Speaker of the house: Event brings you the best smart home speakers
We’ve taken a meaningful vote on the best smart sound systems for the home – so you know just which ones to Order! Order!
Best for the kitchen: JBL Link View £179
Ask this Google Home gadget ‘OK Google, find me a video recipe for spag bol’ and it obligingly plays instructions on screen. You can also pair it with other smart home gadgets, such as the Nest video doorbell, so callers appear on the display. It’s got a beefy sound, too
Best for very smart homes: Google Home Mini £49
This puck-shaped device has a horrible little speaker, but if you’re just looking to voice-control smart lights, heating and cameras, it does the job perfectly. Also works well as a kitchen timer
Best outdoor speaker: JBL Link 20 £149
Voice-control speakers make perfect bathroom companions (you don’t need to dry your hands to fiddle with the volume, or fear death by electrocution). This Google Home speaker is certified for immersion in up to three feet of water, and is also portable so you can take it to the garden
Best for bass: Bose Home Speaker 500 £400
Typically, Bose’s speaker is a polished performer, with stunning bass and an eight-microphone array allowing the device to hear commands even when it’s turned up to 11. Also typically for Bose, it’s mind-bogglingly expensive
Best for the bedside: Amazon Echo Spot £119
There’s something enormously satisfying about telling an alarm clock ‘Be quiet!’ and it falling silent. Amazon’s bedside model is armed with a tiny screen, which offers news headlines and calendar updates. It can even read out your Kindle books (in a slightly creepy voice)
Best all-rounder: Sonos One £199
If you’re looking to use a smart speaker as a music system, it’s best to stick to proper hi-fi companies. Multi-room audio veteran Sonos has added Alexa to its sterling Play One speaker, and it sounds fantastic
Best for sound: Apple Homepod £319
Apple’s offering is a bit short on the ‘smart’ part of the smart-speaker equation – Siri is less of a conversationalist than either Google or Alexa. The sound is sparkling, but you’re restricted to using Apple Music via your voice commands, and (of course) it works best with iPhone devices, not Android
Best with your TV: Polk Command Bar £230
Finally, a solution to the age-old problem of remote controls stuck behind the sofa: a TV sound system you can talk to via Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. And if you plug an Amazon Fire Stick in the back, you can control what’s on TV, too