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Have been the happy owner of a Play:5 and two Play:3's. I've always been careful to watch the volume levels on them (more for preservation of my hearing), but my girlfriend tends to run them pretty loud as she's doing chores around the house.



Are blown speakers an issue with Sonos? I quick google search appears to say "no", but just wanted to check with you guys. I thought I remember reading that Sonos has it's own protection circuitry built in. Also, with "active" speakers, are the chances of blowing a speaker pretty small?
kinetic,



SONOS products are robust and well protected. While there are occasional product failure reports on the forums, none have been related to "too loud".



Most speakers are damaged by driving the amplifier beyond its design power. The distortion products generated by the amplifier abuse cause speaker failure. One cannot drive a SONOS amplifier beyond the limits.
One cannot drive a SONOS amplifier beyond the limits.



What is this based on? I'm thinking that a Sonos unit that plays a high gain source, at 100% volume might cause enough distorsion to actually damage the speaker. Are you saying that there might be some sort of level control built in the player?
jishi,



Inherently, for digital sources, a source cannot go beyond the full scale digital word value. Clipping does not need to be possible. True, for analog Line-In sources one could overload the ADC and cause a significant amount of distortion.



The power amplifier output is monitored and, if necessary, the volume will be reduced to protect the amplifier. In severe overload the unit will shut down.
I have have a Sonos 1 and the speaker is blown as of yesterday... How do you put out a powered speaker that can blow the speaker I just don't get it! The speaker should be able to be played at full volume with no chance of blowing it.. To put a amplifier in a speaker that can blow the speaker make no sense..I am sure it is probably not covered of course
Don't you think the internet would be full with complaints if this was the case? And why the assumption "I am sure it is probably not covered of course" ?

You probably had a hardware failure, give Sonos a call and they will sort it out for you.
I am just frustrated because I currently have 2 -#1's and 2-#5 and a connect amp. I was looking at purchasing more for other rooms in my home, but not sure now. I have a music studio in my home and host large party's and the sonos were a perfect match.
Whatever happened to your unit, it was an anomaly. If it was a frequent occurrence, you would hear about it here, and at review sites like Amazon.
Dude relax-you got a faulty unit
I have have a Sonos 1 and the speaker is blown as of yesterday... How do you put out a powered speaker that can blow the speaker I just don't get it! The speaker should be able to be played at full volume with no chance of blowing it.. To put a amplifier in a speaker that can blow the speaker make no sense..I am sure it is probably not covered of course



I am just frustrated because I currently have 2 -#1's and 2-#5 and a connect amp. I was looking at purchasing more for other rooms in my home, but not sure now. I have a music studio in my home and host large party's and the sonos were a perfect match.



Hi Smitty, I have checked in our system and see we have created an exchange ticket/RMA for your Sonos PLAY:1.

Let us know how it goes once you have received the exchange unit.



Thanks.
I too am experiencing what seems like a 'blown' speaker. (I will be calling this evening about it). I too have mulitple Sonos products, 2 - #5's, 2 - Connect Amps and a Bridge which no longer worked after an update.

So, I've sunk ALOT of money into SONOS and I would like to add at least one more (possibly 2) #5's but not interested in paying premium for sub-premium products. I am VERY concerned.
I too am experiencing what seems like a 'blown' speaker. (I will be calling this evening about it). I too have mulitple Sonos products, 2 - #5's, 2 - Connect Amps and a Bridge which no longer worked after an update.

So, I've sunk ALOT of money into SONOS and I would like to add at least one more (possibly 2) #5's but not interested in paying premium for sub-premium products. I am VERY concerned.It's not a sub-premium product. No product is totally free from failures. Mercedes break down occasionally. You were unlucky to experience a rare failure - if that is what the problem turns out to be. As to a Bridge which no longer worked after an update - that was probably just an IP conflict caused when the unit rebooted. It wouldn't surprise me if neither the Bridge nor the speaker failed, but you have network connection problems. Either way, if you give Sonos a chance, I'm sure they will sort it out.
Late November 2017 my play 5 broke after about 18 months of ownership. They offered me a token discount on the more expensive, new play 5. I conveyed exactly the sort of idea in this thread -- that despite the small 1-year warranty they do stand by their products, but it doesn't seem to be the case.
Every single speaker on God’s green earth can be “blown”. All it takes is a low bitrate file which is heavily compensated for said bitrate using high gain, played loud. In other words when u play that 100 year old song on YouTube coz you couldn’t find on Spotify and put the volume up, there will be incredible amounts of distortion due to the low quality and high gain of those tracks. Same goes for some songs on SoundCloud. U want ur speakers to last then play ok good quality music. The moment u hear hissing or chirping or voices straining lower the volume and change the track. Many people don’t realize this until it’s too late.
We just blew a Play 3. Opened it up to see all three speakers in parts. We were playing Pandora, not loud. The speaker was part of a stereo pair, and the other side is fine. Guessing maybe this was some kind of controller failure?
I wouldn't imagine there's much of a way to telling, without doing a forensic investigation. It's pretty unusual for a Sonos to "blow". Not impossible, just unusual. Kind of like phones and computers, and cars.these days. Unusual, but it can happen.
Deek, If you hadn't opened up the Play 3 Sonos might have been willing to help you out even out of warranty but once you crack the case they don't seem to be willing to do much. I know it is too late for you but just saying this for the next person considering opening up a Sonos: Call Support BEFORE you dig into the insides.
Yea, tried warranty without any luck. Attached is an image. Pretty impressive.
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