumored speaker. As recently as last month, word leaked that the Sonos Sub had been delayed from its rumored fiscal Q4 2022 launch window (which ends September 30) to Q1 2023.

But Sonos has now officially taken the wraps off the Sub Mini, meaning the guesswork is over (or at least it is for this particular Sonos product).

Like the its larger sibling, the Sonos Sub, and pretty much any subwoofer, the Sonos Sub Mini is designed to bolster the low-frequency response of one or more other speakers.

For example, while the Sonos Arc soundbar has its own built-in woofers, the Arc’s bass sounds a heck of a lot deeper once it’s paired with a Sonos Sub. The Sonos Sub Mini will also be able to connect wirelessly to other Sonos speakers, just like the Sonos Sub does.

Besides serving up low-frequency effects, the Sonos Sub Mini will allow the speaker it’s paired with to focus more on mid- and high-frequency audio, ideally resulting in more full-bodied sound.

Available in white or black, the cylindrical, 14-pound Sonos Sub Mini measures 12 inches tall and 9.1 inches in diameter, making it roughly the size of a small rubbish bin (just don’t try throwing any trash into it).

Besides its cylindrical shape, the Sub Mini’s most distinctive physical feature is a thick, oval-shaped slot (or “tunnel,” as Sonos calls it) though the middle, similar to the design of the larger Sonos Sub. The slot “efficiently moves air to maximize bass,” according to Sonos.

Peek inside the slot, and you’ll see a pair of speaker drivers facing each other.

Those two inward-facing drivers are in fact a pair of 6-inch woofers, which are each powered by their own discrete class-D amplifiers.

By facing inward, the two woofers create a “force-cancelling” effect that helps to reduce buzzing, rattles, and other unwanted distortions, Sonos says.

Besides the woofers themselves, the Sonos Sub Mini boasts “advanced processing” that delivers “the full-tuned low frequencies expected from a much larger subwoofer,” Sonos claims. (Of course, the proof is in the pudding, and we’ll find out in our full review, coming soon.)

The Sonos Sub Mini also features Sonos’s famous Trueplay feature, which–with the help of the microphone on a supported iPhone or iPad–detects the acoustics of the room and adjusts the speaker’s audio accordingly.

You’ll also be able to adjust the Sub Mini’s volume level from the Sonos app.

The Sonos Sub Mini has a dual-band 2.4/5GHz Wi-Fi radio for wireless connectivity.

When used in a home theater setup, the Sub Mini will connect directly to your Sonos soundbar via 5GHz spectrum. When paired with a Sonos One or another Sonos music speaker, the Sub Mini connects to your Wi-Fi router on either the 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands, depending on the strength of the connection.

If you prefer a wired connection, the Sub Mini also has a 10/100 (or “fast”) ethernet port.

Just like the larger Sonos Sub, the Sonos Sub Mini will pair with any “amplified, non-portable Sonos products,” which would include the Sonos One, One SL, and Five speakers, as well as the Ray, Beam, and Arc soundbars.

The “non-portable” caveat rules out the battery-powered Sonos Roam and Move. The Sub Mini won’t work with the Sonos Connect or Port, either.

For its part, Sonos says the Sub Mini will pair “best” with the Sonos Beam, Ray, One, and One SL speakers, as well as Ikea’s SYMFONISK line of products.

As you probably guessed, the primary difference between the Sonos Sub Mini and the Sonos Sub is size. At 12 inches tall and 9.1 inches in diameter, the Sub Mini considerably smaller than the 15.3 x 15.8 x 6.2-inch (HxWxD) Sonos Sub.

The 14-pound Sub Mini is also much lighter than the 36.3-pound Sonos Sub, and while the Sub Mini has two round, six-inch woofers that face each other, the larger sub has a pair of elliptical, outward-facing 5 x 8-inch woofers.

Another difference is how the two Sonos subwoofers can be positioned. The larger, box-shaped Sonos Sub is designed to sit either vertically or on its side, while the cylindrical Sub Mini can only be placed vertically (understandable given its cylindrical design).

Finally, Sonos says the Sonos Sub Mini is ideal for “small” or “medium”-sized rooms, while the Sonos Sub is best for larger listening areas.

Most Sonos speakers (save for the ones without microphones) support your choice of Alexa, Google Assistant, and Sonos’s own voice assistant.

Being that it lacks a mic and is, after all, a subwoofer, the Sonos Sub Mini won’t support a built-in voice assistant, and the same is true of the larger Sonos Sub.

Back in December 2020, Sonos added the ability to use two Sonos Subs in a dual-Sub setup; the idea is less about doubling the bass than it is delivering a smoother low-frequency response throughout the room.

It’s a nifty feature, but in the Sonos ecosystem, dual-subwoofer setups are exclusive to the bigger Sub. In other words, dual Sub Mini setups are a no-go.

The Sonos Sub Mini will go on sale October 6, roughly three weeks after its official unveiling. You can pre-order the Sub Mini starting today.

Sonos speakers are many things, but “cheap” isn’t one of them, and the Sonos Sub Mini is no exception.

The Sonos Sub Mini will arrive with a $429 price tag, just $20 less than the mid-range Sonos Beam soundbar and a whopping $210 more than the Sonos One.

That said, the Sonos Sub Mini is considerably more affordable than the larger, $749 Sonos Sub.

We’re testing the Sonos Sub Mini now, so stay tuned for our full review.