LATEST ADDITIONS

PRICE $169 (Shadow Black or Lunar White)

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Rich, warm, sound
Impressive bass
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and AirPlay 2
IP67 water- and dust-proof
Minus
Lacks treble clarity at high volumes
Pricey for a portable speaker

THE VERDICT
If portability and sound quality are important to you, the Sonos Roam smart speaker is an outstanding choice.

When a company known for inventing the multiroom speaker announces a new fully portable model, we sit up and take notice. The new Sonos Roam ($169) is an ultra-compact, IP67 water- and dust-proof smart speaker that weighs less than one pound and links with your phone or tablet via Bluetooth 5.0. But that's not the whole story. The Roam can also connect with your home Sonos ecosystem, automatically making the switch between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi as you come and go.

Sad that your local movie megaplex—or palace—is still shuttered? Epson feels your pain, and to make things better, the company is offering a 10 percent discount on its Sound & Vision Top Pick-winning EpiqVision Ultra LS500 Laser Projection TV. The deal runs only for a limited time, so you have until June 1 to clear space in your pad for Epson’s ultra short throw projector, which comes bundled with either a 100-inch or 120-inch Epson SilverFlex Ultra ALR Mega Screen.

(Cue deep, sonorous narration.) In a world infested with giant, hungry bugs, what's left of mankind has hunkered down in underground colonies where they're safe (mostly) from being eaten alive. How this post-apocalyptic nightmare began is explained in the brief opening sequence of Love and Monsters, but in short it was mankind (as usual) that messed things up.

PRICE $179

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Inexpensive
Compact form factor
Good extension and output
Minus
Limited features
No wireless option

THE VERDICT
There’s nothing fancy about OSD Audio’s Nero TubeBass 10, but if you’re looking to get decent bass performance in smaller-size room without a paying a premium, it’s well worth a listen.

As someone who appreciates the benefit deep bass brings to music and movie soundtracks, I've come to accept that having a box the size of a small refrigerator in my living room is a reality of life I need to contend with. That box, of course, is a subwoofer, and welcoming one into your space is the deal you must strike in order to get deep bass. Some cleverly engineered models use innovative DSP-driven solutions, along with serious amplifier power, to coax extended bass from compact boxes— certain subs we've reviewed from JL Audio and KEF come to mind. And while such models definitely make a better fit with non-mancave-like interior spaces, you'll pay handsomely for the tech wizardry that brings about the bass miniaturization.