Era 100 and S1

While I don’t represent the following as an ideal arrangement, it could be viable for you.

S1 and S2 use separate controllers.

S1 and S2 are separate systems that can coexist on the same network. If you added the ERA100 USB Line-In adapter and either own a CONNECT or purchase a used CONNECT, the S1 CONNECT can provide Line-In for the ERA. You can Group CONNECT and send S1’s music to ERA. If the CONNECT’s date of manufacture is 2015 or later, you could turn this around in the future by updating CONNECT to S2. This would be a path forward if, at some point, the system becomes more S2 than S1.

Note that there will be a 75ms time offset between the S1 and S2 systems linked with this technique. This may or may not be an issue for you. If it is possible to simultaneously hear an S1 and S2 playing the same source, this time offset will be the deal breaker. If the rooms are acoustically isolated from each other, for example, a remote garage or inside/outside, this offset will not be significant.

Note that you could use PORT, rather than CONNECT.

Thank you for your considered responses.  In the end I returned the device to the store. 

I have no doubt that the Company’s decision not to support older devices has been discussed ad-nauseam, but leaving absolutely no graceful upgrade path for an S1 household to S2 devices is too much of a burden in my case.

Not sure what qualifies as graceful to you, but Sonos does offer a 15-30% discount on new Sonos products for every legacy Sonos product you own.  Not sure if you were aware or if that changes are you view on the upgrade path.

The Gen 1 Play:5 and the Gen1 Connects are the only devices that can only use S1. Do you really have five of those? Every other speaker type can also run S2.

I really wish the Connect could be made S2 compatible … that is the only thing holding me back from moving everything to S2 and being able to buy the Era 100. I bought the Connect back in 2014 and it cannot be made S2 compatible unfortunately, which really bummed me out at the time S2 was announced. This makes me feel the pain all over again with the new speakers being announced (and the Port is just too expensive to replace the Connect).

You could get a later version of the CONNECT that is S2 capable, you just have to be careful, since they’re all second hand.