Affordable alternatives to Sonos multi-room speakers

Building a multi-room audio setup no longer has to be expensive, even though Sonos remains the dominant player in the category. The company sells a wide range of speakers, from portable models to home theater soundbars, subwoofers and Dolby Atmos-capable units. Still, its cheapest options — the $179 Roam 2 and the $189 Era 100 SL — each have drawbacks: the Roam 2 is built for portability rather than home-filling sound, while the Era 100 SL lacks a microphone, ruling out voice assistant use.

Google Home leads the affordable picks

The recently released $99 Google Home speaker is considered the best budget alternative, costing less than half of the Era 100. It can't match Sonos on volume or sound quality, relying on a single 58mm full-range driver, but it's described as good enough for casual listening. The speaker runs on the Gemini voice assistant, works with major music services including Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music, and lets users group speakers or create a stereo pair through the Google Home app without hassle.

Other contenders

For households built around Apple devices, the HomePod mini may be a better fit, though its price rose from $99 to $129 earlier this year and it supports only a handful of music services, such as Apple Music and YouTube Music. Amazon's $119 Echo Dot Max, released less than a year ago, runs the newer Alexa+ assistant and supports many more streaming services, though its audio quality was seen as a step down from earlier Echo models in past testing.

Other brands were also considered, including Denon, Fender Audio and JBL, but their products either exceeded the $219 price ceiling set by the Era 100 or weren't well suited to seamless multi-room grouping. Selection criteria focused on price, ease of managing multiple speakers, and voice control support.