HomePods and surround
My real question is more of a want. I love my HomePod gen 2 stereo pair but there's something I REALLY want to be able to do with my HomePods: To be able to use the gen 2 HomePods as front speakers and the use a pair of HomePod minis as rear speakers in a more full Surround set up.
I'm really hoping that Apple makes this possible sooner rather than later because I know I'm not the only person who's wanting this to happen. there are a lot of reasons for this, one of them being that with a four speaker set up, you can achieve fuller sound in less volume (this would really help apartment dwellers who have to think about the people living above, below and on either side of them), another is that, as good as the HomePods are, they're still not convincing as a source of "rear" audio when watching 5.1, 7.1 Dolby Atmos, etc content.
This would be a very cost effective solutions to people who already own HomePod gen 2 sets...
iPhone 13 Pro, iOS 17