When it comes to new Echo speakers, Amazon rarely shows something that will appeal to customers who crave premium sound quality. The last time it did, it debuted the Echo Studio, which could handle immersive Dolby Atmos and double as a home theater speaker. At its hardware event in NYC today, Amazon unveiled an updated Echo Studio with new drivers, a new chip and an all-new design.
Amazon says the new model offers "incredible high fidelity sound" thanks to three full-range drivers and an excursion woofer for maximum bass. Like the original Studio, this speaker is designed for Dolby Atmos content, which is available across both movies and music. There's a new AZ23 Pro chip inside as well, silicon that's built to power audio features and Alexa+ on the new Studio. Amazon says the component offers advanced speech and audio processing — as well as visual processing on the new Echo Show lineup.
The company also updated the Echo Studio design, ditching the large cylinder for the more spherical shape. The blueish light ring for Alexa is now on the front instead of the top. The controls are now on the front as well, where you'll find buttons for volume and muting the microphones. Overall, the new Echo Studio is 40 percent smaller than the original and is now covered in a 3D knit fabric for acoustic transparency.
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Amazon also announced Alexa Home Theater during its reveal of the Echo Studio. This feature allows you to connect up to five Echo Studio or Echo Dot Max devices to create a more immersive sound setup. The company promises that you'll simply plug in the speakers and Alexa will handle the rest. The assistant will use OmniSense to automatically tune the speakers based on their position, the size of the room and the space's acoustic characteristics. As you might expect, Amazon plans to sell these new speakers in Alexa Home Theater bundles so you don't have to spend too much time shopping for a multi-speaker system.
The new Echo Studio is available for pre-order today for $220, and early adopters will get Alexa+ Early Access with the purchase. The new speaker will ship on October 29.
Amazon is hosting a hardware event in New York City where we expect the company to unveil new Echo, Kindle and other devices. There may also be updates to Alexa+ even though there was already a special event dedicated to the smarter assistant in February this year. Follow Engadget's Amazon event liveblog for real-time updates.