At first, Canvas just seems like a large and colorful OLED stand. It sits flush against the TV, giving it a more seamless look than a separate soundbar. The faceplate is removable, allowing you to change up the colors to match your furniture. There's also a small nook inside the cabinet to hold a set-top box. You'll need a separate piece of furniture to hold the rest of your home theater devices, as you'd expect, though Canvas CEO Kim Neeper Rasmussen says the company is considering ways to mount consoles.

Sonos, Canvas's obvious competitor, managed to deliver large-scale home theater sound with products like the PlayBar ($680) and PlayBase ($700). But as great as those devices are, they're no match for bigger speakers that can deliver richer sound. Canvas is a 40 pound box with two six-inch SB Acoustics drivers handling the bass and mid-range, and another pair of SC acoustics tweeters. There's also a 4-channel 200-watt amp, with an impressive frequency response between 30 Hz and 20,000 Hz. Its large cabinet holds 30 liters of bass reflex, so you won't need to worry about adding a subwoofer for low-end oomph.

Based on its specs alone, Canvas seems like two Hi-Fi towers that have been transformed into a TV stand. The reality isn't too far off. While listening to Tan Dun's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon score and Clint Mansell's The Fountain soundtrack via AirPlay on an Apple TV, Canvas sounded as crisp as my high-end home theater setup. I could feel the impact of every drum beat during the Crouching Tiger tracks, the low-end was punchy but not overly boomy. Meanwhile, the chaotic supernova of sound in "Death is the Road to Awe" felt incredibly epic. That's a track where lesser speakers tend to lose detail as multiple instruments start competing for attention, but Canvas handled it like a champ at high volume without distortion. (It was so loud I felt bad for the other folks in that office.)