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Sonos Play 5 (Gen 1)

  • May 20, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 96 views
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Bot (received as gift) Sonos Portable Play 5 (Generation 1).  Challenge, after not using for months, I struggle for days trying to get it to operate; it won’t login to play music.  On my iPad & iPhone there are two apps installed: Sonos S1 to operate the Play 5 (Gen 1) device and Sonos (app) to operate the Roam (portable; which works fine).  BUT, the older Play 5 (Generation 1) feels obsoleted by SONOS.  That’s annoying as the system is good and plays well (when I can get it working).

Now there is a SONOS S2 app that supersedes opening the Sonos S1, so I cannot move forward with the Play 5 (Gen 1).  Every “year” I am challenged to get this operating.  Annoying.  Why would I want to buy another Sonos device when different operational challenges occur.  To boot, one cannot talk to a live person for help.  Why Sonos???  I invite someone to help me.  Thanks,

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2 replies

Airgetlam
  • Airgetlam
  • May 20, 2025

Not sure I understand what your question is.

The first generation PLAY:5 has neither the internal memory nor the CPU required to run S2. You could just use the line in on it, and connect it to a Sonos analog line out…not the ideal situation, but it’s still a good sounding speaker. I’m still sad I got rid of mine years ago.

As for being ‘obsoleted’, it still operates using S1. I can’t run any recent Windows version on the 386 I own…is that considered ‘obsoleted’. Nor can I run the current versions of iOS or Android on the original phones I have. Are they ‘obsoleted’?

I’m not sure why you’re unable to talk to a live person when calling Sonos Support directly. Every time I’ve needed to call in, I’ve always ended up talking to an individual. 

What are your specific issues your system is experiencing? While this is merely a community forum, if we can, there are many who will help, if they know what issues your system is experiencing. Of course, details help a lot, the more guessing that has to be done, the less educated the response. 

Bruce
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  • Bill Henderly
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • May 21, 2025

Thank you Bruce for your comments.  I’m not a techy guy; thus some of what you are writing is read but not fully appreciated.  I did locate a USA customer support phone number (800-680-2345) after much searching; called it, and was helped to reset the Play 5 (Gen 1) speaker system.  It was a process, but it now operates again to play Apple or Pandora music sources.  My challenge:  each spring, I start using Play 5 outside on the patio; but, given it was not regularly used (or was unplugged), it needs to be reset to operate.  This year, using Sonos S1 (as in the past), I am redirected to install S2 on which Play 5 is not supported, and I could not even operate/access S1.  Sonos Support helped reset and reinstall the system to operate again.  To me, that is what I mean by it feels like the system is “obsoleted” when S2 appears to be pushed to replace S1 and old systems cannot operate.  Thanks for your help.

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