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.

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You could try setting a static/reserved IP address for your all Sonos gear using your router's DHCP page, that stops many odd things from happening.

There are indeed multiple potential network issues that can cause this, so there is no single answer that would fix all reported cases. 

For instance, simple IP address collisions can equally happen on wired and wireless connections. They’re a result of the router losing its place in the DHCP table, exposed by the soft reboot that Sonos does during the software update process. 

That particular issue is relatively easily remedied, at least in the short term. Simply unplug all Sonos devices from power, and while they are unplugged, reboot the router. Only once the router comes back up should the Sonos devices be plugged back in.

A more permanent solution to that issue, and one that I have done, is to go in to your router’s DHCP table and reserve IP addresses for your Sonos. I actually did it for all my network devices, and left the lower 75 addresses for ‘guest’ devices. Took a couple of minutes to find and read my router’s manual, but I haven’t had an issue since. 

But indeed, that’s not the only potential reason this can happen, just likely the most prevalent. Providing a diagnostic, much like @pdi27 did, can help. And frankly, I don’t expect every customer service rep employed by Sonos to be a true network expert, so I’m willing to invest some time to reach someone who actually understands the issue I’m having, rather than just reading from a script.

Those folks have a tough job, and for me to expect expertise in each and every aspect of the Sonos system seems to be a bit much. If only Sonos were willing to pay engineer money to their CS folks, I might expect higher levels of knowledge, but I’m a realist. And honestly, every interaction I have had has been ultimately positive, although sometimes requiring some patience and invested time.

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.

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. 

Same issue here- however one of my pair is wired. both are Play:5, gen1.

The wired unit is the one that stops playing. So i swapped them- guess what- the wired one again stops playing! This has to be software related. So far each time i write into Sonos the answer is 'we detected wireless interference" which is nonsense, because the units are fairly isolated. Also, its the Wired unit that stops! How can it be wireless related???
The units still show online in the app, and have IPs.

I;ve had this setup for over 5 years, and this is the most problematic thing that has come up.
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Ok, thanks. My report is 714549676. It’s true my new router is not making me happy as well. It’s possible the issue could be connected. Looking forward to further advice.

Thanks for sending in the report. It looks like you have a couple wireless access points in your home. The access points are running on different wrieless channels. This can make it hard for your Sonos speakers to stay connected and in communication with each other. Also, it seems as if the signal strength is very low on some of your speakers. This could be due to range, or interference from nearby networks running on the same wireless channel.

I'd recommend getting all of your access points on the same wireless channel. Channel 6 seems to be the best in your area. Try that out and let me know how it goes.
This is happening to me as well.
My report is 204777147, thank you for your help.
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Thank you Stanley for the suggestion and apologies for the tardy response. The static address for each speaker has solved the problem. I think when the router signal is a bit weak where the speakers are located, a static IP address for each speaker (and other devices) makers all the difference.
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I'm thinking static IPs for Sonos are most interesting in the variety of issues they solve. I'm hoping someone at Sonos is looking at their issues in this area and trying to find a fix that works.
I’m having the same problem after updating my speakers this morning. The right speaker in my living room pair won’t play. If I unpair, they both play fine independently. If paired, the right speaker won’t play. Diagnostic number is 1924058670.
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Having the same issue. Diagnostic # 1235254777

HI hunterdog66,

There's quite a bit of wireless interference showing up in your report. Please try changing the wireless channel your Sonos system is using and see if that helps.
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Can anyone let me know what my diagnostics report above said please??

Hi MattyBur,

In your diagnostic report I see that your stereo paired speakers are losing connection to your wireless network frequently. This may be due to range or wireless interference. There are quite a few networks nearby, so it may help to try changing your network's wireless channel to 1. Also, take a look around your stereo pair for any third party electronics which could cause interference, try moving anything you find away from your speakers and see if that helps.
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You might want to contact Sonos support on twitter or facebook with that number, they are staffed 24x7, the forum sees Sonos staff most weekdays for a short time and they don't always find posts added to old topics like this one.

Hi 

I have the same problem where one of my sonos one stops working when two speakers (both sonos one) are paired as a stereo pair. Both speakers are wireless/on wifi. 
 

