Need Home WiFi + Hardwired with NO SonosNet

I share @jgatie‘s frustration with you and your attitude and response to suggestions. You ask again for “anecdotal” examples of large systems, which was given by @Ken_Griffiths in this thread you started

He is a long-standing contributor to these forums. I see no reason to believe his claim is merely anecdotal: his is a large, real world system, running reliably. 

You say you follow advice but often your posts are misleading, which adds to the frustration of those offering advice. For example in your post above, where you first claim to run a “Fully wireless SonosNet system” and then “correct” your statement when challenged, is but one such example. 

I shall continue to read your threads, at least for a while, for their entertainment value. But I’ll join @jgatie and contribute no more. But good luck with resolving your system issues. Or not, which I’m starting to think is what you really want! 

I don't get why you want to try more SonosNet? Sounds to me like a waste of time. Haven't you found out already that it doesn't work for you? Or is this some kind of a recreational thing I don't understand?

Imho your Orbis should outperform it, even more so when all orbi satellites are hard wired to your main orbi. I get your home cinema situation. Wire your complete home cinema system with Ethernet and disable wifi on each Sonos product or do not wire the home cinema room at all to avoid SonosNet.

Yes, but isn’t the whole point of Sonos to get wireless? I mean honestly.  Admittedly I was more seeking networked audio, since everything that can be networked must be (lighting, locks, printers, security).

I’m merely searching for a config that will handle all usage cases, that’s all, nothing more.  Orbi gracefully handles a lossy audio file and every node plays flawlessly.  But hdmi sources do 2-3 wireless hops, so no wonder it cuts out.  SonosNet would solve the extra hops.

All my clarification is to reiterate Yes, I have done all that was suggested.  It does not work.  I found a $650 wireless spectrum analyzer that I probably need to buy or rent to analyze my wireless.  All the suggestions by everyone have not worked.  So I’m basically still on my own.  The one that made a big impact, as obvious as it seems, was changing the wireless channel.  After a fresh resetup of Orbi and Sonos I think they happened to pick conflicting channels.  Switching away helped tremendously, other than that I’m just spinning my wheels trying to get something satisfactory.

it all works fine to a few zones, but add a few more and it crumbles.  What is the actual SonosNet capacity?  32 Sonos One’s spaced 3’ apart in a star pattern will play famously?  Has anyone tried this?

the large system guy: how many nodes are wireless and wired?  Does he play Apple Music randomly selecting tracks flawlessly as I described?  Hdmi sources near flawlessly?  To 10 rooms (most with stereo pairs)?

There are literally two modes.  This system is so simple there really aren’t many nobs to turn.  So it’s no wonder we have generally run out of ideas.

Oh sonny, I’ve been around way too long to “humble brag”.  I assure you, it was a full on brag, nothing humble about it.

I’m sorry, you seem to be under the impression that you make the rules on posting.  Nothing can be further from the truth.  Anyone can post what they want, where they want, when they want, as long as they don’t violate the TOS.  

Did you look at your lengthy and repetitive thread I referenced above? The “large system guy”, as you call him, described his setup, and how he could change and reconfigure it to work in different modes. 
 

I don’t think “we” have run out of ideas. I think we’ve just grown tired of repeating them to someone that doesn’t seem to want to listen to and then implement the advice they’re given. You claim to have done so: frankly, I doubt that. I await your next, probably as verbose as ever, post in anticipation of the entertainment it will surely provide. 

Sounds like a lot of money for this kind of fun. Every iOS/Android device can scan 2.4ghz. The band is limited and there are only three channels you can choose….

Better spend that money on wiring your AccesPoints or wiring your Amp Satellites or just live with it. You could even try powerline sockets (personally I don't think they are worth the money).

For TV Audio there will be always delay in groups. If TV audio is your only problem increase the buffer. From the  Settings tab, tap System, then tap your home theater product. In the Home Theater section, tap Group Audio Delay and then choose max delay.

I’m not an Android expert by any means but I sure can’t find an RF scanner for my Android devices. I can find a lot of WiFi scanners but they don’t even find the Sonos 2.4 GHz signal, much less other non-WiFi 2.4 GHz RF sources.

Can you please post any Apps you have found, I and others could really use them when picking our Sonos WiFi channels.

My Ubiquity WiFi does have an RF scanner that is nice but using it also takes down my WiFi for about five minutes per scan as it can’t do both at once. If nothing else the Controller and AP option from Ubiquity is a lot less than $650.

I have yet to find any deep RF analyzer apps for any mobile phone.  I think you need specialized hardware because the wifi hardware doesn’t expose deeper analysis data of the frequencies than that.

Yes, I’m aware of a delay between live sources.  Totally understandable, you can’t beat physics.  What I’m not okay with is drop outs.  Or how when I add my kitchen (which is 2 Sonos One’s) it takes a solid minute for the right channel to start emitting any audio.  This is in the so-called “Wired” configuration using Home WiFi as the hop.

And it’s great to see that we have people involved who are deliberately trying to make things more difficult on purpose.  Nice work.  We need more mess and conflict in the world.  Slow clap.

Okok I get it you want to analyze with pro tools. Go for it. I don't know of any secret RF scanner apps. I was talking about simple wifi scanners. The ubiquiti app works for me and I am aware it does not show everything.

Still I maintain if you want to fix wifi issues the money could be better spent, don't you think?
 

Nobody has suggested anything that I haven’t tried, 2 or 3 times each, combined in different permutations.  So I am conceding the possibility that I do have excessive wireless interference.  I noticed that from the recent Apple updates my 2 hardwired Apple TV’s (which were going to Orbi’s backhaul) took about 15 minutes to update while my wireless Apple TV took about 2 hours.  Anecdotal at best, but they were all 3 running at the same time.  Yes the wireless unit is also the oldest, but they’re all relatively close.  1080p, 4K, 4K Gen 2.  How is anyone ruling out wireless interference without doing spectrum analysis of the RF?  You have no idea which networks are heavily or lightly used.  The product I found grades your space A-F.  If that’s the culprit, then sure and that just means I need to move to have fewer neighbors, or identify what is causing so much interference.  If/when I move I will likely have more options to run Ethernet.  If I hadn’t expanded my system so much I wouldn’t be exceeding its capacity.

I do have almost 100 IOT devices (including lighting) so maybe I can dive in on one of those items.  At this point the ball is in my court to dig deeper and try to identify the root cause.  I had put this “lack of capacity” issue to rest years ago, every year or so, because there just isn’t a resolution and digging in deeper in each area of focus is half a day.  I already burned days on this project.  At least now my network isn’t destroyed, so I can live with the capacity that does work, until I muster up the time and energy to try another experiment.

Annoyingly, the product that I found only does 2.4 / 5 GHz spectrum.  If it also did 6 GHz I’d probably pick one up.  Just too bad that it’s already obsolete.