Power consumption?

Dug out my Kill-A-Watt EZ and my Gen 1 Play 5, these numbers are at 120 volts.

Idle: Watt 5.1, VA 14.1, PF .35 (Not far from the Sonos 6.9 watt spec)

Playing moderate volume: Watt 10.7, VA 23.3, PF .45 (testing loud playing not an available option per the wife)

I wonder how many years it would take to pay-back for an upgrade to the 2.1 Watt Gen 2?

I'm going to look at my Play 3s and ZP-80s power use at some point too just out of curiosity. May even be able to try them loud if I pick a good time. :-)

Thanks for the info.

Grab a speaker and look at the label, it details the voltage and maximum power consumption in Amps.

NOT a Beam 🙂

The maximum power is pretty much meaningless except when making sure your circuit can support the surge draw after a power outage ends and everything powers back up at once.


https://support.sonos.com/s/article/256?language=en_US

Beam up to 5.3 Watts

This becomes question becomes relevant to those of us installing a speaker within the power supply parameters of a boat, RV or Camper...

So what is the raw power supply to the play 5 after the 110/240v transformer?

So what is the raw power supply to the play 5 after the 110/240v transformer?

This information will not be available to us, and it is not very useful, other than when crowing about circuit efficiency or power factor management. These units use switchmode power supplies and the amplifiers are also switchmode. Efficiency will vary with the load (the instantaneous Volume) as will the power factor. You are most interested in the final load presented to your power system through the unit's power cord.

Music is mostly a series of peaks and bass notes require more energy than high frequencies. A thundering bass line for a rock-n-roll track or the cannon shots of the 1812 Overture will be more taxing when you listen at high levels. Classical music it usually more dynamic than rock-n-roll. Radio broadcasts will be the least dynamic.

I would avoid trying to design too close to the limit of your power supply. For example, if you design the power system assuming that the amplifier will average only 20% of the max and you are listening to the 1812 late at night with all of the lights running, that cannon boom could push over the limit. And, hot summer weather will present a different challenge if you have air conditioning. Motors and modern lighting can present interesting power factor management issues, simple incandescent lamps lamps are docile because they present a power factor of 1.0. Dimmers and speed controls can muck with the power factor.

About the only option you have to find the actual power draw is to plug the speaker you are interested in into a good power meter and listen to an hour of your music at your usual volume level. Go to the meter and find peak watts and total watt hours, with the two you can design what you need to support it.

Having lived in an RV for a bit over 10 years using solar/battery power and a small emergency generator I'd be looking elsewhere for a music system. We spent a lot of time and effort reducing unwanted power draws that were a tiny fraction of the Sonos idle power. If you are going to be living plugged in or with a generator running then the Sonos power draw is minor and I'd ignore it. Seriously, it is small change, even just the clock in a GE microwave draws over 20 watts! The counter light 80 more.