Looking for recommendations to replace Sonos with a system that actually works

I bought my Sonos system in 2008. I still have it, but of course it is misbehaving terribly. I do not want to upgrade because I do not want to give that much money to a company which is a far cry from what it used to be. I have been on hold for 45 minutes now, and soon it will be 7 PM on the East Coast, meaning I will get no help. I cannot use my Sonos at all. It is so screwed up that I have to just unplug the thing.

Part of the problem is that I had the audacity to get old. Therefore, I cannot deal with tech like a 30-year old can. I do not understand the online instructions anymore. Is there another multi-room company that makes a similar product and actually CARES about its customers? This company has really been a HUGE disappointment.

As the ZP80 was being developed (there was not yet an official Beta program with an NDA [Non Disclosure Agreement]) they sent one to me for comment. I emailed a comment and the next day the chief engineer called me and we had a discussion. At that time SONOS was lean and mean. As companies grow this sort of interaction is not possible. One must go through teams and committees while an issue is “escalated”. This can sometimes take weeks. Once an issue is escalated it will be pushed back down the chain (with an aside to the legal department) and assigned to someone for resolution. Failure to follow these procedures/rules will short circuit your career.

I know that legions of users have jumped into this Community to express their dissatisfaction. Last week, while I was out and about, I stumbled across a SONOS user and asked if he liked the new controller. He liked it! I accepted his observation and dropped the discussion at that point.

Smart decision! No use arguing about it… I held on for over an hour until it was closing time at Sonos. While on hold, I was looking at other options when I remembered that the house I’m buying is chock-full of decent “surround-sound” speakers. Need to asses if they are any good. But then I can’t figure out how to use a Sonos-substitute will all of those wired speakers. There must be a way! 
A few sites have narrowed down the choices to Bose, Audio Pro, & Denon Home 150. I have no idea if these are actually good choices; so many Internet sites hide behind choices to lead you to a particular store, fueled by ads. So I don’t know which one of those three would work with a ton of ceiling-speakers, probably wired. Maybe I have to go back in time to an amp!

Do any of them have user forums like this, so you can see what issues users are experiencing? 
 

I do recall a massive outcry a few years back when Bose released a brand new range of speakers using new technology that was not backward-compatible with their older speakers. 

Thanks, nik9669a. I didn’t know that! So I’ll look around to see if there are complaints about any of those choices… I notice some people are using Blue?

Yamaha is a good company to deal with.

I have the Yamaha CD player. Nice piece of equipment. I was using it with the Line-In function on Sonos until my Sonos became beyond repair, and I can’t sit on hold for two hours for help.

Checkout WiiM products they also have a forum which has great responses from actual staff

Hey, thanks. skullc. The last I experienced wii was in 2012 for pretend-exercise! This will be an adventure...

Not Wii WiiM 😊