Drop out out right side of play 5 stereo pair when using uncompressed line in

  • 18 September 2018
  • 4 replies
  • 520 views

I currently have my TV playing through the line in to the left hand speaker in a play 5 stereo pair. I have not been able to successfully troubleshoot the issues I am experiencing with drop out on the right hand speaker. Initially I had the TV playing through a play base, via optical input. I subsequently bought the 2 play 5s and grouped them with the playbase. I then realised that they provided better sound than the play base so the playbase was moved upstairs and I used the line in input on the left play 5. As soon as I did this I experienced intermittent drop out on the right hand speaker. I have connected the lift hand speaker via ethernet cable to see if that fixed the issue. Unsuccessful. I restarted every sonos item in the house, left play 5,right play 5, connect amp, and play base. This appeared to work for a short time but the problem has returned. I have tried allocating specific ip addresses to each item to try to minimise cross over.

Can I submit a diagnostic for some technical support please?

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

4 replies

Diagnostic submitted under number 1364216489
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
Diagnostic submitted under number 1364216489

Thanks for sending in the report. Line-in connections can often exceed the bandwidth for the standard 2.4 ghz antennas that the Sonos system uses to stream music. The Sonos home theater components use the 5 ghz antennas to handle the low-latency audio from your TV, but this only works if the device receiving the TV audio is a Playbase, Playbar, or Beam.

You can set the line-in compression level to compressed, which will limit the line-in bandwidth and help your Play:5s stream without interruptions, but that will introduce a delay in the audio, likely bringing it out of sync with the video.

Generally, your best bet would be to use the Playbase as the primary TV speaker and use the Play:5s as rears in a surround setup, utilizing the 5 ghz antennas. If you prefer using the Play:5s, it may help to run an additional ethernet cable between the 2 speakers. This would allow your left unit to send the line-in audio to the right unit without relying on the 2.4 ghz antennas. In this setup, you'd want to keep your system in the Boost mesh setup by keeping one unit wired into the network with an ethernet cable. The ethernet ports on the Sonos products are disabled if the speakers are configured to connect to your wireless network.
Thanks, I use the play 5s as stereo speakers for listening to music also, so putting them behind me as rears is not an option. With regards to connecting them by ethernet cable, this makes the whole reason for buying expensive "wireless" speakers redundant.

Having invested quite alot of money in various different sonos products with the hope of also expanding into the remaining rooms of my house id be very disappointed if this issue can't be remedied without the use of cables.
Initial diagnostic submitted whilst connect amp was not turned on. Further diagnostic with all sonos hardware operational 1204480624