I had a second generation Play 3. Sounded great. Worst, buggiest software ever. Crashed all the time, locked up, would lose access to devices or playlists, all sorts of stuff. Must have cost them thousands in support time (which, to their credit, they would work on, although it could be hard to get through to them). And all of this was before their well documented, company destroying failed upgrade to a new operating system. I actually threw the thing in the trash a couple of years ago, but then pulled it out and sold it for $100 (having warned the buyer about how unreliable it was - he already owned 2), and I counted the sale as a huge win. Would never trust their stuff again.
Wasn’t there some news a while back about Sonos bricking these because they’re EOL (End Of Life). Maybe it was a different speaker. Sonos was offering a discount coupon for a newer speaker.
@dahobbs9 No, this didn’t happen, but it comes up every time a Sonos product is on sale. Sonos launched an upgrade program where you as an owner could choose to deactivate (permanently brick) a speaker you own to get a discount on a new speaker. Everyone rightly told them to @%&# off with that nonsense, and the requirement to brick a speaker to get the discount lasted less than a month. The upgrade program still exists, they just track the serial numbers now so that the discount can only be claimed once per speaker and the ‘upgraded’ speakers continue to operate as normal.
@dahobbs9 Sonos didn’t brick them this time, but they did update the app, making it much less useful for people with older devices. I wouldn’t buy one myself, because I wouldn’t trust Sonos not to do it again.
I would never pay the full price for these, nor the $99 Meh has them for here, but my wife found 5 of them at one of our local Goodwill stores for $10 each and bought them. They didn’t come with power cables, so I ordered two from Amazon (I’ll order three more later) and set them up. I haven’t used them extensively, but when I have they sound great! I don’t know why the Meh people only mention their compatibility with Apple Airplay, though. Once I’m in the sonos app I can use a number of streaming services, including YouTube music, my favorite.
@pcrob I’m not equipped to debate MSRP of portable speakers, but there is a huge difference in design and quality. These were positioned in a higher-end similar to the way Apple stuff is priced. The ability to network between rooms was one of the main features; I.e. turn on a music service and as you go to other rooms it is ready there too.
I will say I haven’t used these myself (Mostly due to cost) and having a bunch of portable speakers ranging from serious crap to pretty good. None of which I use much.
My wife is attached to an AM/FM CD radio in the kitchen that is fairly crap, but she likes it so what can you do? Plus little room on the kitchen counters for 2 new speakers, and the app learning curve.
I am not an audiophile, but I am pretty sure I remember meh selling “real” speakers years ago. Like the kinds people who have elaborate setups and they buy and replace a one at a time of their 8.1.1.whatever speaker setup.
I seem to recall those types of speakers had rare earth magnets for the bass, told the tweeter size in inches, had anti-shielding whatever, blah blah blah.
What happened to those types of speakers? Do they not make them anymore? How does a $100 wifi speaker perform better than a $10 one of the same size?
Is it that easy to be in the marketing department of a speaker company? You just say it is compatible with apple and slap a 3-digit price tag?
@KNmeh7 I don’t recall seeing speakers of the sort you’re describing on Meh, but I’ve definitely bought a few from the old site over the years.
Those types of speakers are still produced, but this type of speaker is much easier to set up and use, and the quality of this type of speaker has increased dramatically over the years, leading most folks to not want to have to deal with wiring speakers to an amplifier which itself has to be wired to a TV and whatever else.
Aside from almost certainly being literal trash that’s not any better than the speakers in your phone, a $10 speaker can’t do the main things that make Sonos speakers good. Multi-room synchronized audio without wires, so you can have several of these around the house, group and un-group them selectively, and not have one speaker be slightly ahead of or behind the other. The Sonos app can be used to tune the speaker to the space it’s in, which legitimately does improve sound. The Apple Airplay compatibility is a nice bonus for folks in that ecosystem, as it is more robust than bluetooth, better range, less delay, and synchronized playback across multiple wireless speakers.
@Aspirant_Fool@KNmeh7 I bought a subwoofer from the old site for under $500, and it is terrific! I’m pretty sure I’d have to spend more than twice as much for something comparable.
Hmmmm. The one I bought last time is working nicely, but I don’t really need stereo for what I’m using it for, or need speakers in multiple rooms at this point.
