LIVE @ ISE 2026 - Sonos Amp Multi - So Many Speakers, So Little Rack Space

Big systems don’t have to mean big headaches. From the floor at ISE 2026, we sit down with Stephen Rhead to reveal how AMP Multi rethinks distributed audio for custom installers, bringing true flexibility, cleaner racks, and smarter control to projects that span from a single living room to sprawling multi‑zone estates. If you’ve ever juggled legacy ZP stacks or wrestled with fixed channel maps, this conversation shows a better way.

We dig into the heart of AMP Multi: assignable speaker ports mapped to named rooms, so clients see only the spaces they use while you keep the topology tidy. Stephen explains the pro portal for deeper EQ and remote tuning, GaN‑based cooling that eliminates noisy fans, and a lean 7.5‑watt idle draw with Wi‑Fi off that’s friendly to dense racks and energy bills. We cover real‑world specs—125 watts per channel at 8 ohms, dynamic 2‑ohm support with Sonos by Sonance in‑ceiling speakers, and a flexible sub‑out that plays well with third‑party amps or Sonos Sub Four for consistent low‑end across rooms. The result is scale without clutter, power without heat, and a sound profile that’s richer than the beloved Sonos AMP.

Beyond the amp, we introduce the new junction box for Eero 100 Pro: a multi‑country back box designed for APAC, the Americas, and the UK, paired with CAD drawings to streamline coordination. The paintable faceplate keeps designers happy—match walls, go black to pair with speakers, or dial in custom finishes—while availability targets early summer to align with AMP Multi planning. We also touch on sustainability: recycled plastics and fully recyclable packaging that flat‑packs cleanly, giving integrators and clients solid green credentials without sacrificing performance.

Whether you’re upgrading racks, standardising a portfolio, or future‑proofing for growth, this episode gives you the practical details you need—installer‑first control, energy efficiency, remote serviceability, and a clearer path from legacy hardware to a single, elegant unit. Hit follow, share this with your install team, and leave a quick review telling us the one feature that would save you the most time on your next project.

