Nest Audio May Double as Home Theater Speakers Soon

If your budget doesn’t allow for dropping hundreds of dollars on a pricey soundbar, smart devices that double as home theater speakers could offer a way to upgrade your setup on the cheap.

Google recently unveiled its newest line of Nest Audio speakers, a $100 product that offers the best sound you can get from a similarly priced smart speaker. Nest Audio speakers can already be paired for fuller sound, but it definitely seems as though Nest Audio may be gearing up for a Chromecast integration that would allow twin units to be used as home theater speakers.

Last week, hawk-eyed Redditors spotted curious language used in the meta description of the Google Store for the speakers that now appears to have been removed. According to screenshots from 9to5Google and Redditor natelar, the meta description from this link previously stated, “With Chromecast & Google TV Nest Audio becomes your home theater sound system.” And this week, a spokesperson for Google appears to have confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that Google is developing a Nest Audio and Chromecast integration.

Google did not immediately return multiple requests for comment about support for a home theater setup on Friday. But if such a feature is coming to Nest Audio speakers, it could be a game-changer for folks who want to upgrade a home theater without dropping serious cash on a fancy soundbar.

The specificity about Chromecast does raise questions about whether the feature would be limited to Google’s marquee streaming device, or whether other Android TV-powered devices, that will be updated to Google TV down the line, will also have support. It’s also unclear when we could expect to see the feature roll out to Nest Audio users. But either way, Sonos should be shaking.