well i guess i will be pre ordering today then !!!!

@lonestay There is no decision. Sonos is a tech company.

The mere fact that the speakers can stream audio from the Internet on their own, makes them more than a speaker.

Normal speakers are extremely simple from an engineering perspective. A cone driven by a coil and magnet - these things rarely fail unless they fall apart. Most speakers don't contain electronics that fail more quickly, like capacitors, resistors or transistors.

So both on hardware as well as software side - which most amps/speaker combos don't even have, it is unfair to compare Sonos lifespan to that of regular speakers. I bet that if you would take only Sonos' actual speaker hardware and drive it with the right amp, they would last just as long, because you've removed the complex and vulnerable part. But in terms of functionality, that would leave you with, indeed, a dumb speaker, which is not what Sonos is about.

As to the original topic, I look forward to what Sonos will announce later today.

Yes we will!

I think the distinction between Tech and Audio company is mainly down to perception - the reality is Sonos is both and the tech component is hard to future proof. At some point the cost of future proofing will be prohibitive. 
 

I’m sure they could engineer something but again - cost/benefit again comes into play, especially with the 30% trade up program. 
 

I’m looking forward to the Atmos sound bar. Probably more 2021 thing for me. Otherwise I’m happy with my current kit. 

I don’t think they have to neatly fit into either of these categories.  There certainly is a tech element to their products, which is going to puts some limits on longevity.  At the same time, they can strive to last a bit longer than pure tech products like phones, since the investment is often larger.

From what I’ve seen, people are very different regarding what features they want and use.  Most tend to think the product is worthless without their feature of choice.  Few use the full range of features, but rarely does a feature go unused. 

You say that as if your play:5 1st gen was built without any future proofing at all, and never had any additional features added.

Just to be clear, you do have the option to keep everything on an S1 (legacy system), in addition to upgrading to S2 or going with a split system.

Danny I do understand that I can leave everything on the S1 legacy system but why would I ? If we except the fact that Sonos is a tech company, then I want the rest of my Sonos S2 compliant kit to be running the latest updates and security patches,  after all we have established that there are only so many updates a unit will get before Sonos decide it's fate and calls it legacy .

First, I mentioned this option for clarity, since others may read your post and think S2 capable products must upgrade to S2.   As far as the question of  why you would choice this option, you will still receive bug fixes and security updates on S1.  So the real motivation for upgrading to S2 right now is for new products and features.  As you pointed out earlier, not everyone is going to be interested, or find use for new products and features.  If you, or someone else, fits in this category, then the logical choice is to remain on on S1 until it makes sense to upgrade to S2.

Danny by leaving everything on the S1 system the S2 compliant units do not get updates, so you are forced to run a split system to ensure that the legacy unit(s) is not blocking updates to your S2 units. So it's either a split system or replace an expensive unit(s) to be able to run S2 fully as one system .

There’s no reason why, if you’re uninterested in the S2 updates, why you couldn’t leave all units as S1….as far as I think, based on the limited info we have. No requirement to run as a split system, if you don’t want. But we’ll know more soon, I expect. 

That’s for you and your situation.  However, when the shifting to legacy products was first announced, there were plenty of people asking to forego new features in order to keep their systems running just as they are now.  Sonos accommodated them.  All melvimbe is doing is making sure anyone reading this thread knows it is possible.  

If you stay on an S1 system, all your units, legacy or modern, will receive security updates and bug fixes.  What you won’t get is feature updates or be able to add products released for S2 only.  If you are not interested in new features and products, there is nothing wrong with keeping all your products on S1.