Your complaint comes a little late; the first IKEA/Sonos speakers were released about two years ago to great reviews. People love them. I actually picked up a bookshelf version on a whim two weeks ago (already have a number of regular Sonos speakers and components) and was very impressed; I’ll likely get some for my kids’ rooms now.

With two years of sales data, Sonos probably knows already whether it was a mistake or not.

Complaints never come to late. 

Complaints are there to learn from.

And changes are not always for the best for all….

The bookshelf speaker has evidently inspired a subculture of hacking, since its internals are basically a One and are easy to get at.

How has your listening experience from your 12 units changed because of this corporate decision, to the extent of what you are thinking of doing?

Also, IKEA released their own bluetooth/line in speaker line a couple of years ago, that have surprised many listeners as to how good they sound. And at prices, if one has the use case for them, they are excellent value.

Yes, you should learn from your own complaint.  Your theory isn’t without merit, but it’s already tested out to be false.  The partnership has been successful and hasn’t hurt Sonos image.

However, there are absolutely people who are more concerned about image over substance.  I would reason though that people who think poorly of the ikea brand are not aware of what ikea is selling.  Indeed, it took 2 years for you to find out the Sonos/ikea partnership existed.

Kinda funny to me as I have most of my Sonos gear sitting on Ikea furniture.

Even funnier is that we have replaced much more expensive furniture with Ikea and been far happier with the quality of it.

Seriously considering replacing mom’s Play 1 with two of the Ikea picture frame speakers but we are waiting to see if they have covers more matching her style or better blank ones she could paint herself.