Why a Discontinued Sonos Speaker Is Still in Absurdly High Demand

The Sonos Play:5 was discontinued years ago, yet is still highly sought after. Here’s why.

Published July 26, 2024

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The Play:5 — specifically the 2015-released “Gen-2” model — is among the most beloved Sonos speakers ever. It was the company’s biggest and best-sounding standalone speaker — and the only one with a line-in connection to hook up a turntable — but today the Play:5 is very difficult to buy.

The reason is quite simple — Sonos doesn’t sell it anymore. It officially discontinued the Play:5 (Gen 2) in 2020 when it introduced the Five, which is essentially the same exact speaker, just newer.

So what’s the problem? Nothing for new buyers. But it’s a bit of a headache for anyone, like me, who owns a Play:5 (Gen 2) and wants to turn it into a larger system by making a stereo pair.

Sonos Play:5 (Discontinued)

The Play:5 is the predecessor to Sonos’s current Five. The two speakers are virtually identical — they’re the same size and have the same sound quality — but the newer Five has more memory and processing power, plus a slightly updated design.

Specs

Drivers	Three mid-woofers, three tweeters
Amplification	Six Class-D digital amplifiers
Connectivity	Wi-Fi, Ethernet, 3.5mm audio line-in, AirPlay 2

According to Sonos, the Five’s upgraded internals make it more future-proof, but this comes at the cost of compatibility. Because even though the Play:5 (Gen 2) and the Five are virtually identical, the two speakers can’t be stereo-paired together.

In a nutshell, you need two Play:5 (Gen 2) speakers or two Five speakers to create a stereo pair. You can’t mix and match an old with a newer one. And there’s no way around it.

This wouldn’t be such an issue if the Play:5 (Gen 2) speaker was easy to find and buy. But it isn’t. At all. A dwindling supply plus a growing demand for people who want to complete their stereo pair means these old Play:5 (Gen 2) speakers are very much — even increasingly — in demand.

sonos — The Play:5 (Gen 2) and the Five next to each other.

After all, until their resale price exceeds $1,100 — the price of two Five speakers — it’s still cheaper to buy one marked-up Play:5 and then stereo pair it with the Play:5 you already have than buy two new Fives. No matter what, you’re getting the same stereo sound.

There is one silver lining: The difficulty of buying a new Play:5 (Gen 2) prevents you from doubling down your investment on aging hardware. Eventually, the Play:5 speakers will not support the newest software — but that time is still far off.

Meanwhile, if you have a Play:5 (Gen 2) speaker and you really want a true stereo sound, you have a few options — but none of them are super ideal.

How to Buy a Sonos Play:5 (Gen 2)

turntable setups gear patrol sonos — When you place a Sonos Five or Play:5 (shown) on its side so that it’s vertically oriented, the speaker outputs mono audio — which you want from each speaker when stereo paired.

Look out for a refurbished Play:5 (Gen 2) from Sonos

Sonos doesn’t sell new Play:5 speakers anymore, but it occasionally sells refurbished models from the “Certified Refurbished” section of its website, which normally cost $399. The problem is that they’re very rare.

At the time of writing, Sonos isn’t selling any refurbished Play:5 (Gen 2) speakers. Sonos does make refurbished models of the Play:5 (Gen 2) available, which is almost exclusively during the holidays, they sell out fast. Like, almost instantly.

Best Buy also occasionally sells refurbished Play:5 speakers but I can’t remember when they were last available. (I’ve been looking for many months.)

Buy a wicked expensive Play:5 (Gen 2) from Amazon

If you go on Amazon, you can buy a new Play:5 (Gen 2) speaker — but it’s so expensive that it’s hardly justifiable. At the time of writing this, Amazon is currently selling them for $630 (white) and $730 a pop.

It’s an extremely hard sell considering that you can buy a Five, a newer version of that speaker, for several hundred bucks less. Or two Fives that you can actually pair for just a few hundred bucks more.

Sonos speaker regrouping trick — One dead giveaway that you’re looking at a Play:5 instead of a newer Five? The logo is always white.

Buy a preowned Play:5 (Gen 2) from eBay

The “best deal” you can get on a used Play:5 (Gen 2) speaker is if you were to buy one on eBay or from some other third-party seller. You can sometimes find them on eBay for less than $300. The problem that they aren’t certified refurbished by Sonos or Buy Buy’s Geek Squad, so you’re wading into unknown territory.

Most third-party sellers have pretty good return policies, but you’re going to have to watch your step and be prepared for the possibility of an adventure if you take this route.

Bite the bullet and buy two new Fives

Even if you don’t want to buy on eBay, you can try to get rid of your own used Play:5 (2nd Gen) by selling it on eBay, Craigslist, or elsewhere, and use that money to fund the purchase of a new pair of current-gen Fives. You can’t trade in your Play:5 (Gen 2) speaker to Sonos — it got rid of its controversial trade in program in 2020 and replaced it with an Upgrade Program.

With the Upgrade Program, Sonos gives you a discount of up to 15 percent on new speakers if you provide proof of purchase for older ones. If you qualify for 15 percent discounts on both speakers (which you need to have two older Sonos speakers to be able to do), you’re going to get $164 off ($82 off each), bringing your total to around $850.

Maybe, just maybe, if you get lucky with your own Play:5 resale, you can come out having spent nothing more than a chunk of your time.

Sonos Play:5 (Discontinued)

The Play:5 is the predecessor to Sonos’s current Five. The two speakers are virtually identical — they’re the same size and have the same sound quality — but the newer Five has more memory and processing power, plus a slightly updated design.