[Closed] Thinking of buying into Sonos?

Jambalaya will be along shortly to explain how is this a good thing and you really should delay buying until the prices have gone up. It's your Brexit duty....

Just had the same mail and forwarded it to a mate who was going to buy a sub in the next few weeks. I was going to wait until payday to get another "1" but may just get one ordered today now...

From over priced to very over priced then.

[quote=cranberry ]From over priced to very over priced then.

Play 3 is some of the best money I've ever spent.

I've got one too and it does its job fine, but I just don't think that they score well on value.

Another of life's essentials hammered by Brexit.

How as a middle class STW resident will I cope. We'll be down to 3 holidays a year soon.

How as a middle class STW resident will I cope. We'll be down to 3 holidays a year soon.

Well at least you've taken back control of your free time and can spend it staring at the wall instead of holidaying abroad!

Thinking of buying into Sonos?

No, but it seems a good deal for some useful tech if you can't afford... you know... 😉

Anyone would have thought that prices of products didn't escalate before Brexit. I remember a time bag of Walkers crisps used to cost 5p and now they are 55p. And that was all before Brexit.

Sonos Play 1's have been £169 for years - mine is 2 years old and was £169 then and had been for some time before that. Most products escalate in price every year or so before Brexit, and they will after Brexit. It's a text book behaviour that prices of products are held flat initially as the manufacturer establishes a firm market base and incrases market share, and once that base is established and the growth of their market share starts to drop off then they start to increase pricing. Pretty standard behaviour in a pre and post Brexit world.

Do you still need to use the Sonos app to navigate through music libraries? thats the worst part IMO

Damn expensive for what they are (before the price increase) and no bluetooth, so can't stream Spotify free. No way I'd pay £10 per month just so I can stream it around the house, especially when the SQ of Sonos is not that great.

Damn expensive for what they are (before the price increase) and no bluetooth, so can't stream Spotify free. No way I'd pay £10 per month just so I can stream it around the house, especially when the SQ of Sonos is not that great.

I pay £10 a month not to have adverts and to be able to download to use on the go in the car etc (I don't live in a 4g plentiful world). The fact that is works on sonos as a premium account is a handy bonus.

Do you still need to use the Sonos app to navigate through music libraries? thats the worst part IMO

Plays directly from spotify (apps on mobile devices as well as PC/Mac) now but it's not as easy as airplay and the like.

Recent convert to Sonos. Agreed that it is a decadent middle class luxury and also agreed that is it not the last word in audio fidelity but its discreet and flexible and I love being able to have rooms grouped together so it works for me.

Talked myself out of buying a 5 at Xmas. The offer then was 50 quid off was selling for £379. That in retrospect looks like a very good price now that it's going to be selling for a quid short of 500UKP.

Sonos Play 1's have been £169 for years - mine is 2 years old and was £169 then and had been for some time before that. Most products escalate in price every year or so before Brexit, and they will after Brexit. It's a text book behaviour that prices of products are held flat initially as the manufacturer establishes a firm market base and incrases market share, and once that base is established and the growth of their market share starts to drop off then they start to increase pricing. Pretty standard behaviour in a pre and post Brexit world.

Yes, exactly like the cost of TVs and PCs and all other electrical goods have increased over the past two decades...

[img] [/img]

[i]Brexit... Brexit...Brexit... [/i]
[i]all other electrical goods have increased over the past two decades...[/i]

Responds with a chart for the US. 😉
(I notice the "all" does go up by £50, sorry $50)

other tech headlines from recent months;

'SONOS PRICING IS GOING UP IN CANADA'
'Sonos Increases European Prices'

Brexit does seem to be a good excuse to hike prices.

Plays directly from spotify (apps on mobile devices as well as PC/Mac) now but it's not as easy as airplay and the like.

OK if Spotify is where you spend the majority of your time, if you're into say, Dance music, its not the place to be...

other tech headlines from recent months;

'SONOS PRICING IS GOING UP IN CANADA'
'Sonos Increases European Prices'

Neither of those were recent, and both linked to significant currency swings.

especially when the SQ of Sonos is not that great

So Sonos (a US company) decided to hike the price of their products in the UK AFTER doing it in Canada and Europe using currency swings as an excuse when it is the UK Pound that has tanked against both those currencies? And what about the fact they're made in China where manufacturing costs are rising as the standard of living in China is rising has nothing to do with any of this either. Or the fact that Sonos just want to make more money for their shareholders but has been seeing its margins decrease due to rising costs?

Finbar - you're not comparing like for like. Of course the price of electronic goods has generally got cheaper over the last 20 years or so due to cheap mass production in the far East and the commoditisation of electronic goods making them cheaper. However specific products do escalate in pricing. Apple computers for example have definitely gone up over the years where your fancy and colourful chart shows the price of computers going down. Other high end products are more expensive now than they used to be - high end hi fi equipment for example. And Sonos is definitely targeting the high end, high margin market and their pricing has been flat for years and easily ready for a price hike. The fact they're doing it in non-EU countries is telling about their strategy on global pricing - it's going up.

Of course currency has an impact on pricing, but is just one of many influences. Companies are cynically using currency as a good excuse to hike pricing - they know price hikes is not good press for them so nice and convenient to blame something out of their control. You can bet your bottom dollar they wouldn't reduce prices if we called off Brexit tomorrow and the pound recovered.

Thinking of buying into Sonos?

