Can't group or pair Sonos speakers when using Ubiquiti Unifi network with wireless uplinks/mesh

  • 1 March 2020
  • 4 replies
  • 493 views
L
Userlevel 1
  • LDK
  • Contributor I
  • 7 replies

I’m not sure if the problem is from a Sonos or Ubiquiti update but when I first setup my large 27 speaker Sonos system last August everything worked good. Recently I noticed that I could not group certain speakers together and I could not create a stereo pair no matter how hard I tried. The speakers would work individually fine while the grouping functions between certain speakers would fail consistently.

From long wisdom in working with large Sonos environments (I have two) I learned that in order to get the best performance and reliability I would make sure there was always at least one wired Sonos speaker in close range to every Sonos wireless only speaker to make SonosNet work best. In the end I had six Ethernet wired speakers doing this job. To accomplish this I had one wired speaker right where my main internet switch was located. I then utilized Actiontec MoCa adapters via existing coax cable to connect two more wired speakers and I also utilized the 5GHZ wireless uplink feature of the Unifi network to connect three more wired speakers. Each of these extended locations had a Unifi switch that supported spanning tree (STP) protocol correctly. 

With a bit of troubleshooting I finally tracked it down this issue to a problem with the Ubiquiti wireless uplinks. It appears that something to do with multicast network traffic not correctly passing through the wireless uplinks. I found little information on the Internet about this problem. Nothing specifically about Ubiqutii and Sonos. In the Ubiquiti community this multicast/wireless uplink problem also seems to affect Apple Bonjour/MDNS device discovery and also certain IoT home automation solutions. I suspect this issue started with a Sonos update related to multicast support but that level of technical detail seems seldom shared by Sonos.

I don’t want to spend endless time trying to track this down this obscure issue and will most likely take the wireless uplinks out of the picture by deploying some Comtrend PG-9182PT powerline adapters instead unless someone has an idea?

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4 replies

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Some power-line adapters have issues with Sonos so shop carefully.

L
Userlevel 1

Some power-line adapters have issues with Sonos so shop carefully.


Thanks for the heads-up on the powerline adapters. I did a search and did not see anything about complaining about Sonos not playing well with the Comtrend gear but I’ll keep compatibility issues in mind when I give them a shot. 

J

I am generally all for wiring whatever can be easily wired. And I have to confess I have no idea what using a 5GHz uplink to connect three wired speakers means. But have you tried just leaving theae wirelessly connected to SonosNet?

L
Userlevel 1

I am generally all for wiring whatever can be easily wired. And I have to confess I have no idea what using a 5GHz uplink to connect three wired speakers means. But have you tried just leaving theae wirelessly connected to SonosNet?


The Unifi wireless uplink feature allows you to extend your network to another area wirelessly by using two (or more) wireless access points that act as a network bridge. Systems that support many wireless points connecting in this fashion are sometimes called a “mesh network”. In theory it should function identical to running a cable from point A to point B but some of the more advanced protocols like multicast don’t always work as expected. The Unifi equipment supports both 2.4GHZ and 5GHZ radios, although most only allow 5GHZ for the mesh capability.

When I unplug the Ethernet cables from these three Sonos speakers I end up with four wireless speakers that have weaker signal levels than desired (orange as viewed from the diagnostic matrix view). They generally seem to work OK now but in my experience getting a fully strong signal with all green makes grouping all speakers when you have a lot work much better and faster. 

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