Amazon Echo Sub: what we know so far

Amazon Echo Sub

If you’ve been digging your Amazon Echo or Amazon Echo Plus speaker for all of its smarts, but find the audio to be lacking, Amazon has a new thing to sell you: the Amazon Echo Sub. This is a subwoofer attachment that enhances the audio of existing Echo and Echo Plus speakers.

Amazon just announced the Echo Sub during a surprise September 20 announcement event in its Seattle headquarters. The device works with existing Echo and Echo Plus speakers wirelessly for either a 1.1 improvement with a single speaker or with two speakers wirelessly, amplifying both of their audio and turning it into a 2.1 setup.

This is a relatively new concept for smart speaker owners, so we’ve broken down all of the major details regarding Amazon Echo Sub, namely when it’s out, how much it costs and just what in the world it does.

Cut to the chase

  • What is it? A subwoofer for Amazon Echo and Echo Plus
  • When is it out? October 11 (pre-orders open now)
  • What will it cost? $129 (£119 / AU$199)

Amazon Echo Sub

Amazon Echo Sub release date

Everyone is open to begin pre-ordering the Echo Sub starting today at the time of writing. However, the product doesn’t begin shipping in the US and Australia until later this month, and won't be generally available on October 11.

We'll update this story once we learn more regarding UK pre-order and shipping details.

Regardless, expect to see these in friends and family members' homes – assuming it sells well – by the end of the month or early October. It's sure to be a staple of this year's Black Friday deals.

Amazon Echo Sub price

The Amazon Echo Sub calls for $129 in the US and £119 in the UK, while it carries a price tag of $199 in Australia.

This is a surprisingly steep price for a device that simply amplifies the audio power of existing Echo speakers. We'll have to see by just how much this product boosts audio in a full review.

Amazon Echo Sub features

The Amazon Echo Sub doesn't have a ton of specific features to speak of. Most importantly, this is a 100W subwoofer with wireless communication capabilities.

This allows the Sub to receive audio data from the Echo speakers that would otherwise pump out of those speakers' built-in woofers. The result should be far more powerful bass response from the Echo speakers when playing music.

Joe Osborne

Joe Osborne is the Senior Technology Editor at Insider Inc. His role is to leads the technology coverage team for the Business Insider Shopping team, facilitating expert reviews, comprehensive buying guides, snap deals news and more. Previously, Joe was TechRadar's US computing editor, leading reviews of everything from gaming PCs to internal components and accessories. In his spare time, Joe is a renowned Dungeons and Dragons dungeon master – and arguably the nicest man in tech.