Amazon today announced an all-new Echo smart speaker as the succesor to the very popular original Amazon Echo that kicked off the recent wave of home voice assistants. The new speaker is about half the size of the original Echo and comes in a variety of stylish exterior finishes and colors.
The 2nd-generation Echo has a 2.5 inch downward-firing woofer and 0.6” tweeter that deliver 360° omnidirectional audio. The woofer is the same size as the original Echo’s speaker and the tweeter is just slightly smaller. With Dolby processing now onboard, it will hopefully sound as good, if not better, than the original Echo.
This time around, Amazon learned from the popularity of the Echo Dot and has included a 3.5mm audio-out port on the back which can be used to connect the new Echo to external speakers. You can, of course, also connect to Bluetooth speakers wirelessly, if you prefer.
The new Echo comes in 6 different finishes to choose from. There are 3 fabric finishes, which include Charcoal, Heather Gray, and Sandstone. Those can be pre-ordered today for $99 and will be released on October 31. There are also three premium finishes which include Silver (metal), Oak (wood), and Walnut (wood). Those will run you a little more at $119.99 and will be released a week later on November 8.
$50 off three for $250, or really $150? Seems like a steal if true.
The former. An early story said 3 for $150. All subsequent reports are saying $50 off a 3-pack.
Any comment on a new Fire TV at this event?
They’re just getting to that now: https://twitter.com/rycrist/status/913105533468471297
Yay! Thanks!
$69.99 in the US for the dongle form, supports Dolby Atmos.
I thought it would be much cheaper, esp if it is using the 905 soc that cheap Chinese boxes have been using for over a year.
Looks like lot more – https://twitter.com/rycrist?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
The Amazon page labels the driver as a 2.5″ ‘subwoofer’ …Amazon and I clearly differ on our definition of subwoofing. It is hard to imagine the driver damping is going to improve with an even smaller enclosure; I would personally be more interested in an Echo XL, about as large a volume as a bookshelf speaker but with the cylindrical shape and just a 4″ woofer and 1″ tweeter…