I have a Denon receiver. It has some nice connected features, like Spotify Connect and Airplay, but it’s also a completely functional dumb receiver that will wo

I have a Denon receiver. It has some nice connected features, like Spotify Connect and Airplay, but it’s also a completely functional dumb receiver that will work with equipment, input and output, from decades past and future. I buy my own speakers and plug them into it. It also supports some Denon wireless speaker standard that lets it hook up to other Denon receivers and/or any speakers with the special adapters attached. But the crucial thing is that at the end of the day, all that fancy pants crap can stop working and you still have a bunch of bog standard speakers and receivers that can be hooked up any other way. Now I’ll concede that maybe I’m ignorant or misinformed or a grumpy stubborn old man, but I’m not sure why anyone technically competent would buy a Sonos or Bose system with their crazy lock-in. It wasn’t so long ago that Sonos made you use Spotify through their awful reimplemented UI. It seems they have relented on that front and now allow use of Spotify Connect, but why would you want to be at someone else’s whim like that? Bose uses non-standard wiring and electrical specs to make sure that you can’t use their speakers with standard receivers. You either have to trash the speakers or keep buying Bose receivers when you want new features (4K, 8k, Atmos, HDR, etc.) Even when money is no object, I feel like a sucker when I buy artificially locked-in products like that. Maybe others don’t feel the same way? For the not-so-tech-savvy, I concede that home audio gear is still a little difficult to set up. The common practice of making your own banana plugs is ridiculous and pre-made audio cables should be the norm instead. The receiver UIs leave a lot to be desired, even when they are ultimately good enough once configured. Shopping for speakers is like choosing fad diets: you have to sift through outrageous amounts of bullshit to find any useful advice. I’d like to understand some more of the sociology and economics of why Denon and Yamaha and such can’t get their act together to produce something as user friendly as Sonos but that degrades nicely into standard A/V equipment when desired. If anyone with industry insight sees this comment, please fill me in.