Maybe, but I like the design of the homepod and also the tight integration in the apple ecosystem.
I wasn't trying to talk you out of it- just point out that your originally-stated want can be met in a lot of ways with the same budget. You already have the "tight integration in the apple ecosystem" with that
TV (me too). It has the integrated connection to AM and offers Siri voice control & search. Since you are wanting these speakers to be used with your television, whether you buy these or any others, they're probably going to be positioned near the TV and thus near the
TV. You may already have HP "smarts" in another Apple product already sitting right there.
Apple themselves are NOT pushing these as home theater speakers. If that was the intent, they would because HT speakers tend to be bought in groups of 2(.1) or 5(.1) or 7(.1), etc. Certainly Apple would rather sell each person 2-5-7+ of these at a time instead of just 1 and then maybe 2 after they "just one software update" later this year to make them work as a stereo pair.
Your (original) post made it sound like you are looking for good speakers for TV watching. These are probably NOT the best for that application. An ideal TV setup is going to build right into at least a 5.1 setup (front LEFT & RIGHT as
stereo, CENTER mostly for good clean voices emanating from close to the screen, surround (slightly behind you) LEFT & RIGHT for Sports, TV show and Movie 5.1 tracks to make audio meant to sound behind you actually come from behind you. This is not that. At it's very best, it tries to fake multi-speaker sound as good as it can.
Closet marketers here are slinging around "beamforming" etc, like that is going to do such tricks such that our ears won't be able to tell the difference but I doubt any of us will be able to go to any theater soon and find they've stripped out all of their speakers all around the auditorium and replaced them with one of these down front, center, underneath the big screen... because the audience won't be able to hear a difference.
Will this sound great as a smart speaker? Probably. Apple makes great stuff and they've hung their marketing hat on "great sounding speaker" here. Early reviews from the Apple press are gushing at the sound. But is it an ideal speaker for the TV/HT application? Even Apple doesn't push it as that (and there would be a lot more money for Apple if they did).
Apple even explicitly disclaims it as a stereo speaker setup if you buy 2 right now, writing on their own site that stereo will come "later this year" with a software update.
All that written: if it's about looks of a speaker, it certainly looks like an Apple-attractive design. If "tight integration" is key, it is extraordinarily tightly integrated... so much so that any buyer had better be tightly committed to that ecosystem because that's pretty much all that the "smarts" side can access.
Yes, one can airplay everything else to it but the airplay option drops the "smarts" making it just an airplay speaker. You (and I) already have that too because we can airplay anything through our
TV to any quality of speakers we choose to feed from that
TV.
Again, none of this is meant to talk you out of (or into) making a purchase- just offering some points of consideration based upon what you say you want. The first post sounded like you wanted some great TV sound. The second post sounds like you want a HP, so you want to get more specific in wants to make HP up to the only speaker choice that can fit the requirements. Of course, buy whatever you want.
Personally, HP to me looks like up to a terrific choice for mostly
music listeners outside of anyone's home theater room: the kitchen, the garage, the spare room, a bedroom, etc. Rooms where you might not already be wired up for audio and/or rooms where some of the virtual assistant features might also be pretty handy. But it really looks like it's overwhelmingly a MUSIC speaker... and an AM (via subscription) music speaker at that.
I don't see much about it that makes me think it's a HT speaker foundation, nor get any sense that it's "just TWO software upgrades away from being able to synch into a 5.1 or 7.1 surround setup. Beamforming, shmeamforming- faux surround is not the same as the real thing. Could it be BETTER than the speakers built into a TV? Almost certainly- anything can typically beat the speakers built into TVs. But there are lots of choices for that at a budget of $349 per speaker.
is nothing different other than running a set up calibration on the Bose. Run this once and be done.