😀 "Buying into Sonos" - you're just buying a speaker for your sitting room FFS, sounds like something off their website "No wonder most Sonos homes have more than one speaker"

"Sonos homes" - piss off, it's my home. Can't believe people buy this ****.

"Buying into Sonos" - you're just buying a speaker for your sitting room FFS, sounds like something off their website

I'm worried - dt, echoed my thoughts....

As for the rest of it - we've had a weak pound, we've had a strong pound in the past, prices rise sometimes - it's not always the fault of the racist

From over priced to very over priced then.

This and they're not even very good.

I had a three then really got into it and had a five and a soundbar then had an epithany and got rid of it all.

Between the sonos app, the spotify app, tunein radio app and tour own phones/pc/mac software something will always need updating or a password resetting and all you want to do is listen to the radio.

Then you have the sound quality which is good in terms of modern digital plastic boxes but poor in terms of proper hifi.

So its neither convienient nor good quality.

I have gone back to proper seperates hifi, a mini amp and speakers on my pc and radios.

Much better.

So Sonos (a US company) decided to hike the price of their products in the UK AFTER doing it in Canada and Europe using currency swings as an excuse when it is the UK Pound that has tanked against both those currencies? And what about the fact they're made in China where manufacturing costs are rising as the standard of living in China is rising has nothing to do with any of this either

Not sure if they have separate distribution in those regions. They buy their product from China in $, so if they're selling it in £. Currency swings aren't an excuse, as you rightly say they are adjusting the price to maintain margin, which would be their obligation to the shareholders. You definitely have a point about China costs rising, at some point in the future they might need to move.

So Sonos (a US company) decided to hike the price of their products in the UK AFTER doing it in Canada and Europe

I think the reason we're seeing this only now is pricing was held over Christmas to keep sales up.

I've seen similar elsewhere, e.g. Garmin

How hard would it be to make one from a raspberry pi?

How hard would it be to make one from a raspberry pi?

or just buy a couple of chromecast audios and stick them into your existing hifi...

I've had Sonos for about 9 years. not sure I would by one if starting fresh now.

Sonos' USP was ease of use - it took something that was difficult and made it easy. with chromecast, airplay and bluetooth audio thats gone.

Now that google and amazon have launched connected home speakers as their next front in hoovering up all the data we create, I suspect they'll struggle to survive as an independent company.

[i]Can't believe people buy this ****.[/i]

Should it be 'Buying into the Sonos hype'?

"Buying into Sonos" - you're just buying a speaker for your sitting room FFS, sounds like something off their website "No wonder most Sonos homes have more than one speaker"

"Sonos homes" - piss off, it's my home. Can't believe people buy this ****.

So much anger. The world must be tough for you petal 🙂

Yes, a bit of a ****y title I grant you. But it's not just a 'speaker for your sitting room'. If you were just using it like that it would be total pish. It only really make sense (as it's not the cheapest or the best sounding) if you make a system of it in all your rooms. Most folk can't afford that in one hit so add a unit at a time as they can. Once started though the value of each unit only makes sense as part of the finished system. You are 'buying into' a system if you will.

But I'll leave you to your angst - better than kicking the cat I guess. Have a lovely day won't you now.

Anything that does similar for less? The front speaker outputs on my 10 year old Denon amp have just given up. I use Spotify a fair bit (have to plug my phone into the amp at the moment though which is a pain) and am no audiophile so something like this looks good, think it would mean I have music on more often. I have absolutely no clue about modern hifi stuff. I have four speakers though.

No interest in multiroom

As above, Chromecast Audio. Plug into any powered speakers or hifi you have, and jobs a good un.
or you can get a Raspberry Pi to do the same thing. Or even a BBC Microbit as I discovered the other day.

davosaurusrex - Member

Anything that does similar for less? The front speaker outputs on my 10 year old Denon amp have just given up. I use Spotify a fair bit (have to plug my phone into the amp at the moment though which is a pain) and am no audiophile so something like this looks good, think it would mean I have music on more often. I have absolutely no clue about modern hifi stuff. I have four speakers though.

No interest in multiroom

The main draw for Sonos stuff is that it will do multi-room. But you say you aren't interested in multi-room so I wouldn't bother with Sonos or any of the other wireless multi-room options available (Denon, LG, Samsung, Panasonic, Pure etc....now offer multi-room wireless speaker options).

You could replace your amp & plug a Bluetooth/wireless dongle into it to play music straight off your phone with Spotify.

Something like this will plug into a normal amp & allow your phone to connect wirelessly to it:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pure-Jongo-Wireless-Adapter-Bluetooth/dp/B00CGYN47O/ref=pd_day0_107_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=S3SPGZV2DQ1PH8A6B0QX

Or you could just replace the whole lot with a Bluetooth speaker if all of your music listening is from your phone? Plenty of options out there.

you could buy a bluetooth box for £20 and plug it into a phono connection on your amp.

edit: as above

That's what I should have done years ago, before my amp started playing up. Might just see it can be repaired and go the bluetooth route, ta.

The main draw for Sonos stuff is that it will do multi-room

So can Chromecast - multi room and combinations of speakers. They had a USP, but most other systems have caught up now.

Well I've ordered another. From John Lewis no less.

Hate me...

I've just taken another look at my amp - it's 7 channel and only the output to one set of front speakers has gone, moved the cables across to the other and back in business, result! Now to research bluetooth thingies....