Question

WAITING FOR WHITE PLAYBAR

  • 27 August 2016
  • 19 replies
  • 6617 views

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I am holding fire on buying a Sonos Playbar because I am waiting for the Playbar to be supplied in white. When is this likely to happen in the UK?

So far, I have purchased IN WHITE the unit that connects to the internet, a PLAY 1 and a PLAY 5. How come I cannot find a white Playbar?

Awaiting your kind advice.

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19 replies

You could be waiting a long time. Sonos don't publish their product plans, but IMO the chances of a white PLAYBAR are low. It's designed to blend in with a TV. How many TVs do you see which are white?

If colouring your PLAYBAR is your thing, though, there are after-market covers available. Google is your friend, but here is an example.
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Many thanks for your reply and suggestion. I know it is a matter of taste, but what is the point in Sonos offering a choice of black or white for most of their products with the exception of the Playbar and the Sub? It is a décor mismatch and a NO for people who, like us - tired of funereal black - have moved to the other end of the spectrum. Sonos needs to address trends, and it is my belief that they are reducing the appeal of Sonos by not offering their FULL RANGE of products in both black AND WHITE at least.
I had already looked at the possibiity of purchasing a cover, but that became another NO when I read a review that stated the fabric was like underwear material and not worth the price.
I only joined this community in an attempt to make Sonos understand that by not listening to customers who are currently prepared to wait for white, they are opening the door to competitors who may be more willing to please.
First the competitors have to start offering a soundbar (most don't), then they have to start offering a color other than black in any of their other speakers (none do). So you may be waiting a while.
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I understand your preference. But I would not expect the Playbar to be produced in white, although there has been a rumor circulating about the Sub in white. That is only a rumor though.

I would imagine Sonos has done market research on likelihood of a white Playbar being a profitable endeavor. And judging by the lack of any sounders in white from any manufacturers, that I've ever seen anyhow, I am guessing that the market demand simply would not justify the investment/costs.

I've actually read pretty positive reviews of the slip-on covers. It might be worth a try for you, as opposed to just assuming they are low quality. Also, I would think that someone that can re-upolster furniture could likely do a great job with a cover using material of your choice.
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Doesn't help you with playbar but they now offer white sub from this Autumn
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Thank you so much for your contributions: ratty, jgatie, jdag and Calum. My intention is to write to ceo@sonos.com in due course.
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Why not just wait until August 30th to see what they announce. We all know the white sub is already on its way.
My intention is to write to ceo@sonos.com in due course.
Highly appreciated I'm sure, but I dare say a $1bn company has its own way of assessing market demand in a rather less anecdotal fashion.
[...]How many TVs do you see which are white?[...]

Actually It's pretty common here in Sweden. I guess it's a trend thing or started as one at least, part of the Scandinavian "clean" design, embracing Apples sleek path of whiteness or whatever but I know for fact most of my friends has white TVs (yes I have more than two friends) and heck, I have two white TVs! In the office where I work we have six white TVs, one in each conference room.

Of course there's a lot more black TVs around, but something happened a couple of years ago, at least here in Sweden, where white became the new black. I've been longing for a white playbar (and sub) for a couple of years now. I honestly can't buy a black playbar as it just won't fit into our white living room and lifestyle (... and my wife will probably strangle me with the black playbar cord) as a black playbar will stand out tremendously.

I know my expectations are low about a white playbar, but looking at other threads (here) and searching the internet about it, it seems to me that there's a demand for a white playbar and sub. As CHIPP66 points out that not offering Sonos full range of products in both black and white is to me just insane and I think they're missing out on sales opportunities here. If Sonos doesn't want to make a permanent white option out of the playbar, why not just release a limited edition of the playbar in white and see how it goes. I'd buy one and tell my friends about it... but it's just my two cents.
Hey guys so has anyone seen the London Underground adverts for sonos which have just started to pop up?? I can't find the adverts online right now but they appear to show the playbar in white?! Might just be wishful thinking as I'm holding off on buying a soundbar in the hope they release one by Xmas!
White speakers are a problem if they have cloth grills. PLAYBAR uses a cloth grill. Sound is movement of air, air contains dust, and cloth filters dust. The result is that the white cloth grills soil quickly and will display an outline of the speaker drivers underneath. Metal grills don't have this issue, but the holes in the metal are not as discrete as cloth. I've been in some high end homes where they went to the trouble of fabricating white cloth grills. On day one these looked fine, but by about day 60 they developed darkened circles -- if the speakers were used.

