How to turn any speaker into an Alexa speaker

With Echo Input, any speaker can be an Alex-enabled speaker.

Alina Bradford CNET Contributor

Alina Bradford has been writing how-tos, tech articles and more for almost two decades. She currently writes for CNET's Smart Home Section, MTVNews' tech section and for Live Science's reference section. Follow her on Twitter.

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Alina Bradford

Sept. 20, 2018 12:50 p.m. PT

Introduced at Amazon's hardware event, the $35 Echo Input is the first Echo device without a speaker.

This is great news if you've always thought that Echo is awesome, but the sound quality is lacking. Now you can bring Amazon's voice assistant to your favorite speakers and combine great sound with convenience of Alexa commands.

Watch this: Amazon unveils a slew of Alexa gadgets for the smart home

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Echo Input works with just about any speaker, so long as it has a 3.5mm audio cable input or Bluetooth connectivity. Connect it to your speaker and the Echo Input's four-microphone array allows you to talk to Alexa from across the room.

With your own audio setup connected to Alexa, you can use it as your personal DJ. Taylor Martin has some great tips for using Alexa to play your favorite songs.

The Echo Input will be available later this year in the US, UK and Germany.