@TheFLP you think you don’t need speakers in different rooms, but it is super nice having the same songs playing throughout your house…especially at this time of year when we almost always have the same Christmas music Pandora station playing in most rooms of the house.
Be careful if you have an existing setup. I bought one last time. When I added it and tried to play the whole house it wouldn’t play properly. When I excluded only this speaker it worked fine. Something’s funky about these (or at least to one I got).
@robdog2 I have 3 of these, 2 Ones, 3 Moves, and an Era 100…all work flawlessly…for the last 6 years (minus two moves I got for beta testing, and the Era I bought with credit union rewards).
I wanted to get the 3 and 5 a few years back, but they were too pricey.
These speakers work pretty good. The only issue(s) I’ve had were reconnecting all of them after updates to the speakers or to my router - to include any mesh settings being altered. And…the biggest one in my opinion…is sometimes they will “unsync” - which causes a weird echo that immediately hurts my head. But that is more when using iTunes, or whatever they want to call it now, than the Sonos app on windows - the app on iPhone is horrid now.
I hesitated buying these the very first time they were available, by the time I made up my mind, they were gone! They came available again, immediately bought 2, set them as stereo pair, was so impressed, once they came available again (on side deal), I bought 2 more. So, now I have a stereo pair in my living room, a stereo pair in my office and I just bought a Sonos Roam 2 from ebay for my bathroom, now I have the same tunes playing throughout my house, love it! You can individually adjust the volume for each room so the sound level is consistent as you walk from room to room. Get these, you won’t be disappointed! And make sure get 2 for each area, stereo setup makes a big difference. BTW, they are in plain brown box, but otherwise are like new!
I just got the Beam 2 for Christmas. I already have the Sub, so getting two of these for the back channels is perfect for my living room surround sound set-up and now I don’t have to pull two speakers from other rooms to complete the set. This Christmas is gonna sound great!
@PeacefulEasy If you use them with a compatible Sonos sound bar like the Beam, yes, they can be surrounds. Alternately, if you have an Apple TV, you can use AirPlay to make these act as the only speakers the audio comes out of. But unless your TV has some kind of AirPlay feature embedded, it’s unlikely you can use them as the TV speakers without any additional equipment AFAIK.
@PeacefulEasy - you can’t directly connect to a tv, but use a Sonos soundbar to connect. The Beam 2 is on sale now for $369 at Sonos and elsewhere. I use two of the Ones from Meh as rear surrounds with a Beam.
I bought one of these the first time Meh had them, liked it so much, I bought another one the next time (this is the third). I then bought a Beam 2 and use the One XLs as rear surrounds. Couldn’t be happier, especially after using Trueplay to eq them.
@akatz227@lennypazz they get pretty loud. I used to have a single one in an open kitchen/dining room area where it was loud enough. I got a new Sonos Era 300 for the kitchen/dining and moved the Sonos One to a large bedroom where can easily be too loud.
Got these setup just in time for Christmas music and they’re great. Not sure why I always avoided Sonos. Probably because I am already an Apple ecosystem devotee and how many you-pay-a-premium-for-quality ecosystems should I commit to…
Anyway now wishing I’d bought more than a pair!
I see they’re on SideDeal now for $130/each but at $60 more per pair I’m kicking myself.
Specs
Product: Sonos One SL Wireless Speaker (Certified Renewed)
Model: ONESLUS3SDW
Condition: Refurbished
What’s Included?
Price Comparison
$182.21 at Amazon
Warranty
90 days
Estimated Delivery
Thursday, Dec 18 - Monday, Dec 22
So No?
@yakkoTDI Do you really want a red speaker?
@yakkoTDI Many times <= SoNo’s
@phendrick @yakkoTDI Ohhh! I get it neow!
I had a second generation Play 3. Sounded great. Worst, buggiest software ever. Crashed all the time, locked up, would lose access to devices or playlists, all sorts of stuff. Must have cost them thousands in support time (which, to their credit, they would work on, although it could be hard to get through to them). And all of this was before their well documented, company destroying failed upgrade to a new operating system. I actually threw the thing in the trash a couple of years ago, but then pulled it out and sold it for $100 (having warned the buyer about how unreliable it was - he already owned 2), and I counted the sale as a huge win. Would never trust their stuff again.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/08/tech/sonos-app-update-redemption-2025
But this is a good price! YMMV.
