Plenty of people like the idea of a wireless speaker in every room and dislike the idea of a microphone in every room. Sonos makes a version of its compact speaker for them, identical in sound and stripped of voice control, and it is discounted for all Amazon’s clients right now: you can get the Sonos Era 100 SL for $149 instead of $189.
Same Sound as the Era 100, Minus the Microphones
The difference between the two models fits in one sentence. According to Sonos, the Era 100 and the Era 100 SL share the same acoustic architecture and the same sound profile, and only the regular Era 100 has built-in microphones. Without them, the SL cannot run a voice assistant. For a bedroom, a home office where calls happen or a household that never took to talking to its speakers, I’d call that a feature. Playback is controlled from the Sonos app or from the touch controls on top.
Inside the cylinder are two tweeters angled away from each other, which is how a single small speaker manages real stereo separation, and a midwoofer for the low end. Sonos’s Trueplay system then measures the room and adjusts the tuning to it, compensating for a shelf corner or a tiled wall. Here the missing microphones have a cost: on the SL, Trueplay requires an iOS device to do the measuring, so Android-only homes go without it.
Music reaches the speaker in several ways. Wi-Fi is the main one, with streaming from services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Tidal through the Sonos app, and Apple AirPlay 2 for anyone sending audio from an iPhone or a Mac. Bluetooth is available for guests who want to play something without joining the network. Sonos also describes the speaker as line-in ready, for a turntable or another wired source, and I’d check which adapter that requires before counting on it. Setup comes down to plugging it in and following the app, a matter of minutes according to the brand.
Where Sonos differs from a basic Bluetooth speaker is in what happens when you add more. Two Era 100 SL units can be paired for wider stereo, a pair can serve as rear speakers behind a compatible Sonos soundbar for surround sound in films and games, and speakers in different rooms play in sync. Sonos pitches it as a first speaker or a fifth, and that is fair: it works alone on a kitchen counter, and it is also a simple way to extend a system you already own into one more room. The SL is humidity resistant, which makes a bathroom shelf a reasonable spot, and Sonos notes the use of recycled materials in its construction. Amazon buyers give it 4.5 out of 5, based on 387 ratings.
Prime membership is not required here: the Sonos Era 100 SL costs $149 on Amazon against a list price of $189, in black or white. This is the price of a single speaker, with a pack of two sold on the same page, and returns are free.