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I expanded my networking gear. Router’s WiFi is off, instead I connected an Asus ZenWiFi AX Mini mesh system to serve as WiFi. Some devices in my network are Ethernet based, others through WiFi. Asus has its own DHCP server. So WiFi based devices are in another IP range than Ethernet based. WiFi is super stable.

My Sonos should run WiFi based, due to the remote positions in the house. To make sure I had a clean installation, I reseted all my Sonos devices by holding down play/plus while connecting to power. Those are my Sonos devices: 

  • Sonos Bridge
  • Sonos Connect
  • Play:1
  • Play:5 (gen 1
  • Sub (gen 2)
  • Playbar

First I spent more than an hour trying with the Sonos S1 app by just adding one single device through WiFi. Sometimes I was pretty close, able to see a device. Then process asked me to switch over to SONOS WiFi which I did. In the next step switching back, the process stoped because app unable to connect. In other attempts the SSID SONOS did not even appear, even when app suggested to connect to it. 

So my next attempt was to shut down the mesh system, only having the main device running. Negative.

Then I started to 

So I switched over to connect each device through Ethernet directly to the main Asus device. That’s how far I got:

Sonos Bridge
Not able to connect. Flashes orange for a while when holding down the connect button, then steady white.

Sonos Connect
Connected and set up. Able to play back through Ethernet, connected to the Asus device. When unplugging from Asus and connecting to my home network (other IP range), connection is lost. 

Play:1
Not able to connect at all. White steady light after a while.

Play:5
Connected and set up. Able to play. But only while connected through Asus Ethernet. When controlling device through S1, app often looses connection and states there are no Sonos devices to be found, but then connecting again after a while.

Sub
Setup process finds Playbar, but when setup process asks to press play/plus button, Playbar starts blinking orange, then steady orange. App says unable to connect. Repeated the process several times with identical result. 

Interestingly, Sub appears also when NOT connected through Ethernet. Apparently a WiFi connection can be established. When going through setup process, device is beging recognized. When asked to press the connect button on the device, app jumps to next screen, trying to connect. Process stops after 2 minutes, stating unable to connect.

Sometimes the app does NOT jump to the next screen, but gets stuck asking to press the connect button on the device, while device starts blinking orange after pressing button

Playbar
Same behavior as Sub, both through Ethernet and WiFi.

 

I spent my hole Saturday, almost going crazy. Is Sonos trying to force me to buy new devices? I would be very happy for any help.

 

 

OK, it’s working again. One failure was that Play:1 was still connected to the “old system”. I reseted Play:1 and found out, that this device can act as a replacement for the Bridge device. 

So I set up Play:1 first and then added the other devices to the system. Everything working OK now. 

Downsides

  • Play:1 needs Ethernet connection to Asus WiFi device. When connected to other Ethernet socket (other IP range), the app will not connect.
  • Play:1 needs to be running all the time. Otherwise system does not work. I was used to switch power on/off for each devices when using, due to the high standby power consumption.

Questions

  • Does the system always need to work on a dedicated WiFi?
  • Why is it that the Play:1 – apparently a more modern device than the others – cannot connect to the Asus mesh through WiFi?

 

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