Contributor I

What's Unique About the New Sonos/Sonance Outdoor Speaker?

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First, let me preface by saying, I'm a huge fan of Sonos and Sonance products and have accumulated more of these speakers than I'm willing to admit. I was really excited to hear that Sonos partnered with Sonance to design an outdoor speaker but I'm a bit confused. My intention is not to come off confrontational when I ask this but what's the difference between the new Sonos/Sonance Outdoor Speaker and the original Sonance Mariner 64? They appear to be the exact same speaker with the exact same specs. Is there added hardware which makes it a more Sonos centric product? My understanding is the new Amp identifies these speakers by sending a sine wave to read impedance values at different frequencies so that indicates to me there might not be anything unique about the new Outdoor speaker besides marketing and branding. How does the Amp differentiate between the new Sonos/Sonance Outdoor speaker and an original Sonance Mariner 64? As a loyal customer I need to understand what the advantage or incentive there is to justify the additional cost of the Sonos/Sonance Outdoor speaker over the equally capable and seemingly same Sonance Mariner 64 speaker. I look forward to hearing back. Thanks!

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K

Kumar

No idea, I am not in the market for my Bose 251 replacement! But any technical difference would have to be close to revolutionary for there to be an audible impact, and I don't see any scope for such with passive speakers.
Lots of people have been clamouring for Sonos outdoor speakers, and this is the Sonos way to meet that demand and collect a premium at the same time. Nothing wrong with that approach of course.

melvimbe

Seems like you're re-asking the question that was already answered. When it comes to the outdoor speakers, you can safely attach 3 pairs of speakers to a single amp. Since you only want two pairs, this isn't much of an advantage to you. Other than that, the extra cost is going to be the overall quality of the speaker and the comfort of knowing it's Sonance/Sonos...branding. I have no doubt they are top notch, but for outdoor use, I'd rather get a $300 pair than an $700 pair (or whatever it is). I wouldn't say that the Sonance speakers are over priced as there certainly are other speakers in the same price range, it's just not a price range I really want to spend in.

As far as the sub output, haven't heard any issues about it. However, most outdoor subs are passive, not powered, and therefore would use normal speaker wire instead of the sub port. I would not hook up your 4 speakers + outdoor sub directly to the Amp, but you may be able to do so with a speaker switch. I've also heard others say that an outdoor sub isn't a good idea as the environment will limit the subs effectiveness.

Danny

K

Krisholm

Lyricist II

Thanks guys for your time and effort!

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Kristoffer

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