They can be set up as a stereo pair, but only one of them plays music, which forces me to unpair them and set them up as a group. Unfortunately the group-pairing does not stick which means I have to group them again and again. 
 

Speakers are located approx. 10 meters apart. My network works fine and is a 1000 mbit coax connection – all other streaming from tv/devices has no problems. 
Diagnostics number: 375031593

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Hi there Jeff, I'm having the same problem with my Sonos stereo Play 1 speakers where I am having to separate the stereo pair and then re-sync them every time I use the speakers.

The diagnostic confirmation number is 762398828. Thanks.


It looks like the streaming data isn't getting to your speakers fast enough. Try changing the wireless channel your Sonos system is using to 1 or 6. Also, how far apart are the speakers? It can sometimes help to reposition them.
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Keep in mind this is mainly a user to user forum so if you want fast response from Sonos one of the direct to Sonos contact methods may be better, twitter is open 24x7 other options are on the contact page too.


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.
I understand what you guys are saying, but unfortunately there are multiple threads for the same issue so the volume is misleading. I do plan to call support again as I’m unwilling to just give up, but the point of my post was to prove it worked one way but not the other, and solicit some thoughts for next steps, not necessarily defense of the “local interference” argument because it no longer makes sense to me given it works reliably unpaired vs not reliability paired. I would also submit that the “it works for me so it must be you” argument is not entirely true all the time, there is no way a Play1 manufactured years ago uses the identical chips etc. that a Play1 made today. I will forge on and update with relevant details to hopefully help someone with the same problem. I do appreciate your thoughts. Thanks

There were multiple threads about that issue also. Where the two issues differ is that there was one thread that was 76 pages and 1800+ posts for the Playbar. Also, if you read that thread, Sonos admits fairly early that there is an actual bug, and got to work on a fix, so they aren't prone to sweeping an issue under the rug.

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.  

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I'm having the same problem. No complaints for my internet. But this is the second time in 3 months that one of the speakers in two separate speaker pairs have gone out. I separated them and re-joined but it's fixing the problem this time. My diagnostic number is 1138675781

Hi there,

Thanks for sending in the report. I see that there are wireless communication issues showing up between your speakers. When playing to a stereo pair, communication between speakers is important so they can stay in sync. First, try changing the wireless channel your Sonos system is using. Also, take a look around your speakers for any third party electronics that might cause interference. Common sources of interference include cordless phone bases, wireless baby monitors, wireless printers and cameras. You might also try repositioning your speakers.
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Hello,

I’m having this issue as well. Two Sonos One in a stereo pair trueplay tuned, but the right speaker does not play music. Diagnostic number is 137599950


Hi there,

In your report I see that you have a couple wireless access points that are running on wireless channels 1 and 6. Having the access points on different channels can cause issues for your Sonos speakers. Try switching all of your access points over to channel 1 or 6, then test things out again.
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Same problem here. My diagnostic information is send with number:

2035234434


There are a few wireless networks, including your guest network, nearby running on the same channel as your main network. This is making it hard for your speakers to stay in communication with your network. Try changing your main network's wireless channel over to 1 and send along a new report if any issues remain.
@Mondale It's possible. Also, the console could interfere with the wireless signal if there's metal in it, or if it's thick wood. Try repositioning things a bit and see if there's a difference.
It's wood, but not especially thick. Thanks.
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Hi @HDLA, thank you for reaching out to the Sonos community and for letting us know about your concern. Have you performed the troubleshooting steps provided in this thread? Did it work? If you have already gone through the steps and nothing work, I recommend contacting our phone support to further assist you. If you need help with any other information, feel free to reach out. 

Hi,
I have created a stereo pair and one of them keeps dropping out. I have 3 One's in the house. i have tried moving the 2.4g channel to 1 which looks quiet in my house but it still drops. When it drops Alexa doesn't respond either so it does look network related. Removing the speaker from the pair, rebooting it, and then adding it again usually solves the problem but clearly this is a pain! I have submitted diagnostic 344245911 if someone could take a look please? thanks,

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