Sonos permanently drops the price of its Era 100 speaker and Ray soundbar

is a senior reviewer who has worked at The Verge since its founding in 2011. His coverage areas include audio (Sonos, Apple, Bose, Sony, etc.), home theater, smartphones, photography, and more. Sonos is lowering the price of two products in an effort to boost hardware sales amid a continued slump. The company’s Era 100 smart speaker and entry-level Ray soundbar now both cost $199. That’s a $50 drop for the Era 100, which launched at $249. And it’s an even more substantial $80 cut for the Ray; the soundbar was released nearly three years ago at an MSRP of $279. Both products have regularly been available for less during sales and retailer discounts, but now the price drop is permanent. (Credit to my friends in the Sonos subreddit who spotted this; I’ve now confirmed it with Sonos directly.) The Era 100 is Sonos’ mainstream home speaker and improves upon the prior Sonos One (and Play:1 before that) with stereo sound, line-in and Bluetooth audio support, plus more intuitive physical con ... Read full article.