Sonos' secret mini-sub sounds the perfect partner for its cheap Sonos Ray soundbar

As much as we love the Sonos Sub pictured above, we've been excited by the rumoured smaller, cheaper Sonos Mini Sub we first heard about last year – because of course not everybody can or wants to drop £600/$749 on a subwoofer. 

So it's great to see a leak outing the Sonos Mini Sub, and it looks like it'll be the perfect partner for Sonos's more affordable soundbar, the Sonos Ray. That's £279 / $279 / AU$399, and we'd expect the Sonos Sub Mini to be similarly priced in relation to it. That means you may be able to get one of the best soundbars and subwoofer pairs for around what you'd pay for a single Sonos Sub.

In our Sonos Sub review we praised it as a superb upgrade but balked at the price, which even back in 2012 was awfully steep compared to rivals. It's not the only firm making very expensive subs – Bose's Bass Module 700 is even more expensive at £699 – but Bose also makes a more affordable model, the £449.95 Bass Module 500.

Sonos Sub Mini: what to expect

Sonos's own accidental leak told us that the new sub would be called the Sonos Sub Mini, and it's going to be smaller and very different to the Sonos Sub. The Verge has seen images of the final product,  and reports that it's a smallish cylindrical design with a large pill-shaped cutout that echoes the larger Sub's rectangular one. We don't know the size or other specs yet, but it's likely to have similar internals to its larger sibling, albeit with smaller and less powerful components. 

I think this is great news for Sonos soundbar owners or prospective owners, because the difference a subwoofer makes to the sound of any home entertainment kit is incredible. It's particularly incredible with soundbars, whose slimline cases limit the size of drivers they contain. When I added a Yamaha sub to my Sony AV receiver it was like discovering a new colour. 

We don't know the release date for the Sonos Sub Mini yet, but it appears to be one of the new products Sonos promised to release in this financial year. Sonos's financial year runs until September so the launch should be reasonably soon.