Avid Contributor I

Answered

SONOS v. HEOS - Collateral Damage

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Hi,

If you have been following the lawsuit between SONOS and Denon related to the HEOS line of Denon products, you are probably aware that SONOS won two major court victories recently. The result so far has been that Denon has removed certain functionality from their App. Not surprising, Denon is instructing their customer service people to tell the public that certain functions were removed from the App due to 'market research'. This removal impacts me because years ago, it would seem I bet on the wrong horse. When I was setting up my house for whole home audio I went with HEOS rather than SONOS for one simple reason, I believe the HEOS speakers sound more in line what my use and taste in music. The SONOS line is setup more for treble and vocals whereas the HEOS line is setup more for raw volume and heavier bass. The HEOS App was always crap but worked most of the time, now it is kinda useless and is making it difficult to use the speakers.

I find myself in the predicament of not being happy with either company. SONOS is the one who sued Denon, and is the ultimate cause of certain App functions being removed. And Denon is the one who essentially sold me an illegal product. Now I'm stuck with a bunch of speakers an an App that was limping already but is now crippled. Denon seems uninterested in taking the blame to fix the issue and wants to deny they are responsible in any way, and Sonos is saying we are sorry for your trouble (even though we created it), here's a measly 10% discount.

I have lost faith in Denon and am interested in switching over to SONOS but considering they are partially at fault for creating this mess, I expect them to be a bit more helpful about fixing it.

So, finally arriving at my question, if I want to buy a large quantity of SONOS speakers where is the best place to get them for the best price? I would probably be buying a PLAY: BAR, two subwoofers, two PLAY: FIVEs, and two ONEs at the outset.

Any thoughts on the best avenue to proceed are greatly appreciated.

Thx,

Atari

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airforceteacherAnswer

Headliner I

Setting aside the quagmire of discontent you've brought into this thread, your bottom line question is: how can I outfit my home at least expense.

1) eBay is always an option. Lots of stuff on eBay discounted heavily, and nothing I've gotten on eBay or open box has ever failed me.
2) Best Buy or Amazon open box or clearance. At least for Best Buy, warranty still applies. Amazon I think not, as they sell their open box as "used."
3) If you have access to the Base Exchange, then Sonos is usually best discounted there, and even better around Christmas time. Added bonus is no sales tax and usually free shipping. Active duty, reservists and retirees can shop in store, veterans can shop at aafes.com online once they verify their status.

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jgatie

@jgatie Again, not my lawsuit, not my place to judge who is right and wrong. See it how you want but SONOS's actions have impacted the public in a negative way even if they were in the right to take such actions.

You are the one who brought up assessing blame in the lawsuit. You also seem to expect some type of compensation or discount from Sonos due to their their "impact on the consumer". As to your statement "not my lawsuit, not my place to judge who is right and wrong"? True, it is the court's and jury's place to judge who is right and wrong. In case you were not aware, the jurors took less than 2 hours to decide, including lunch and a delay, and they found Denon 100% wrong in their actions. It was a cut and dried case if there ever was one, and therefore, it is Denon's actions which "impacted the public in a negative way." Period.

jgatie

Is it still April 1?

Indeed.

jgatie

Wow. This is not a discussion about blame in the lawsuit, and quite frankly no one here is qualified to say who is to blame. If you would like to show your patent attorney credentials, as well as your appointment as a judge, great, otherwise please be quiet.

Uhhhh, I believe there was a judge and jury appointed to say who was to blame. It took them less than 2 hours, including lunch and a delay, to decide. That is all the credentials I need to know.

melvimbe

@jgatie Again, not my lawsuit, not my place to judge who is right and wrong. See it how you want but SONOS's actions have impacted the public in a negative way even if they were in the right to take such actions.

That makes no sense. Say you had a good idea that you patented, and someone stole it from you, used it in a product and sold it. You're not going to sue that someone because you believe it has a negative impact on the public...the people that did not even buy you're own product? You'd just eat the financial loss?

No way.

Danny

jgatie

That makes no sense. Say you had a good idea that you patented, and someone stole it from you, used it in a product and sold it. You're not going to sue that someone because you believe it has a negative impact on the public...the people that did not even buy you're own product? You'd just eat the financial loss?

No way.

Not to mention having to subsidize the people who bought the other product, just because you decided not to be a helpless victim of patent infringement. Crazy stuff.

Stanley_4

Grand Maestro

No idea if it would be worth an individual suing but you can bet that there will soon be a class action suite brought against Denon if there is any hope of recovery. You may get pennies out of it but the lawyers will do quite well.

Sonos prices are supposed to be pretty firm but Best Buy is a pretty shady operation and you can possibly use that against them. Negotiate your bulk purchase of Sonos gear and a Best Buy warranty package, get the Sonos prices discounted as much as possible (maybe mention ebay) and agree to full price for the warranty. Wait 24 hours and then return the warranty for a refund.

This works because Best Buy pushes the warranty packages hard and the sales guy gets punished for not selling enough of them.

A caution about Best Buy though, they often unload "old stock" or "storage damaged" items on customers. Check your items to insure they are recent, not a couple years old and inspect carefully. Don't be me and get a three year old CR-100 that had been setting in a steel shipping container for two full Phoenix summers and had the innards completely rotted. It lasted less than a month before it failed with a burst battery and cracked case.

Sonos initially told me that I was out of warranty, that made sense once they told me the production date of my unit but relented when I faxed them the Best Buy sales receipts.

wonslung

Avid Contributor I

It sounds like there needs to be a class action lawsuit against Denon. Though I’m sure they probably included some bull in their TOS that prevents it.

But I agree, sonos owes you nothing. Take the 10% and be happy.

As far as buying them: my advice is:

If you have good credit find a good cash back credit card that has a 0% apr and a good sign on bonus and then buy at a store like Best Buy where you get bonus points which provide further discounts towards other products.

wonslung

Avid Contributor I

Or does sonos limit the 10% to their online store only? If so I still say find a good cash back card with a sign on bonus.

A

Atari_PrimeAuthor

Avid Contributor I

So entertaining how so many have unqualified opinions on well...everything. But were it not for trolls there would be no internet. To those who responded with actual help, thank you.

jgatie

We are unqualified to state that a judge and jury determined in a court of law that Denon and not Sonos were at fault? And to say otherwise makes us trolls?

Unique way of thinking. :?

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