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kphagen
Trending Lyricist II
February 17, 2018
Answered

Audio Cutout - but only when sourcing from playbase or playbar

I have a playbar on one tv and a playbase on another tv, also several other play:1 play:3 and connect:Amp.
When I use my phone or laptop as a source and switch to 'party mode', everything is perfect - always.
When I watch either TV with only it's playbase or playbar - it works flawlessly.
If, however, I attempt to group any other speakers to either the playbase or playbar sourced by TV sound - the audio cuts out every few seconds. This just started fairly recently - I recall watching some football this way (party mode) with no issues the entire evening - but by the time playoffs rolled around - it's not usable in that way. I'm unable to think of any significant changes that have been made since I recall this working - maybe the playbase is that new - it arrived on christmas day. :)

Another interesting thing to note is that the source playbase or playbar (depending on which tv I want to broadcast) never cuts out - only the satellite grouped speakers cut out - and they all cut out together.

This occurs with 'smart app' sourced audio as well as DTV sourced audio - I'm quite confident it's not a tv/receiver audio output issue in that the two setups are completely different but are behaving identically - also - the 'main' speaker never cuts out.

I tried switching between BOOST and home wifi - no change.
Only a single play:1 is not hardwired to the Gigabit Cat6e LAN.
I tried disabling the wificontrol - no change.
External interference is unlikely - I don't have many neighbors nearby.

I ran the diagnostics: 8505842
Currently playing Netflix Smart TV App in Master Bedroom - grouped in party mode and cutting out everywhere but MasterBedroom Playbar.

Associated ZP: 192.168.5.235
---------------------------------
PLAY:3: Bathroom
Serial Number: B8-E9-37-D0-90-8A:1
Version: 8.3 (build 40549090)
Hardware Version: 1.8.1.3-1
IP Address: 192.168.5.172
WM: 0
OTP:
---------------------------------
PLAY:1: Kitchen (L)
Serial Number: 5C-AA-FD-4D-FE-A2:F
Version: 8.3 (build 40549090)
Hardware Version: 1.8.3.7-1
IP Address: 192.168.5.235
WM: 0
OTP:
---------------------------------
PLAY:1: Kitchen (R)
Serial Number: 5C-AA-FD-4E-01-F2:D
Version: 8.3 (build 40549090)
Hardware Version: 1.8.3.7-1
IP Address: 192.168.5.243
WM: 0
OTP:
---------------------------------
PLAYBASE: Living Room
Serial Number: 5C-AA-FD-32-F1-5D:8
Version: 8.3 (build 40549090)
Hardware Version: 1.14.1.11-1
IP Address: 192.168.5.196
Audio In:
WM: 0
---------------------------------
PLAYBAR: Master Bedroom
Serial Number: 5C-AA-FD-17-9A-19:D
Version: 8.3 (build 40549090)
Hardware Version: 1.9.1.10-1
IP Address: 192.168.5.241
Audio In: Dolby Digital 2.0
WM: 0
OTP:
---------------------------------
PLAY:3: Office
Serial Number: B8-E9-37-DC-5C-42:8
Version: 8.3 (build 40549090)
Hardware Version: 1.8.1.3-1
IP Address: 192.168.5.208
WM: 0
OTP:
---------------------------------
CONNECT:AMP: Patio
Serial Number: 5C-AA-FD-EA-20-AE:D
Version: 8.3 (build 40549090)
Hardware Version: 1.17.3.1-1
IP Address: 192.168.5.60
WM: 0
OTP: 1.1.1(1-17-3-2.1)
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    kphagenAnswer
    Trending Lyricist II
    February 19, 2018
    Update13:
    On phone with tech support - they're pretty great btw. Thanks John.

    They had me relocate the AMP, so I dropped one of the Play:3 and leveraged the network cable and powercable and switch for that component to take those potential faulty connections out of the mix also.

    Next step is I need to review my router configuration with regards to 'Spanning Tree Protocol' before we get to the next level.
    View in thread

    32 replies

    kphagenAuthor
    Trending Lyricist II
    February 19, 2018
    Are others able to replicate this issue when grouping other speakers with a playbase/bar tv source audio or is it just me?

