Contributor I

Why is Connect more expensive than Play?

Forum|Forum|14 years ago
April 28, 2012
179 replies
75917 views

I just got my first pair of Sonos units - two Play:3's for the kitchen and bedroom and I absolutely love them. I'm not a huge audiophile, but the convenience and total plug 'n play nature of Sonos is what attracted me to it.

Of course the next thing that occured to me was how to get this connected up to my stereo.

What I don't understand is why the basic Connect is $349 while the Play:3 units are $299 each. I mean if anything it seems like a Connect is just a Play:3 without the speakers and amp? Why does it cost so much more for fewer features? Seems like the guts of the connect should be a $99 unit - I meant he appleTV is $99, and it does way more (At least in terms of technological capability - video/etc) than the connect.

To be honest I've been drooling over Sonos for years - and I know the quality is very high, but the expense of the units has always put me off. It wasn't until the Play:3 that I felt like there was enough bang-for-the-buck to justify diving in... I'm probably going to get at least 2 or 3 more Play:3's for elsewhere in the house, but it's going to be hard to justify the Connect until the price comes down further. It's still cheaper to just put a Play:3 in the same room as my stereo - it's small and powerful enough to just sit near my existing speakers.

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T

the_lhc

Avid Contributor I

For now I will say no in hopes that with new market entrants Sonos is forced to play nice and price accordingly.

New entrants like the Bluesound Node you mean?

B

Bartender

Avid Contributor I

They are one of many entering this popular market but their strategy is to be a more audiophile alternative, which it certainly is. I am hoping more for big players to get in along the lines of how even Apple had to reduce the price of the ATV to stay competitive in the video streaming market.

ratty

even Apple had to reduce the price of the ATV to stay competitive in the video streaming market.

When Sonos feel the need to reduce margins to stay competitive they will doubtless do so. That day has yet to dawn. (They must have amortized CONNECT hardware development long ago so presumably have some leeway.)

Interesting to raise Apple as an example though, since if there was a single phrase which sprang to mind when considering, say, the iPhone it would surely be 'premium pricing'...

B

Bartender

Avid Contributor I

Agree and agree.

K

Kumar

The Connect pricing is a Sonos philosophy based on end use. And when used to bring a multiple thousand dollar high end 2 channel sound system on to a unified Sonos platform, the price doesn't stick in the throat for the additional value that can then be extracted from said audio system. That said, many users in this category are suspicious of its credentials because it is too cheap!
On the other hand, for use like allowing a play 1 or 3 pair to get line in signals from TV or other device, compared to a play 5 unit that has the necessary socket, the price is out of whack.
The latter use/requirement is probably small in size compared to the former.

C

clickner

Lyricist III

TOTALY AGREE!!! they are just charging more because they can and I am not buying one at that price. I have appletvs everywhere and will stay with that until the price drops.

buzz

Grand Maestro

clickner,

Typically, users replace their stereo system with SONOS. CONNECT offers a way to add SONOS functionality to an existing stereo system.

It's a numbers game. On a practical level, the CONNECT is an older design and not a huge seller. It is possible that a newer design, using newer, more complex parts could be less expensive, but the cost of redesign spread over a relatively few units would probably negate the per unit savings.

C

clickner

Lyricist III

I wouldn't say that typically they replace their stereo with sonos. That would be dumb!! Why would I replace thousands of dollars with that stuff? They have the technology in the play system just drop the crap amp and speaker put a digital out and let me run it through my DAC. Don't even need to put a DAC in it. Then maybe I would buy some of their speaker stuff for rooms I don't care about the quality. They are a software company that locks their software to expensive hardware. Just because I paid for nice audio equipment does not mean I need to overpay for their stuff. I will stick to appletv and today it looks like Apple is coming out with a new one.

T

The LHC

Clickner, you're in a minority, most people do not have "thousands of dollars" worth of stereo equipment (especially in the US), they have cheap, crappy systems that they will happily replace with Sonos devices.

Incidentally the amp and speakers in the play:1s is far from crap and that attitude alone speaks volumes about you. You're an audiophile snob, which makes your cheapness all the more surprising, usually people that think like you dismiss the Connect as being too cheap, you'd be better off with a bluesound node, reassuringly expensive...

C

clickner

Lyricist III

Ha!! The LHC!!! I never said that they shouldn't make the play stuff I think they have a great product for those that don't have anything. I am just saying that ones that do have a stereo shouldn't be "taxed" because of it. If the technology is there with an amp and speaker for. $199 why do I have to pay $350 for just half of the play:1 product?

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