One speaker from stereo pair stops working


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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.

176 replies

Sorry, meant to say the other ISSUE.

Hi,

Just installed a new ARC, Sub and 2 x one SL. Turns out I've been sent 1 x one and 1 x One SL. I'll pick that up with the supplier. The other is the right side (One SL) isn't working. Please could you help?

Many thanks

Hi @Airgetlam,

Thx for your reply. I understand the POV of Sonos side engineers. I hope software release can fix the issue.

I'm an iot engineer too and I know how it's difficulté to reproduce and find what happening on the customer side.

I'm just scare about my issue because the play1 shutdown after a while. It's look like an hardware issue bit if everybody in this thread encount the same behavior and Sonos says it's a software issue I'll wait the new release with many hopes.

 

I’d expect that you would need to wait until there’s a software release that purports to have a fix in it. I can’t speak to how much information Sonos engineering shares with their (likely third party, in many cases) phone support folks. 

I wouldn’t expect that sending in a device, if it’s a software issue as suggested in that thread, would be overly beneficial, for either you, or frankly Sonos. They’ve apparently identified the problem, which suggests that they can reproduce it locally, and are working on it. Patience, as ungratifying as that may be, seems to be the only path to take at this moment. 

Hi @Airgetlam,

Thx for the answer. If Sonos find an issue about this behavior why they don't display anything about this on the faq or something else?

I waste 2h with the support chat asking for dummies tests (socket swap, cords swap, Ethernet link etc etc).

So what are my options?

The issue can be fix or I need to send my device to support?

@MkLHX there are a couple of threads about this issue, Sonos has identified an issue in the current software release. See the ‘answer’ as posted in 

 

although there’s at least one other thread with the same information, more particularly around surround speakers, which I don’t have the time to find for you. 

HI there,

I need help about this issue.

After 9 years working goods my play1 duo for surround have an issue. One of them stop working after a while. When I restart it by unplug/plug the play1 is back on the system and after a while the play1 shutdown and disappear of the surround.

I've already switch devices, change sockets test with Ethernet cable the same play1 stop working.

My diagnostique report number is 

1802827668

 

I hope somebody from Sonos can help me to fix it.

Mickael.

Sounds like perhaps two separate issues. 

AutoPlay is the easier of the two….the way I understand AutoPlay working is from a change in electrical input, so if the mixer is always on, depending on how much “fuzz” it’s sending, it could be confusing the AutoPlay feature. I’d certainly do some testing to see what happens when you turn off that mixer, and turn it back on, to see if AutoPlay starts behaving.

The non stereo signal is more baffling, and might (?) be related, or not...I’d try connecting just the CD player, and not the turntable to the input, and see if it continues to be just one speaker, and not the pair. I’d also be tempted to reboot (fully power down, and then back up) both speakers, to ensure that if there’s some sort of memory error in the system, it reloads the software. 

If it continues, I’d be thinking about a diagnostic after having the issue, and submitting that to Sonos for them to look at. Based on your description, it doesn’t seem like there’s a significant potential for wifi interference, but a look at that diagnostic, once you call in to Sonos, would determine that.  

I have the same issue, but in my case I have two Play 5’s in a stereo pair. The left one has an aux (stereo miniplug) that goes to a small mixer, and that is connected to a CD player and a turntable. The mixer is always on, but sometimes when I power on the CD player or turntable I get no sound from the left side play 5 (the one its plugged into). But if I plug the cord from the Play 5 and then plug it in again, sound comes back immediately. Very annoying.

Also “autoplay” sometimes works, but mostly doesn’t.

 

One speaker works and then turns off and the other speaker works. 

Diagnostics report #1780382386

Thanks!

If it is physically powering itself off then that sounds like a hardware fault (perhaps🤔?) but if it’s just dropping the audio sent to it, I would maybe look at the possibility that it might be a network issue. If it’s wired then try a different cable/port etc; if not, maybe first try a different wireless channel and just see how that goes.

One speaker works and then turns off and the other speaker works. 

Diagnostics report #1780382386

Thanks!

Hi,

The left speaker of my Sonos Five pair occasionally is silent when I first start listening to the system.  It usually comes back after a few minutes,  then it’s fine.  I created diagnostic report 1618710578.    Can you please look at the report and let me know what’s happening?

Thanks

You will need Sonos Staff to view your diagnostic report and they may not always be around the user-community here at weekends, but you might want to try to contact Staff via this LINK. Alternatively, you could maybe simply try the suggestions in my earlier post, that’s if you’ve perhaps not tried those things already.