The plastic material used for the new PLAY:5 is interesting. Note that the White PLAY:5 has dark grills. I'm not sure that the underlying material is available in a light color. The holes in this material are fine enough that it might show too much dust if it was white. Also, there are horizontal surfaces on PLAYBAR that will tend to collect more debris than a vertical PLAY:5 surface.
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HURRAY !!! I love white, so I rushed to place my order for the white SUB. The question is... Will the PLAYBAR be available in white for Christmas???
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[...]How many TVs do you see which are white?[...]

Actually It's pretty common here in Sweden. I guess it's a trend thing or started as one at least, part of the Scandinavian "clean" design, embracing Apples sleek path of whiteness or whatever but I know for fact most of my friends has white TVs (yes I have more than two friends) and heck, I have two white TVs! In the office where I work we have six white TVs, one in each conference room.

Of course there's a lot more black TVs around, but something happened a couple of years ago, at least here in Sweden, where white became the new black. I've been longing for a white playbar (and sub) for a couple of years now. I honestly can't buy a black playbar as it just won't fit into our white living room and lifestyle (... and my wife will probably strangle me with the black playbar cord) as a black playbar will stand out tremendously.

I know my expectations are low about a white playbar, but looking at other threads (here) and searching the internet about it, it seems to me that there's a demand for a white playbar and sub. As CHIPP66 points out that not offering Sonos full range of products in both black and white is to me just insane and I think they're missing out on sales opportunities here. If Sonos doesn't want to make a permanent white option out of the playbar, why not just release a limited edition of the playbar in white and see how it goes. I'd buy one and tell my friends about it... but it's just my two cents.


I’m from Sweden to and I agree 100%
I’ts time to complet the series in white.
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HURRAY !!! I love white, so I rushed to place my order for the white SUB. The question is... Will the PLAYBAR be available in white for Christmas???

Christmas of what year?
So... I see it's about a year since I was here the last time. Just thought I'd check in to see if there's any progress on the white playbar... I guess not (not surprised)! We just bought new house a couple of days ago... would be nice with a white playbar in the living room together with a couple of white sonos speakers and a few more speakers in any, or maybe in all of the other 8 rooms but...I guess another year will go by without any white playbar in sight. See you next year! 😞
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So... I see it's about a year since I was here the last time. Just thought I'd check in to see if there's any progress on the white playbar... I guess not (not surprised)! We just bought new house a couple of days ago... would be nice with a white playbar in the living room together with a couple of white sonos speakers and a few more speakers in any, or maybe in all of the other 8 rooms but...I guess another year will go by without any white playbar in sight. See you next year! :(

Have you considered the Playbase in white? :?

See it here: https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/playbase.html
There's a company from Germany which customizes the Playbar by replacing the mesh cloth. Unfortunately their website happens to be only in, guess what, German language.

https://www.luxusschall.de/shop/sonos/sonos-playbar-weiss/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgvfI8LPY2QIVSoGyCh2P7AykEAQYASABEgKY8PD_BwE
So... I see it's about a year since I was here the last time. Just thought I'd check in to see if there's any progress on the white playbar... I guess not (not surprised)! We just bought new house a couple of days ago... would be nice with a white playbar in the living room together with a couple of white sonos speakers and a few more speakers in any, or maybe in all of the other 8 rooms but...I guess another year will go by without any white playbar in sight. See you next year! :(

Have you considered the Playbase in white? :?

See it here: https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/playbase.html


Well sure, but I want to mount it on the wall and the only suitable option for that is the Playbar...
There's a company from Germany which customizes the Playbar by replacing the mesh cloth. Unfortunately their website happens to be only in, guess what, German language.

https://www.luxusschall.de/shop/sonos/sonos-playbar-weiss/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgvfI8LPY2QIVSoGyCh2P7AykEAQYASABEgKY8PD_BwE


Thanks! I'll check it out. Hopefully I can make sense of it with my low level German language exposure 😛. Otherwise, Google Translate will probably help me out a bit along the way. Too bad though that Sonos can't just put some money into its R&D and come up with a nice white Playbar to suit the other lineup of their white speakers... as I said about a year ago, it could be a limited edition thing if Sonos don't want to hit full production scale. I'd buy one... maybe two.