@sfwineguy you keep your trash around for two years?
Buy two for stereo?
Is such a thing supported?
@rjquillin According to the ad copy, it is. They also mention interesting note of lilac, persimmon, and apricot.
@rjquillin Yup, https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/create-a-stereo-pair
Wasn’t there some news a while back about Sonos bricking these because they’re EOL (End Of Life). Maybe it was a different speaker. Sonos was offering a discount coupon for a newer speaker.
I figure someone’s heard of this
So this IS a definite PASS…
@dahobbs9 You not thinking about Bose???
@dahobbs9 The Sonos One is being discontinued for the newer model but it will still continue to work.
BOSE is the one partially bricking devices by removing the “smart” features. I believe the this happens mid-Feb '26 with Bose
@dahobbs9 No, this didn’t happen, but it comes up every time a Sonos product is on sale. Sonos launched an upgrade program where you as an owner could choose to deactivate (permanently brick) a speaker you own to get a discount on a new speaker. Everyone rightly told them to @%&# off with that nonsense, and the requirement to brick a speaker to get the discount lasted less than a month. The upgrade program still exists, they just track the serial numbers now so that the discount can only be claimed once per speaker and the ‘upgraded’ speakers continue to operate as normal.
@dahobbs9 Sonos didn’t brick them this time, but they did update the app, making it much less useful for people with older devices. I wouldn’t buy one myself, because I wouldn’t trust Sonos not to do it again.
The “Listen Up” copy was the most ridiculous thing I’ve read all year here. Loved every word.
I would never pay the full price for these, nor the $99 Meh has them for here, but my wife found 5 of them at one of our local Goodwill stores for $10 each and bought them. They didn’t come with power cables, so I ordered two from Amazon (I’ll order three more later) and set them up. I haven’t used them extensively, but when I have they sound great! I don’t know why the Meh people only mention their compatibility with Apple Airplay, though. Once I’m in the sonos app I can use a number of streaming services, including YouTube music, my favorite.
@pcrob I’m not equipped to debate MSRP of portable speakers, but there is a huge difference in design and quality. These were positioned in a higher-end similar to the way Apple stuff is priced. The ability to network between rooms was one of the main features; I.e. turn on a music service and as you go to other rooms it is ready there too.
I will say I haven’t used these myself (Mostly due to cost) and having a bunch of portable speakers ranging from serious crap to pretty good. None of which I use much.
My wife is attached to an AM/FM CD radio in the kitchen that is fairly crap, but she likes it so what can you do? Plus little room on the kitchen counters for 2 new speakers, and the app learning curve.
@pcrob That’s a win!
/showme Five anthropomorphized Sonos One SL Wireless Speakers playing basketball against five human basketball players.
I am not an audiophile, but I am pretty sure I remember meh selling “real” speakers years ago. Like the kinds people who have elaborate setups and they buy and replace a one at a time of their 8.1.1.whatever speaker setup.
I seem to recall those types of speakers had rare earth magnets for the bass, told the tweeter size in inches, had anti-shielding whatever, blah blah blah.
What happened to those types of speakers? Do they not make them anymore? How does a $100 wifi speaker perform better than a $10 one of the same size?
Is it that easy to be in the marketing department of a speaker company? You just say it is compatible with apple and slap a 3-digit price tag?
@KNmeh7 I don’t recall seeing speakers of the sort you’re describing on Meh, but I’ve definitely bought a few from the old site over the years.
Those types of speakers are still produced, but this type of speaker is much easier to set up and use, and the quality of this type of speaker has increased dramatically over the years, leading most folks to not want to have to deal with wiring speakers to an amplifier which itself has to be wired to a TV and whatever else.
Aside from almost certainly being literal trash that’s not any better than the speakers in your phone, a $10 speaker can’t do the main things that make Sonos speakers good. Multi-room synchronized audio without wires, so you can have several of these around the house, group and un-group them selectively, and not have one speaker be slightly ahead of or behind the other. The Sonos app can be used to tune the speaker to the space it’s in, which legitimately does improve sound. The Apple Airplay compatibility is a nice bonus for folks in that ecosystem, as it is more robust than bluetooth, better range, less delay, and synchronized playback across multiple wireless speakers.
