Can't a speaker just be a speaker?

Yes but what you are looking for is separates.

Ideally left and right and a center speaker paired with an AV receiver to tie it all in to the TV. The AV receiver is likely going to have some smart features but can mostly be ignored if you just don't connect it to the internet. As a bonus, it'll have better sound than a soundbar.

some subs worth looking at

• /r/hometheater/
• /r/budgetaudiophile

also worth a read

• /r/HTBuyingGuides/comments/dy885l/why_you_shouldnt_buy_a_soundbar/

Sonos Arc SL, it has no mic.

Just get the best price/value and cut off the mic haha

They still make normal receivers and speakers and this is your best option to have your own sound set up without ANY smart features. Just speakers.

Most all in one, single speakers are smart in some way, or really cheap, or the expensive ones require an account set up. IMO it makes no sense to spend $500+ on a sound bar, when for the same money you can get a full sounding speaker set up that's a lot more flexible.

I'm focused on soundbars because I've read that the center channel is better for dialogue than bookshelf speakers, but I might be mistaken in this conclusion.

You can't really go on just reading. You need to try some things, experience some things. What is fine for someone else, may be crap for you and your use case.

IMO sound bars are good in a pinch, small spaces, or tight budgets just to have something other than the TV speakers, but given a choice...at the bare min I would just build my own sound set up and just include a center channel, not JUST a center channel.

Man I wish this had more comments. This is super important to me too.

Sonos can do most of that and processes voice commands locally.

Separate smart speakers for controlling stuff and timers:

- home assistant voice that is fully local

And then networked audio players/speakers that have no microphones at all:

- IKEA has some sonoss compatible ones

- network audio player with external active or passive speakers

I've just been muting the voice response on my Echos and using the app on my tablet to trigger functions. Even then, I'm having fun making things weird by coming up with absurd titles for actions. Walk in the door -> "seggsy time," switch to plant lights only -> "check my calendar." Definitely makes drop-in spoofing your friends more interesting.

Apple HomePods if you are using Apple Music

All of them can play Audible natively. If you want to use the voice assistant (“Hey Sonos, play my audible book”) to play then you need one with a microphone. You can filter on their website for “Voice Enabled”. Sonos One, Era 100, Era 300, Move 1/2 and Roam 1/2 should all work.

You are aware that Audible is Amazon, right?

Samsungs Bixby works pretty well if you hook up an old phone to a bluetooth speaker set.

I mainly use my Honeywell Tuxedo Touch to run my own voice commands but its limited to only the set of voice commands defined. It can control bits of the house and alarm though which is what i need. and its offline only (no cloud required).

HiFi Berry and BYOS

You could build one yourself with https://jasperproject.github.io/

HomePod? Although I’m guessing by the question you don’t have an iPhone...

I feel like the logitech/ultimate ears are a privacy compromise on a different level. These speakers require you to download an app, and, as far as I know, theres no way around it. Exodus (from F-Droid) says it has 5 trackers and requires 13 permissions, one of which is access fine location.

Sure they dont have Alexa, or google assistant, but they're still onto ya.

I have an ultimate ears megaboom and really enjoy the waterproof and sound, but if I could find another speaker without an app, I would switch in a heartbeat. If you use camelcamelcamel, you can catch sales for them less than $120. Which is a decent price.

Fender makes bluetooth stereo HiFi speakers with audio jacks and no assistants.

They're not the cheapest, but the sound is really good.

I use them as a portable amp for my software ampsim when playing with friends and to listen to music around the house. They also have a high/low EQ built in.

Thirded!! SoundLink Colour II chiming in

The price premium you pay to Bose for their products is for their marketing and R&D departments - not necessarily for sound quality. Not to say they don't make good products, they certainly do, but for the price point one could find higher sound quality elsewhere. Really depends what you're looking for in a product.

In this instance the SoundLink line is a good fit for what OP is looking for.

There are marshal branded Bluetooth speakers as well. No microphone or assistant options are available. I have one and I am really impressed with both the sound and looks!

I've been using a Bose SoundLink lll for years now and it's maintained it's clarity really well.

I doubt that it can while it's playing non-static audio. And when it doesn't, it should be turned off.

Or am I wrong? Never actually looked it up, I just have this on the reasoning that I think if the membranes are producing sounds, it's moving enough that it couldn't pick up sounds, and also that at the speakers the outputted sounds volume is higher than people speaking nearby. Though these might not be very effective if the outputted sound has gaps, like between when switching music files or when you're listening for a podcast and there's a pause.
But again, this all is just speculation

I've had two wonderbooms for a couple years now, and I see glowing comments like this all the time. But both of mine struggle mightily with bass. Even while listening to podcasts or relatively midrange music, the bass notes rattle around and sound ridiculous. Is this just me? It's really annoying

I have the wonderboom 2, can confirm.

JBL makes some portable Bluetooth speakers with the option not to have google assistant. I have one and it's great

Hello u/deedeeEightyThree, please make sure you read the sub rules if you haven't already. (This is an automatic reminder left on all new posts.)

Check out the r/privacy FAQ

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

Home Assistant released a preview edition of their smart home hardware. I've got one and it works well for my purposes :)

Home WiFi printers and smart appliances including tvs. 

HomePods?

onn. FM Boombox, little over your budget at $68. But has bluetooth, FM radio built in and AUX port.

Tribit Home. $40, has all the features you are looking for. Only negative is it's plugin only.

Best I can do is ask not to be tracked or listened to, in every way that I can. One of those ways is telling my cell phone to deactivate any audio-triggered functionality. Another way is to refuse to use a device like a smart speaker.

My wife worked for several months doing QA of speech recognition data from a device like this. A significant portion of the time, the device was triggered without using its name. I don't foresee ever actually choosing to use one.

Because technically your phones/tablets/TVs can listen as well. If you actively worry about Alexa, you need to get rid of smartphones and tablets with microphones.

I have a friend who won't test a site that I made that uses geolocation api for fear of privacy. He bough Alexa.

I think the problem is that everything is collecting data these days and it is getting harder and harder to manage or do things without being spammed/tracked. Examples: 1) I tried to turn off all cookies in Chrome and many sites would not function like Gmail. I don't mean I have to login every time, Gmail literally would not load the page. 2) New Computer/Windows 10- It used to be you buy Windows or a new computer and there would be bloatware that you had to delete. Now every time there is an update with Windows 10 it adds crap back. Maybe it is simply changing the settings, but still. 3) Companyies don't respect privacy- I bough an oven from Home Depot and provided them with info to deliver and install it. They mailed me credit card offers a few months later, despite me not giving any indication that I wanted to be mailed anything.

​

It used to be much easier to manage all this, but now, depending on the situation, you may need a deep understanding of computer science and have the bandwidth to configure settings so you don't automatically get tracked. I think most people if asked, "Do you mind if we track what you listen on Spotify?" would say no, but much of the details have been abstracted away...

I'm less concerned with how Google will use my data than I am of others. They are upfront with what they will do with the data, and they have shown over time that they are good stewards of the information they collect. When was the last time Google had a data breach? Most of the above applies to Microsoft too. That said I would not put a smart speaker from Facebook, Samsung, or Comcast(any telco really) in my house.

I use the remote on my iPhone and listen with my AirPods Pro.

I forget about the headphone output on the remote. Last night I was thinking I should use earphones so I don't wake my family up. I was thinking of using my laptop. It didn't even occur to me to try the remote.

I literally just learned about this tonight. What an awesome feature.