I have three Play 5s but one came with a different style power cord. Why?

  • 22 January 2020
  • 10 replies
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As stated in the title I have three Play 5s (2 black, 1 white), having recently received the third from Adorama during their Black Friday sale. The first two I’ve been using (1, black, 1 white) for the past year have the same circular power cord, albeit in their respective colors. However, the third Play 5 that I just received came with a more flat (not circular) power cord. Does anyone know why this is? 

I also compared the back of each speaker and there are slight differences in the text right above and below the row of inputs (ethernet, line-in, sync button). I’m assuming that these differences are slight differences between production batches but can’t ay for sure. 

Perhaps important to note that ALL of the Play5s came brand new fully packaged, shrink wrapped and all. 

Questions: 

  1. Which power cord version is the latest model? 
  2. How can I tell which of the Play5s is the newer/older model? 
  3. Should I be concerned/cautious about the differences between production batches/models? i.e. are there known issues with certain batch models? 

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10 replies

Userlevel 7
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That is the MAC portion, what you are looking for are the first four digits. So here 1209 YYMM.

 

 

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Odd, what are the manufacture dates? First four digits of the serial number.

With the differences in the markings I’d guess there may have been slight changes but Sonos hasn’t said anything I’m aware of.

Unit on the left starts with ‘5C-AA’

Unit on the right starts with ‘34-7E’ 

Userlevel 7
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Odd, what are the manufacture dates? First four digits of the serial number.

With the differences in the markings I’d guess there may have been slight changes but Sonos hasn’t said anything I’m aware of.

Ah, you’re talking about the cord, and not the connector? I’d assume that Sonos had, for unknown reasons, multiple  suppliers for the cabling. As long as the cable met the spec, and had the appropriate connectors at either end, it didn’t make any difference to Sonos. Of course, I wouldn’t know if these cable suppliers were simultaneous, or sequential, but it wouldn’t be anything I’d lose any sleep over. The speakers serial numbers are probably no where near sequential, either, and may have been manufactured/packaged months apart.

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Interesting issue, can you post pictures?

 

Absolutely. Currently my white Play5 is at a different house but here are side-by-side pictures of the two black Play5s.

The unit on the left I’ve had for almost a year now. It’s the one with a more round cable and more text/logos on the back of the speaker above the ethernet and line-in inputs. 

The unit on the right is the one I just received from Adorama from their Black Friday sale. You’ll notice the power cable is slightly different - more flat than round, and less text/logos than the unit on the left. 

What do the discrepancies mean? Slight changes between batch models? Hoping for an informed answer. 

 

Userlevel 7
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Interesting issue, can you post pictures?

 

 

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The “old” gen 1 version of the PLAY:5 looks substantially different than the gen 2 version. If all the cases look the same, then they’re all the same gen. It sounds like either Sonos or Adorama packaged the wrong cable, I would get in touch with them to see about a replacement. 
 

You can see the differences between the generations here:   
 

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-g0gGp02dACE/learn/sonos-play-5-review-old-vs-new.html

 

The first gen is behind. 

Sorry i didn’t clarify in my original post, all Play5s are gen 2. Very curious why if all the same gen one of the 3 power cables is different from the others, as well as slightly different writing on the back of the units. 

The “old” gen 1 version of the PLAY:5 looks substantially different than the gen 2 version. If all the cases look the same, then they’re all the same gen. It sounds like either Sonos or Adorama packaged the wrong cable, I would get in touch with them to see about a replacement. 
 

You can see the differences between the generations here:   
 

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-g0gGp02dACE/learn/sonos-play-5-review-old-vs-new.html

 

The first gen is behind.