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Mixed mode question

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I have a 6 zone system; 5 are in an open plan large space with an attached patio, in line of sight of the router and the boost that is wired to it. Of these, 3 are wired to the core network and therefore the boost, with Wifi disabled.

The 6th zone is in the bedroom, a play 1 stereo pair. It is separated from the open space by a brick wall, and is usually yellow and sometimes orange box in the Matrix. In this room, I have a Airport express unit that is ethernet wired back to the router, and it therefore provides a very strong WiFi signal in the bedroom. However, it is not convenient to run more wire to get the play 1 pair wire connected to the core network.

I do not want to disturb the set up in the open plan space for 5 zones; that is working flawlessly. The question is, can I make use of the strong WiFi signal in the bedroom for the 1 pair located there? Note that any additional bridge to give the 1 pair a better signal does not work; the bridge is ignored because the cost of the resultant two hops is more than that of the direct connection to the boost that is wired to the router.

If yes, what do I have to do to get the play 1 pair off Sonos net and on to the Bedroom AEX network that has its own SSID? Note also that the need to play this pair grouped with any of the other zones never arises.

Also, will this allow music to play on the 1 pair via things like Spotify Connect with boost powered off?

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rattyAnswer

@ratty : The bridge wired to the AEX is with the expectation that the bedroom system then connects to it in place of the boost?

Yes.

On a related matter I recall I advised you a while back on how to change the Boost’s STP priority. Correct? This could be important, to ensure the Boost remains the root bridge.

for this to work, the boost in the main area would still have to remain powered on?

No.

(And before you worry about the root bridge when the Boost is powered off, the wired Bridge in the bedroom would simply take over under such circumstances.)

Show previous replies

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KumarAuthor

All green boxes in first column. Bridge is secondary node, nothing connected to it. Play 1 pair in bedroom connected to Boost shown as root bridge, with yellow boxes for signal strength.

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KumarAuthor

Not sure if it is safe to post matrix with mac addresses?

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KumarAuthor

Bridge row is empty white boxes...nothing in them at all. Only the first column is a green box with the OFDM information. No trouble with net speed through it.

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KumarAuthor

Progress, since I have another spare bridge, I swapped it out. Now the bedroom zone is seen as tertiary, connected to it. Should work now.

ratty

Bridge row is empty white boxes...nothing in them at all.

That can’t be right. There should, at minimum, be some grey boxes showing “blocking”. It sounds like its wireless has failed. Try the other Bridge.

Progress, since I have another spare bridge, I swapped it out. Now the bedroom zone is seen as tertiary, connected to it. Should work now.

You got there in parallel with my post.

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KumarAuthor

All good now. Music played with boost off, zone as secondary node. On powering Boost, it became root bridge, and zone went to tertiary via a green boxes to the bridge.

@ratty : again, many thanks. I seem to be doing this every six months:-).

Is there any merit in powering what seems to be a defective bridge and sending a diagnostic to Sonos to confirm failure?

ratty

Is there any merit in powering what seems to be a defective bridge and sending a diagnostic to Sonos to confirm failure?

I would see if the dodgy Bridge comes to life if you either (a) factory reset it or (b) borrow the power supply from the ‘good’ Bridge. No need to wire it again. Just look in the matrix to see if it’s connecting to the Boost.

If nothing works then toss it into the recycling.

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KumarAuthor

Factory reset did the trick. So it goes back into storage as a back up for the Boost/Bridge in use, because now it will serve as well as even the Boost for just the open line of sight wireless zones.

Both were lying in a box since I got the Boost a few years ago. With this cool trick with one of them, for the first time ever the bedroom play 1 units are in solid green!

Its been a long winding thread; hopefully someone else will benefit in future.

PS: for completion - there is, as expected, zero effect on sound quality because of using wired as opposed to wireless, or via the change in signal strength. I had only the rare stuttering, I expect that will go away. My primary requirement was to be able play the bedroom zone as a stand alone one, that is now achieved.

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