Hi,

The left speaker of my Sonos Five pair occasionally is silent when I first start listening to the system.  It usually comes back after a few minutes,  then it’s fine.  I created diagnostic report 1618710578.    Can you please look at the report and let me know what’s happening?

Thanks

Same problem here although quite seldom. The fix is disconnecting the stereo pair from other group and reintegrateling them. 

Perhaps see what happens if you swap the left/right speakers over in the App and swap their actual physical location with one another… if the problems persist, then consider changing the wireless band/channel in use to use 2.4Ghz band ‘fixed’ channel 1, 6 or 11 …and set the channel-width to 20MHz only.

Same problem here although quite seldom. The fix is disconnecting the stereo pair from other group and reintegrateling them. 

Hi 

 

I have the same problem - in my stereo setup with 2 Sonos One and a Sub, only one Sonos One is playing. It occurs quite often. I usually fix it by removing power to the Sonos One which is working, and the attaching power again.

Diagnostic report: 1253283595

Access point is approx 3-4m away

Best regards

Søren

Diagnostic report 1477804040.

Two Roams. After I create the stereo pair, only one speaker is playing. I can initiate pair creation starting from left or right - the pair is created - but only one speaker in the pair is playing, either left or right depending on which one was used as the starting point for the pair creation  So the issue is not related to any of the speakers individualy, but rather stereo logic in Sonos software.

When the pair was created the speaker were about 1 m apart, the phone used to control them was also more than 1m apart from both of them.

Access point was on another floor, ca. 4 m apart.

Userlevel 7
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Hi @Kwm 

Thanks for sending the diagnostic.

At the time of the diagnostic, it seems the left bedroom speaker was suffering from some 2.4 GHz interference. The most common cause of this is it being too close to an access point, or another WiFi device. Please make sure it has 1m separation from any other WiFi devices.

In addition, the two halves of the pair are connecting to different Google mesh nodes. This shouldn’t be a problem, but I suppose it could be. Rebooting a nearby mesh node should resolve this, at least until the speakers reboot again. It does look like you may have too much WiFi coverage in the bedroom - you may get better results by simply having less access points.

As the issue is following a particular unit, however, that sort of changes things. It may help to reset that unit - unpair it first, then follow the instructions to factory reset it, set it up again and re-pair.

I hope this helps.

 

It appears it affects one physical unit, regardless of if it’s assigned right or left, and regardless of where in the house the unit is placed. 

Here is my diagnostic report 1742961977

 

The plot thickens: it appears the right speaker goes out mainly when I’m playing on Apple podcast using airplay. When I use the Sonos app to play, it appears to work fine, again, as long as it’s not an Apple podcast. 
 

Any insight from the diagnostic report?

Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @Kwm 

I’m afraid I can’t really troubleshoot a stereo pair when the diagnostic is sent while that stereo pair doesn’t exist. Could you please reconfigure your system to the way you want it to work, recreate the issue and then send another diagnostic? Thanks.

Also, what happens if you make a different physical speaker the right side of the pair? Is it still the right speaker that has issues, regardless of which speaker the right speaker actually is?

Ive tried restarting my router. Like 12 times. The issue continues as before each time  

Ok here is the new diagnostics report 759345870 

 

note that I separated the stereo pair and labeled the new one “office“  and as before all three are working fine with no issues whatsoever. werr I to re-pair the two, the issue comes back, no matter where in the house the pair is. it is always the right speaker that cuts in and out.  

 

 

 

Userlevel 7
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Hi @Kwm 

Your diagnostic didn’t contain any information as your phone was not connected to your system at the moment the diagnostic was sent.

I recommend you reboot your router by removing power for at least a minute, then turning back on.

Please then send another diagnostic while your phone is connected to the Sonos system, replying here with the number given, and we’ll try again. Thanks.

Guess what. When I unpaired the pair they work perfectly fine anywhere in the house!. So the issue is a software issue with paired speakers. Can someone from tech support please respond?

I have the same issue. Right speaker cuts in and out. Diagnostic report 1839638851. I can’t change the wireless channel because none of my three units are wired. It doesn’t make sense that there would be wireless interference when the stereo pair are 4 feet from each other! And only one cuts out over and over for two years? No it can’t be wireless interference. When I move the right speaker it doesn’t correct it. 

What might be worth trying is to temporarily unpair/ungroup the two speakers and just swap their positions and see what happens with the speakers after that. It’s clear the devices are 4ft from each other, but I don’t understand why you can’t change their WiFi channel or the channel-width on your router? Perhaps try fixed channel 11 or 6 and set a channel width of 20MHz and ensure that both speakers are set a metre away from the router, or any other wireless access point.

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