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adds21
Avid Contributor I
August 17, 2018

One speaker from stereo pair stops working

Hi,

I have a pair of Play:1's in my kitchen, configured as a stereo pair.

Several times now (maybe, on average, once every 2 weeks), the right speaker stops working. Once it stops, it never comes back and the only way I can get it to come back is to separate the pair, and recreate it. This (so far) has worked immediately every time, so it appears the speaker itself works fine (in fact, when I separate it, I can always play music directly on it).

I have a couple of other pairs of Play:1's in my setup, and only ever get this problem with the same, right, speaker in my kitchen zone. Nether speakers are wired.

Any ideas why I keep getting this problem? For Sonos support, my Diagnostic confirmation number is: 603946054.

Thanks.
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    176 replies

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    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_Griffiths
    June 17, 2019
    Same problem here - happens regularly!
    Diagnostic report 1458810722
    Perhaps have a read through the two links in my post above and see if that helps resolve the matter. If not, then contact Sonos Customer Care to ask them to have s look at your diagnostic submission.
    djgw
    Lyricist I
    June 18, 2019
    Perhaps have a read through the two links in my post above and see if that helps resolve the matter. If not, then contact Sonos Customer Care to ask them to have s look at your diagnostic submission.

    Thanks for the heads up. I've followed the guide by checking / changing wifi channel to one with least interference, removing a nearby wifi source, set up SonosNet, changed wifi channel on Sonos etc.

    I've reproduced the problem with an optimal setup so have sent another diagnostic report to the customer care team.
    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_Griffiths
    June 18, 2019

    Thanks for the heads up. I've followed the guide by checking / changing wifi channel to one with least interference, removing a nearby wifi source, set up SonosNet, changed wifi channel on Sonos etc.

    I've reproduced the problem with an optimal setup so have sent another diagnostic report to the customer care team.
    That’s okay djgw. Hope the diagnostic submission reveals the root cause of the issue and that the communication with Customer Care can help to get it resolved for you soon.
    appleguru
    Contributor I
    July 4, 2019
    I am also now having this issue after months of flawless operation. Right speaker is no longer playing audio. Interestingly, the right speaker responds to Alexa commands/beeps/etc, but when I play music I only get the left speaker of the pair... I can’t even break/re-pair them as I can’t discover them from the Sonos app (maybe an iOS 13 bug?).

    Volume control from the onboard buttons only affects the single speaker (saying “Alexa, turn it down only affects the left speaker, the one that plays music.. even though the right speaker responds for Alexa)

    They are both connected to my WiFi without issue, which is a miracle because 2.4Ghz WiFi is a disaster on all channels here in the city.

    a power cycle did not help; they behave the same after coming back on.

    Here are their WiFi stats:

    chewmull
    Lyricist II
    July 10, 2019
    I know the “canned” Sonos answer to this problem is wireless interference, I have been fighting this problem for almost a year and have tried everything recommended. What I don’t understand, Is why my Play1’s have no drop issues until they are paired? Is there sudden interference once they are paired? It appears to me there is a major bug with the pairing operation, particularly if everything works great until you pair, then it goes to hell.

    Any thoughts, explanations or clues are appreciated.
    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_Griffiths
    July 10, 2019
    I know the “canned” Sonos answer to this problem is wireless interference, I have been fighting this problem for almost a year and have tried everything recommended. What I don’t understand, Is why my Play1’s have no drop issues until they are paired? Is there sudden interference once they are paired? It appears to me there is a major bug with the pairing operation, particularly if everything works great until you pair, then it goes to hell.

    Any thoughts, explanations or clues are appreciated.
    I have 5 pairs of Play:1’s/Sonos Ones. They all run on SonosNet and are set on a channel that is 5 channels away from my central router 2.4ghz channel. I have no stored WiFi credentials in the Sonos App Advanced Settings and have reserved their IP addresses in the DHCP Reservation Table, as mentioned in the threads on this forum. I’ve not had a dropout issue. My Son and Daughter have paired Play:1’s too, though not as many, and they’re not having any such problems either.

    So my thoughts are you must have something local that’s causing this issue.

    Have you spoken with Sonos Customer Care? A year wrestling with this issue seems much too long to me. I would give them a call.
    chewmull
    Lyricist II
    July 10, 2019

    I know the “canned” Sonos answer to this problem is wireless interference, I have been fighting this problem for almost a year and have tried everything recommended. What I don’t understand, Is why my Play1’s have no drop issues until they are paired? Is there sudden interference once they are paired? It appears to me there is a major bug with the pairing operation, particularly if everything works great until you pair, then it goes to hell.

