Recently Apple jettisoned the Home Pod. Nice piece of audio engineering and from what has been said online, really nice sound. But alas, it’s in the rearview mirror.

But I have an idea for something Apple could concoct using the HomePod that I would buy in a New York minute.

I live in a Studio apartment so I have to keep the volume down. Therefore, I use AirPodPros for Spatial Audio (aka Surround Sound, Dolby Atmos, et al.). I love the strides Apple’s made in Computational Audio. Problem is, there isn’t much in the way of low-end. This is where I believe Apple could bring back the HomePod, albeit re-engineered.

Usually, a subwoofer fires at the floor. Unacceptable in a third floor apartment or possibly a bedroom in your two-story house. But Apple’s audio engineers made some great strides, rivaling the technology of Sonos products with the release of the HomePod. So I have no reason to doubt they couldn’t make a go of such a transformation..

I propose Apple sells a surround sound bundle consisting of two HomePod Minis with Spatial Audio and a HomePod. The difference being, the HomePod would serve as your subwoofer, shooting the bass out of the sides where the woofers resided rather than down at the floor.

Now granted, this won’t touch an 8″ powered window-rattler. But remember, I live in a studio apartment where I’d like to show respect to my neighbors as I would like them to show me. But a bit more low-end (think Tom Hanks’ “Greyhound”) would flesh out the audio enough to broaden the dynamic breadth and elevate the experience a notch or two.

I know Apple deifies their margins but if they would sell me a bundle like this for $500-$600, I would experience my best New York minute snapping it up! Wouldn’t you?

Please leave me some comments on what you think of this idea. If I can get enough comments, I’ll post them in my next OpEd.

©2021 Frank Petrie