Why does Sonos keep changing their proprietary power cables each new generation?

@jrm523

The Play 1 was introduced in 2013 and the Era 100 was introduced in 2023. The speakers internally are completely different not to mention externally. So you really expect the power cable connection points to be the same 10 years later?

Sonos discontinued the Play 1 in favor of the Sonos One and then upgraded the Sonos One to Sonos One-Gen2 and the power cable did not change. Also if you review the power cables n the link you’ll see cross compatibility with some Sonos models and generations.

https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/accessories

Apple changed the connector for its 2012 iPad mid model with no upgrades. So essentially those who purchased an iPad in March 2012 had an outdated model reference the connection point in September 2012.

All said aside if you want an answer you need to contact Sonos tech support or sales. No one in this community has anything to do with Sonos speaker design/engineering. 

Sonos could help if they posted a power cord article on the new

https://en.community.sonos.com/knowledge-base

I don’t know all the cords but a lot of them seem to have common commercial connectors that you could substitute if the Sonos cable wasn’t available or was the wrong length.

I don’t want to drag this out any longer than need be so I’ll make this my last comment 😊.  

I can recall generically only a very few manufacturers that have kept the same power cord connection for a like or similar product year over year through infinity (emphasis on “infinity”). They being router manufacturers.

I’ve been a fan of Asus routers for years and up until recently (when I purchased their Zen WiFi Pro ET12) did the power cord connection point change. However, while the connection point may not have changed (on Asus routers I’ve purchased) the “power brick” did on certain models. That suggested to me that something internally within the router was different requiring a change in the power delivery.

IMO things that can be produced as accessories for a manufacturers product are typically left to the 3rd party market...extended (long) power cords being one. Suffice it to say that Sonos IMO has done a great job to keep things like power cords uniform across their product line as referenced in my previous post.

Circling back to 3rd party manufacturers the link below references suppliers of extended power cords for the Sonos Era series. I don’t know where the OP is located but the website host (Amazon) is readily available to most of the world. I found the product in less than a minute.

My point being “is how did the OP purchase the wrong product?”  Granted I have no experience to say that the cables are a perfect match; but at least the site has a mode of buyer protection...called a refund or credit (if one chooses).

As I promised I’ll stop and not drag this novella out any further 😂

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=era+100+power+cord&crid=390DHDGFWXITX&sprefix=era+100+power+cord%2Caps%2C150&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

Here’s a link for the Play 1 as well:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=sonos+play+1+power+cord&crid=BJR2SENDWRGZ&sprefix=sonos+play+1%2Caps%2C116&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_4_12

My question was essentially calling out how wasteful it is. One of the primary reasons they do it is for revenue generation.  However, these types of strategies lead to more and more e-waste. Pointing to the worst offender of them all, Apple, is definitely not the right way to justify this behavior. I definitely didn't expect to see someone defending their strategy. Not sure how old you are but years ago many electronics used to use the same two prong polarized or non-polarized power cable. It was very convenient because if your device died, you could reuse the power cable with something else instead of throwing it away. 

Am I saying every 120v electrical device should use the same exact power cable? No. Absolutely not. However, changing a very similar power cable design slightly from one generation to the other is wasteful. 

BTW I didn't buy the wrong cable. I needed a longer cable for an Era 100 and bought a two pack of cables on Amazon which was cheaper than buying a single cable from Sonos. 

Which cables did you purchase on Amazon? I’m curious as to the description they listed for the item. The ones linked by @AjTrek1 seem to indicate which Sonos speakers they’re to be associated with rather clearly. 

@jrm523 

If you didn’t purchase the wrong cables…then your original post is very misleading.

Why not? That would be the least wasteful design. 

I can’t resist this…and I promise…as my final comment.

This thread IMO is Shakespearian in the vain of:

“Much Ado About Nothing”

So Sonos, a small producer of speakers that last a long time, has changed the design of the cable on it’s least expensive speaker once in ten years. Recently Apple, that sells millions of phones that only last for five years max every year, was forced by the EU to go over to USB-C, that in my household alone has forced us to buy four new chargers and eight new cables. If there is any reason for criticism, please take it elsewhere.