    I think I may try unplugging them all and see if maybe if all I have is a playbar and a play3 online - will it work, then if that works, bring one more online, etc... I just joined the beta program - maybe there's hope inside that...
    Popol67
    Popol67
    Contributor I
    February 19, 2018
    I have the same issue with TV sound and just posted a message. Two surrounds and any grouped speakers cut out but Playbase works fine. I am pretty sure it is since the latest app/firmware update. Never had issues before.
    Hopefully a solution will be forthcoming.
      kphagenAuthor
      Trending Lyricist II
      February 19, 2018
      Update:
      I unplugged everything except for 1 playbar and 1 playbase.
      I grouped playbar to playbase - no audio cutouts.
      I grouped playbase to playbar - no audio cutouts.

      Diagnostic (success): 8511677

      Plan: I'll add in the connect:amp and see what happens, run diagnostic, post here.
      Repeat with one more speaker until audio cuts out, then see if it's a quantity of sonos issue or a specific speakerset that's to blame.

      K
      kphagenAuthor
      Trending Lyricist II
      February 19, 2018
      Update2:
      So far so good, I added the connect:Amp to the mix.
      If anyone's following: playbase is sharing audio from direcTv - olympics; playbar is sharing audio from smartTv Netflix app - guardians of galaxy 2.

      playbase(wired) + playbar(wired) + connect:amp(wired) = no audio cutouts when grouped to either playbase or playbar.

      Diagnostic (success): 8511789

      On Deck: Adding in a Play:3 (wired)...
      kphagenAuthor
      Trending Lyricist II
      February 19, 2018
      Update3:

      That broke it - I didn't even have to group it, simply bringing the Play:3 online resulted in audio cutting out on the grouped speakers.

      playbase(wired) + playbar(wired) + connect:amp(wired) + play:3(wired) = audio cut outs - did not even have to add play:3 to group.

      Diagnostic (fail): 8511869

      Plan: I'll unplug just the play:3 and see if it gets back to good.
      kphagenAuthor
      Trending Lyricist II
      February 19, 2018
      Update4:
      With the Play:3 unplugged, the system did not roll back to perfect - however the frequency of the cut-outs appears to have diminished from every 5 or so seconds to maybe every 45 sec or minute...

      Diagnostic (fail): 8511977
      This Diagnostic should align with Update2 diagnostic above where the sound (allegedly) did not cut out.

      Possibly I was not patient enough to notice actual skipping previously during update2 above.

      Plan: I'll drop the connect:amp out of the set up, wait 5 minutes and then see if it can go a full 5 minutes with no cutout.
      kphagenAuthor
      Trending Lyricist II
      February 19, 2018
      Update5:

      Regressing back to only the PlayBar and PlayBase - I was able to make it through over 5 minutes without any noticeable audio cut outs.

      Diagnostic (success): 8512149

      Plan: I'll keep the connect:Amp out of the mix and add just the same Play:3 as earlier back in and see what happens.
      kphagenAuthor
      Trending Lyricist II
      February 19, 2018
      Update6:

      Adding in the Play:3 does not appear to have broken anything - I was able to enjoy audio for over 5 minutes without any cut-out.

      Diagnostic (success): 8512225

      For this round, I'm only leaving the playbar/playbase grouped and simply bringing the other units online.

      Plan: Adding an additional Play:3(wired) to the mix and will give it a listen, keeping the connect:amp out of the mix for now to see how far I can get. My theory is that adding this 4th component will result in the noticeable audio cut-out issue.
      kphagenAuthor
      Trending Lyricist II
      February 19, 2018
      Update7:

      Interesting - no audio cutouts in over 5 minutes with

      playbar + playbase + play:3 + play:3

      Diagnostics (success): 8512324

      Plan: For this next test, I'm going to keep everything as-is and simply group both play:3 components and see if it holds.
      kphagenAuthor
      Trending Lyricist II
      February 19, 2018
      Update8:
      As expected, I don't believe that grouping/ungrouping has any significant impact on this issue. It's been over 5 minutes with no audio cut out.

      Diagnostics (success): 8512385

      The issue I'm having appears related to either a quantity of devices or a combination of devices (or some specific faulty device). Possibly different components have different 'weights' where eventually the total component weight is too much for whatever the problem is - if that theory is accurate, the connect:Amp is the heavyweight in my setup.

      I only have a pair of Play:1's and the connect:Amp left to test with.
      I think I should fully expect it to fail if I add the connect:Amp - since it failed previously with that component and just one of the play:3 components.

      Plan: I think I'll learn more with this next test if I add one Play:1(wired)
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