UK Price Rises

I would hesitate to move to Bluesound, merely because it does not seem a lot more expensive now. I am not sure that it is as robust a solution as Sonos for multi room; the Hi Res feature is largely a red herring.
On the price increase - is this only for the UK? I know that US prices haven't changed, but how about the EU for example?

Canadian prices have risen, but close to a year ago. At today's exchange rates they're roughly equal to US prices, before sales taxes. Canadian provinces have higher combined federal/provincial sales taxes than U.S. states that levy taxes, so the result is that Canadian all-in prices are higher. The prices rose in April 2016. "Due to a significant change in the value of Canada's dollar, we, like many companies, must increase product pricing. Our prices are defined regionally, but we pay for everything we make in U.S. dollars."

Exchange rates and their variations are just one input into the pricing decision/policy, regardless of what reasons may be ascribed to price changes. The price for a geographical market depends on the competitive scenario there as well, and is based on an assessment of what the desired market can bear. Some achieve the necessary fine balance better than others. Customers will always voice anger at price rises, so to some extent, this input is more noise and less signal.

As to the Canada situation, I know people that go to the US on weekends to shop, although I guess this is too small a drop in the bucket to trouble Canada. With Trump and people wanting to relocate to Canada, will they add to this set of weekend shoppers?!:D

"Exchange rates and their variations are just one input into the pricing decision/policy, regardless of what reasons may be ascribed to price changes. The price for a geographical market depends on the competitive scenario there as well, and is based on an assessment of what the desired market can bear."
Thanks, Kumar, for some understanding of business and markets that is much needed on this thread.

😃. Perhaps it is a lot easier to be objective when one isn't in the affected geography and/or has no further buying intent.

"Exchange rates and their variations are just one input into the pricing decision/policy, regardless of what reasons may be ascribed to price changes. The price for a geographical market depends on the competitive scenario there as well, and is based on an assessment of what the desired market can bear."
Thanks, Kumar, for some understanding of business and markets that is much needed on this thread."

For some reason the forum quote mechanism is no longer working for me. Hence the handmade quote above. I'm sure that most members of this group are aware of the obvious, as stated above. It is Sonos, not its customers, that is attributing the need for price increases solely to exchange rates and the questionable assertion that "we pay for everything we make in U.S dollars."

Unless Sonos operates both sides of a bank account outside the US in another currency, the cost to Sonos of the FX that they send from the US to any country is determined by the USD FX rate. So there isn't anything questionable about the assertion of how they pay for everything.
In the former case, there is a natural hedge because their exposure is limited to the net amount left in the overseas bank accounts. But only companies with extensive in other country operations enjoy that benefit.

That is not the same as "paying for everything in U.S. dollars." In any event, Sonos is a relatively large company that apparently labels its equipment as being built in Malaysia even though it has contract manufacturers in China. It also has offices and employees in Malaysia. No company that is manufacturing entirely offshore would operate without more sophisticated hedges than what you described above, without a sophisticated foreign exchange policy, and without means of sourcing and holding funds in other currencies. It is not as simple for a business to "send" money to another country as you state above. Many countries, for example, have currency restrictions. I'm not a business and I regularly deal in three currencies, two of them because I live in two different countries. My currency strategy is more sophisticated than what you've described above, and I doubt very much that I know nearly as much about this as Sonos. If I do, there is something wrong.

Hedging only protects against short term fluctuations, to allow for a stable short term cost structure, at a premium paid for the hedge, and this premium is also built into the cost structure. It really isn't more complicated than that. Longer term FX rate movements cannot be hedged against because normally there isn't a market for such hedges, and these movements need either costs to be reduced or prices to be raised if profitability is to be maintained.

The other thing that people tend to forget, as is visible from posters here, is that Sonos keeps upgrading all its installed base for free. Trueplay is just one significant example. I do not therefore believe that my kit, bought in 2014, is three year old tech. Nor is a new play 1 on sale today, old tech.

Finally, those that don't like the increase have the option of voting with their wallets - if they can find a better product for the new prices, they will buy it.

I don't see much value in adding to this thread because this is becoming a circular discussion of little real consequence.

Hear, hear.