Soundbars have become increasingly popular in recent years, taking over the sound responsibilities of televisions without having to place a multitude of speakers around a room for high-quality sound. They melt into the background, and good ones perform their duties with aplomb.

Now Sonos has tried to reinvent this market with the PLAYBASE, a hybrid speaker that fulfills the needs of a TV speaker and a music speaker all in one unit. Like Oppo, a company which manufactures a disc playback unit that provides a host of entertainment services, the Sonos looks to be a single-purchase broad-spectrum entertainment solution.

Available in matte white or black plastic slab, the base is a little more than two inches tall, a little over 28 inches long, and almost 15 inches wide. It almost looks like an oversized Apple Mac Mini or Apple TV.

Creating the sound is a lay-flat subwoofer and 10 internal drivers that each feature a Class-D digital amplifier. The PLAYBASE offers wireless 5.1 surround sound, making perfect full-theater surround sound in a room and offering high-quality sound for streaming music.

The PLAYBASE boasts a simple two-cord setup, with one cord supplying the power and the other an optical audio cord for connecting to the back of the television. It can support TV units that weigh up to 77 pounds; televisions up to 65 inches may be used.

Sonos offers its PLAYBASE for $699.