    Any thoughts, explanations or clues are appreciated.    I have 5 pairs of Play:1’s/Sonos Ones. They all run on SonosNet and are set on a channel that is 5 channels away from my central router 2.4ghz channel. I have no stored WiFi credentials in the Sonos App Advanced Settings and have reserved their IP addresses in the DHCP Reservation Table, as mentioned in the threads on this forum. I’ve not had a dropout issue. My Son and Daughter have paired Play:1’s too, though not as many, and they’re not having any such problems either.

    So my thoughts are you must have something local that’s causing this issue.

    Have you spoken with Sonos Customer Care? A year wrestling with this issue seems much too long to me. I would give them a call.

    I have done everything you have with the addition of removing Airtime Fairness, and still no joy. Your response does not explain why everything works great until they are paired? If I have interference it would be problematic all the time, not just when paired, unless there is something that pairing is doing to reduce the effectiveness of the wireless operation, and in that case it’s still a Sonos problem and not “interference”. Additionally, people are having pairing drops with wired connections.. further to the point of a bug in my opinion. I have talked to customer care, submitted diagnostics etc.. my network map can be all green and I still have drops...
    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_Griffiths
    July 10, 2019


    I know the “canned” Sonos answer to this problem is wireless interference, I have been fighting this problem for almost a year and have tried everything recommended. What I don’t understand, Is why my Play1’s have no drop issues until they are paired? Is there sudden interference once they are paired? It appears to me there is a major bug with the pairing operation, particularly if everything works great until you pair, then it goes to hell.

    Any thoughts, explanations or clues are appreciated.    I have 5 pairs of Play:1’s/Sonos Ones. They all run on SonosNet and are set on a channel that is 5 channels away from my central router 2.4ghz channel. I have no stored WiFi credentials in the Sonos App Advanced Settings and have reserved their IP addresses in the DHCP Reservation Table, as mentioned in the threads on this forum. I’ve not had a dropout issue. My Son and Daughter have paired Play:1’s too, though not as many, and they’re not having any such problems either.

    So my thoughts are you must have something local that’s causing this issue.

    Have you spoken with Sonos Customer Care? A year wrestling with this issue seems much too long to me. I would give them a call.    I have done everything you have with the addition of removing Airtime Fairness, and still no joy. Your response does not explain why everything works great until they are paired? If I have interference it would be problematic all the time, not just when paired, unless there is something that pairing is doing to reduce the effectiveness of the wireless operation, and in that case it’s still a Sonos problem and not “interference”. Additionally, people are having pairing drops with wired connections.. further to the point of a bug in my opinion. I have talked to customer care, submitted diagnostics etc.. my network map can be all green and I still have drops...
    I didn’t provide a reply as an explanation of your problem. I’m just highlighting the fact that I (and others) don’t have the issue you have. So it appears that it is something local. It could be an incompatible router firmware version for all I know, just as an example or something else interrupting the network communication

    I’m actually just saying it’s not an issue that I, or others are seeing. I would have thought if it were a common problem, that this forum would light up, bearing in mind that Sonos sell many hundreds of these speakers every single day and have done so for a good many years.

    It really must be a local matter and you do need to go back to Sonos Customer Care and resolve it with them. A year of that type of problem is something you (and they) need to explore further and resolve. All Sonos can do is check their own devices. The remainder of the network setup is really in your domain (pardon the pun) to get fixed, but I’m sure the Staff will assist you as much as they are allowed to do.

    I can’t even begin to advise you what your issue is here,or how to resolve it, as there is nowhere near enough detail available to be able to do that.
      appleguru
      Contributor I
      July 10, 2019
      Not sure specifically what did it, but everything started working again today... I changed my 2.4Ghz wifi channel, power cycled my router/modem/access point/switches, and then pressed and held the join button on the back of each speaker until they flashed orange. Once they went back to white (on their own), the app and the speakers all started working normally again.
      jgatie
      jgatie
      July 10, 2019
      To highlight Ken's point, there was an actual bug in the Playbar firmware last year. The main thread (and there were dozens of others) hit 76 pages with 1800+ posts, and the story hit all the tech sites. That's for a relatively low sales volume item. If there was a bug in the pairing of the best selling Sonos units, this thread would be 200+ pages, not 4.


      Here's the thread:

      https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/no-sound-on-certain-channels-after-system-update-today-6789926
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