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Transcript

Welcome At ISE And Demo Invite

SPEAKER_00 0:23

We're here with uh Stephen Reed at IC2026. Stephen, we had uh an exclusive uh video of the new AMP 5. You got them the AMP multi. Fantastic. Can you tell us a bit more about this? Yes, of course, absolutely it is. Uh and what it was great to meet Stuart the other day and given that first glance at this product. Here we have it in a blown-up version made specifically for this show. Here we are at ISC 2026 on stand 1E500 in hall one. So do come and see us. Don't miss out on this amazing demonstration we have in our booth over there, which is doing a full automated demonstration of AMP multi. Um, AMP multi is an exclusive product for our installers. You have to be an installer. Um CI only. CI only. It is CI only, what we call pro, but absolutely CI only. It has to be installed by an installer. So even if there's a DI wire out there, sorry, it has to be bought from an installer, you'll have to pay to get it installed. But the professional the professional would do that for you. Absolutely, and then you've got back up, and lots of reasons for that. Yeah, um we call it AMP multi because it can do multiple things. If it's not a multi-room app, it can be many other things. It can be one room, it can be two rooms, it could be three rooms, it can be four rooms. You assign whichever speaker port you want to whatever room you want. You can run a huge number of speakers off these beasts. Um if you have 32 of these in a rack, you can run over 750 speakers using Sonos by Sonat speakers, that is. So these can be daisy chained, is that from what you're saying just there? No, no, no. What happens is you assign the port in the app. So when you set it up in the app, it'll show you there probably. When you set it up in the app, you say that you want it, name it, whatever living room, and you want to assign port one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, whatever menu you want to that room. Right, okay. When the client then uses the Sonos app, he just sees the room. He doesn't know how many speakers he's got, he just sees the room. Um, and then as an installer, you get access to an online portal, which you log into, and you can then really play with the EQ settings on it. So we've really thought about the installer in this product. So Sonos has been around for a number of years. Yeah, we all love Sonos and what it can achieve. What was the idea behind this? More for doing more. No, no, it's yes, absolutely. It was we've done more research for this product than we have done for anything we've ever done really well. And almost since the day we launched AMP, which was in late 2018, um there's been a demand for a multi-room amp. But we're Sonos. We're never just gonna make a multi-room amp. It always has to be a little bit different, it'd be a bit clever, and so we have to push the boundaries. This product's been in development for a number of years, but we've been doing full research with installers during that period. What do they want? What do they want it to do? What does it need to be? What doesn't it need to be? Um, and what we heard was that they wanted a multi-room amp that could be very, very efficient at doing many, many different things that would stream across multiple rooms. That's what they wanted, and that's what we've made. Also, all in one box, because uh this I think for me personally and and and other uh pros out there is upgrading your old ZPs, for instance. Yes, having one of these instead of four separate. I mean, what what a difference there is from having white ZP 120s in a rack to having one of these in a rack. Didn't we love those? Yeah, we've still got clients who've still got them and still still go in. And they still work. I do still work. Upgrade to S2 as well. Which is better. Anyway, um, so yeah, and it only uses seven and a half watts of power in idle when Wi-Fi is turned off. So again, it's much more efficient than AMP is today. Um uh it's got GAN technology, so it stays very cool, which means you haven't got fans inside it, which means it's quite light, which means you can rack mount it one-handed. Um, which means it's it's a it's a dream to install. No more trying to attach little ears to the side of something and then that thing's bending with that coming. With one hand. The the accessory of uh the rack mounting makes it very, very easy. Just four screws into the base of the speaker, the base of the amp, and then your chosen screws to screw it into your rack, you can virtually do it one-handed. So better for the environment as well, which also is very better. Very much so, and we use well, I think we use 35-45% of reused plastics in this as well. So it's it's it's a it's it's as green as you can make, and then of course, all our packaging is always recyclable. So we can you can flat pack the boxes, that everything in our boxes can be recycled. That's across our whole products. All we make, yeah, even the bags that the soundbars come in can all be recycled, but but it means that it has quite good green credentials, even though it's an electronic, which is very important in this day and age. What uh kind of power handling are we looking at? So yeah, 125 per channel. So per channel, well, so same as an amp, but it's 125 per channel. Um at eight ohms, 225 um it's pretty impressive from one box. It is, and then it can do two ohms dynamically when you use Sonos by Sonamps in ceiling speakers. Can you tell me a little bit more about the sub-out that you have on there? Um, there's one sub-out, which you can assign to one room, and maybe you've got one room being powered by one of these, but then of course you can connect up to four Sonos amps to it as well. So you could, yes, you could use a third-party amp using the sub-out, or you could use our own sub fours uh in every room. Yeah, so you've got the sub four, so you can't do that as well. So if you have another sub using the sub out, and then you'll want a sub exactly that and get a really nice uh sounding little system. It is, no, it is, and it and it's got sonar sound, so it's developed to have that sonor sound. And it it's that we have got a demo here, so do come and listen to it. You'll be surprised at how good it sounds. You know, it's even better than an AMP sounds. Um AMP is very, very good, and you all love AMP, and it's it's the most popular streaming box in the world. Um, however, this has got an even richer sound than thanks. When can we expect this product out? So we will announce a GA in the next few weeks. Um uh that will be in the next few months, um, but we'll certainly announce that GA date in the next few weeks. So a quarter further on down the line. A little bit further on the line. We're not talking about next year. No. Um, but uh but and once we've got that GA, we've just got a few more tests to do. Um, as you don't want to get it when it's not completed and it's testing. It's gonna be perfect. So we've got two more tests to do. As soon as those tests have passed by, we'll then release a GA date for it. Fantastic. Well, we look forward to uh uh hearing it at the demo facility that you've got here at ISE, and uh we look forward to when the product comes out. Perfect. Thanks for watching. Steven, thanks so much for your time. No, no trouble, take care. Take care, cheers, bye. We're back here with Stephen at uh ISE 2026. And Stephen, you've got some uh another product to show us, but part of the pro range. So following on from the amplifier that you've showed us earlier, this obviously will help the pro industry a little bit more. Exactly that. And and you know it's now it's now coming up to a year since we launched Eero 100 Pro. Oh, yeah, well, um, and do look out for the case studies that you'll see in Essential Install and other magazines and online. Um very successful product for us in the UK, now being seen in many, many commercial premises. But we did hear that we needed something else for it. So you do listen. So here is the junction box for Eero 100 Pro. Okay, well. Um, this is a multi-uh country box, so it can work in APAC, it can work in America's, it can work in the UK. That's really handy because a lot of times, especially in the UK, we we get back boxes and fits and it's a bit it's a bit tricky for us UK installers. So there will be CAD drawings available for it as well, and we do CAD drawings for all our pro products. So if you can't access those, do talk to your chosen distributor who can access them for you. Perfect. Um, and this is available, but this was announced just after we announced AMP multi and will come to market in the summer. So that's uh uh obviously a dedicated junction box. And that then you can easily yes, and this is the face. The face flake is in white, but it could be painted in any colour. Okay, so it could be any colour you wanted it to do, whether it's the wall colour or it can be black to match the black speaker, whatever you want to do, it's can it can be spray painted or painted. I was about to say spray painted to match what the colour that the client's chosen so I see, and again, something that was asked for. I mean, especially when uh say pro dealers do ask for something, it just shows that you guys do listen and you try to adapt something for us to use in the market, and obviously that's uh it pays off, and this is what you've got. Precisely clear and that's it. You know, when you come to our booth here at ISC, we have many of our pro product managers here just to show that we're not just a commercial team. No, we do have product people who have been in the professional industry for many, many, many years designing the right products for the installer. And when can we expect this? Is it available now? Well, available imminently. Uh, this is this isn't like the other one. This one announced. I think this is coming sort of early summer. Early summer. Well, we'll look out for that and uh yeah, look forward to installing it. Good, excellent. Stephen, thanks again for your take. Take care. Thanks a lot. Bye.