Our guest blog writer – The Masked installer – returns again. this time around he shares his directly speaking viewpoint from inside the Integrator market on the ever prominent Sonos multi-room music system.

I’m usually quite remove about where we stand in respect of most of the brands we sell.  There is a little number we trust, there are a great deal more we distrust as well as there are a choose few that we loathe with a vengeance; no names, no pack-drill….erm, OK… Netstreams DigiLinX.  There’s one we have the most bizarre connection with as well as it’s a favourite of this parish; Sonos.

Here’s a secret.  It’s most likely not as well trick however we don’t talk about it as well much.  custom Installers make next to nothing selling Sonos. Sonos are offered to the trade in the UK by an IT supplier as well as the margins most of us make are akin to the margins we may make on selling mice as well as keyboards.  now if you offer your spirit to Sonos; shift all your volume into moving their product for them, do extra advertising for them as well as do ridiculous levels of turnover you may make half the portion margin you may make on a nice set of ceiling speakers or an AMX processor.  If you’ve done that you’ve probaably had to do a few of the complying with things.

You’ve offered units that can be utilized with the most fundamental diy house network set as well as that set will definitely break

You’ve utilized Sonos in location of a product with a appropriate custom set up support infrastructrure

You’ve almost definitely had to offer with audio as well as video distribution individually since Sonos is such a resolutely audio only solution

You’ve most likely got some happy clients since Sonos is truly nice to utilize as well as getting much better all the time.  I count myself among them as I’ve got a 5 zone system running at home.

There then is the dilemma.  The product is excellent however selling it isn’t. think about the Sonos S5 – the ultimate anti custom set up product.  Let’s presume you are a middling Sonos dealership who jumps with most of the hoops that have put in front of you.  The S5 is available in quite packaging that emphasises the truth that it can be managed by a free app running on an iPod touch.  It doesn’t requirement speakers – one of the engines of revenue as well as margin for AV dealers.  like other Sonos products it’s somewhat of an uncomfortable kid in being integrated into wider house manage systems (with the honourable exception of Control4) so it’s not a excellent introduction to the wider world of integration as well as like all other Sonos products, it’s offered to the general public by Sonos in direct competition with their dealership base. So it’s not our favourite.

If we want to preserve our authorized dealership condition with Sonos we requirement to bring both the Black one as well as the White one as demo items.  obviously this means we can provide the full Sonos experience to the potential punters who come in.  Presumably this will assist them when they go as well as location orders on sonos.com when they get home…

The readership on this site is quite clued up as well as I’m not expecting any type of sympathy.  However, it may be fascinating background for you if you ever go to a custom Installer to talk about a Sonos job.  If they begin looking at their watch or over your shoulder or just begin looking bored, remind yourself of this; a typical installer will make more money margin selling ONE Kaleidescape mini system than he will selling 20 Sonos bundles as well as he’ll do so with much less risk.

Now as the editor of this site has explained to me, this article leaves a concern hanging in the air…”Masked Installer, why do you bother selling Sonos at all?”  The response is simple.  I don’t believe I can’t.  Sonos is as well great to ignore.  It’s slick, it works, it offers excellent online services as well as an interface that everybody gets.  I’ve done three cinema tasks for somebody who very first came to us to talk about Sonos, I’ve offered £20K of speakers on the back of one Sonos job, I like the damn thing.  I’ve most likely just got the hump since I’ve got to buy yet more pointless demo set to protect the already feeble % margin I make selling it.

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Preview
Product
Rating
Price

1
Sonos Roam portable wise Speaker, (Black)690 Reviews
£179.00
buy on Amazon

2
Sonos One SL – The powerful Microphone-Free speaker for music as well as more, Black
1,533 Reviews
£165.00
buy on Amazon

3
Sonos Beam (Gen 2). The compact wise soundbar for TV, music as well as more. (Black)
112 Reviews
£435.00
buy on Amazon

Masked Installers Previous posts : Sonos at Amazon : Sonos.com : Our Sonos Review

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Last update on 2021-10-04 / affiliate links / pictures from Amazon product marketing API