Sonos Playbase

Compelling concepts

Product released 2017

Early in development, GRO worked closely with a small team at Sonos to create the concept for PLAYBASE following the design principles developed for the Sonos next generation project.

Inspired by the insight that up to 70% of all TVs stand on furniture and are not mounted to the wall, PLAYBASE is a thin, yet powerful home theatre speaker that sits discreetly under a TV.

PLAYBASE offers everything you’d expect from a Sonos speaker – great sound when the TV is on and music all the time when it’s off.

Real people, real feedback

We developed a number of the concepts to volume models and realistic renderings and visited real users in their homes to uncover attitudes towards performance, aesthetics and product placement.

Lose the foot

For the small number of TVs with feet that do not fit with PLAYBASE we developed a custom stand that allows the TV to float magically just above it.

Sanus, a leading TV mount company, now offers this design as the Swiveling TV base, a PLAYBASE accessory.