@KNmeh7 Pretty sure that is a hallucination…
@KNmeh7 @suprchunk I think at one time the “W” site had some higher-end stuff, but not lately.
Rest assured it’s still possible to walk into an audiophile shop and drop $50,000.
My speakers which I still have were over $2000 back when I got them in the 1980s. Seven feet tall and the cat used to climb them.
@Aspirant_Fool @KNmeh7 I bought a subwoofer from the old site for under $500, and it is terrific! I’m pretty sure I’d have to spend more than twice as much for something comparable.
Hmmmm. The one I bought last time is working nicely, but I don’t really need stereo for what I’m using it for, or need speakers in multiple rooms at this point.
@TheFLP you think you don’t need speakers in different rooms, but it is super nice having the same songs playing throughout your house…especially at this time of year when we almost always have the same Christmas music Pandora station playing in most rooms of the house.
Be careful if you have an existing setup. I bought one last time. When I added it and tried to play the whole house it wouldn’t play properly. When I excluded only this speaker it worked fine. Something’s funky about these (or at least to one I got).
@robdog2 I have 3 of these, 2 Ones, 3 Moves, and an Era 100…all work flawlessly…for the last 6 years (minus two moves I got for beta testing, and the Era I bought with credit union rewards).
I wanted to get the 3 and 5 a few years back, but they were too pricey.
These speakers work pretty good. The only issue(s) I’ve had were reconnecting all of them after updates to the speakers or to my router - to include any mesh settings being altered. And…the biggest one in my opinion…is sometimes they will “unsync” - which causes a weird echo that immediately hurts my head. But that is more when using iTunes, or whatever they want to call it now, than the Sonos app on windows - the app on iPhone is horrid now.
“Do you really want a red speaker?”
looks over at the red Bluetooth speaker purchased off this very website several years ago
I hesitated buying these the very first time they were available, by the time I made up my mind, they were gone! They came available again, immediately bought 2, set them as stereo pair, was so impressed, once they came available again (on side deal), I bought 2 more. So, now I have a stereo pair in my living room, a stereo pair in my office and I just bought a Sonos Roam 2 from ebay for my bathroom, now I have the same tunes playing throughout my house, love it! You can individually adjust the volume for each room so the sound level is consistent as you walk from room to room. Get these, you won’t be disappointed! And make sure get 2 for each area, stereo setup makes a big difference. BTW, they are in plain brown box, but otherwise are like new!
I just got the Beam 2 for Christmas. I already have the Sub, so getting two of these for the back channels is perfect for my living room surround sound set-up and now I don’t have to pull two speakers from other rooms to complete the set. This Christmas is gonna sound great!
I am absolutely clueless when it comes to the audio side of tech. Can I wirelessly connect these to my smart(er than me) tv?
@PeacefulEasy If you use them with a compatible Sonos sound bar like the Beam, yes, they can be surrounds. Alternately, if you have an Apple TV, you can use AirPlay to make these act as the only speakers the audio comes out of. But unless your TV has some kind of AirPlay feature embedded, it’s unlikely you can use them as the TV speakers without any additional equipment AFAIK.
@PeacefulEasy - you can’t directly connect to a tv, but use a Sonos soundbar to connect. The Beam 2 is on sale now for $369 at Sonos and elsewhere. I use two of the Ones from Meh as rear surrounds with a Beam.
I bought one of these the first time Meh had them, liked it so much, I bought another one the next time (this is the third). I then bought a Beam 2 and use the One XLs as rear surrounds. Couldn’t be happier, especially after using Trueplay to eq them.
I then bought 3 Era 100s. Love them!!!
@lennypazz how big is the ideal room for these speakers?
@akatz227 I really don’t know the recommended room sizes, but they can get pretty loud. One test rated them at 86 dBA.
@akatz227 @lennypazz they get pretty loud. I used to have a single one in an open kitchen/dining room area where it was loud enough. I got a new Sonos Era 300 for the kitchen/dining and moved the Sonos One to a large bedroom where can easily be too loud.
Got these setup just in time for Christmas music and they’re great. Not sure why I always avoided Sonos. Probably because I am already an Apple ecosystem devotee and how many you-pay-a-premium-for-quality ecosystems should I commit to…
Anyway now wishing I’d bought more than a pair!
I see they’re on SideDeal now for $130/each but at $60 more per pair I’m kicking myself.