Sonos - Why should I upgrade?

[Chuckanut]

Sonos keeps sending me emails offering to upgrade my Play1 speakers.

Other than getting a speaker with voice command, why should I do that? I can't see the benefits and Sonos is not clear what they are other than being able to use voice command with the right new speaker.

They are offering a measly 15% discount on the new equipment if I upgrade. (The emails say Up to 30%, but when I click on the link, all I get is offered is 15%). When I bought the speakers years ago, I got them with a 25% discount. A 15% discount does not seem that attractive.

Also, I understand after I do the upgrade, within a month or so my old speakers will no longer work with the Sonos system. I can use them with other devices, but not on my Sonos system. Again, this is not a thrilling deal.

As of today, my decision is to keep my money and let Sonos can keeps its next generation speakers. FWIW, the speakers do a good job in terms of sound quality. Right now I am using the S2 app which works well also.

Or am I missing something?

 

[Luvtoride]

I’ve gotten the same emails and see no reason to consider upgrading. Their speakers are fine and work well with all of my streaming services. I don’t think the audio quality of their newer speakers is significantly better to justify spending more money on them.

 

[swakyaby]

If you still enjoy the sound coming from your speakers and it’s compatible with the S1 or S2 app, then I don’t see the need to scrap them in favor of newer speakers. Those offers from Sonos are just attempts to generate new sales.

I have the newer speakers (arc, One SL, sub gen3) that are only compatible with the S2 app, but I’ve received an inordinate amount of emails from Sonos to buy their Move speaker for Christmas. It’s just marketing, their attempt to whisper in my ear.

 

[WestUniversity]

I’ve gotten the same emails and see no reason to consider upgrading. Their speakers are fine and work well with all of my streaming services. I don’t think the audio quality of their newer speakers is significantly better to justify spending more money on them.

Agreed. I’ve been a Sonos user for 6yrs? 7yrs?, and IMHO their speakers are so well made that the only thing needed is the occasional software update. I did expand my system about a year ago and added 2 additional speakers that are Apple play compatible to add sound to another room of the house. Other than that, it’s the same basic system I’ve had for years. Guests at our parties often ask about the system.

 

[Chuckanut]

Agreed. I’ve been a Sonos user for 6yrs? 7yrs?, and IMHO their speakers are so well made that the only thing needed is the occasional software update. I did expand my system about a year ago and added 2 additional speakers that are Apple play compatible to add sound to another room of the house. Other than that, it’s the same basic system I’ve had for years. Guests at our parties often ask about the system.

I agree on the quality of the equipment. And Sonos has seemed to develop the secret sauce that coordinates the sound throughout a structure very, very nicely. I bought my speakers 3-4 years ago on a Black Friday 25% off sale and have been very happy with them.

The responses to my question have confirmed my suspicion there is no great reason to upgrade except to get some additional software comparability. And, my understating is that I only need one up-to-date speaker to make that happen to all the speakers.

 

[Golden sunsets]

I have also been getting these emails. Better sound....really? I'm very happy with our sound bar, sonos 1 in an adjacent room and especially the app that controls the system.

 

[Ready]

I have the Sonos Arc, One SL's and the new sub. The sound quality is great. I bought them specifically because I wanted Dolby Atmos support, which I don't believe the older systems support. But if I already had the older system I doubt I would spend the money to upgrade. I think in the past they were offering much greater discounts to encourage an upgrade. 15% is not even worth talking about. I think the prices have gone up recently as well, so even with the 15% discount it's still right around the old retail price from around six months ago.

 

[bltkmt]

I have a mix of very old first generation stuff and some newer stuff so can only use S1 app which is frustrating. Essentially they are forcing you to upgrade eventually.

 

[WestUniversity]

I have a mix of very old first generation stuff and some newer stuff so can only use S1 app which is frustrating. Essentially they are forcing you to upgrade eventually.

I was in the same boat at one point, but there was a software upgrade they sent out that did a permanent up-conversion for my older equipment. They are now all S2…

 

[bltkmt]

Hmmm…I guess I can try. Just hope that if S2 does not work that I can go back. How old was your oldest stuff?

 

[steelyman]

Bose has also had their adventures with software and speaker updates the past few years. It was very frustrating as I couldn’t get all the speakers/soundbar/subwoofer to do what they were supposed to do. At the same time, Bose dropped support for their “SoundTouch” software.

I lived with that for a while but finally wiped each speaker clean (factory reset) and individually updated each speaker to most recent software/firmware releases (this was supposed to have happened automatically). That seems to have restored everything properly including compatibility with Apple Music.

I don’t want to change a thing now and definitely don’t want to shell out the money to replace any existing speakers (they were expensive!) that still sound great.

[ADDED] My most recent Bose addition, a refurbished Home Speaker 500 for the bedroom, supports voice command but I have zero interest in that functionality so I ignore it.

 

[WestUniversity]

Hmmm…I guess I can try. Just hope that if S2 does not work that I can go back. How old was your oldest stuff?

I have two old Play 1’s a Play 3 and a Sonos bridge. They explained in the upgrade instructions that the up conversation is permanent. You can’t go back. That said there were no problems with the upgrade. They function as well as they ever did except now they are recognized as S2 devices and run perfectly on the S2 app…