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Hey guys,

I know this has been asked before already, but I couldn't find a recent topic regarding this.

At my parents’ place, we have a fairly extensive Sonos setup that has been in place for many years. It’s a mix of older and newer equipment, but everything runs via the S2 controller.

 

Currently, everything operates over SonosNet. A few Sonos devices are wired, with only two devices having Sonos Wi-Fi enabled (to prevent STP issues with Unifi). This setup works reasonably well, but compared to my own setup at home, I notice that everything is much more sluggish. Grouping devices often takes tens of seconds, volume changes don’t register immediately, skipping sons occasionally takes some time, etc.

 

Summary of the setup:

 

They have a main house and a smaller garden house that are far apart in terms of Wi-Fi coverage.

 

Main

• 2x CONNECT:AMP (one with a Sub Mini wired directly to it, both wired, but only one AMP has Sonos Wi-Fi enabled)

• 1x ERA 300 (I think this one only supports wifi?)

• 1x Standalone PLAY:1

• 1x Set with Playbar and 2x PLAY:1

• 1x Roam (which is only used sporadically)

 

Garden

• 1x CONNECT:AMP (wired!)

• 1x Set with 2x PLAY:1 and SUB

• 1x Standalone PLAY:1

 

• 1x CONNECT (outside with some 20+ y/o powered JBL Control speakers but still going strong 💪)

 

My question:

 

What is the best way to set up the connections in 2025? I can think of three possible methods:

1. Current setup: Multiple wired devices, but only two with Sonos Wi-Fi enabled.

2. Everything on Wi-Fi and no wired connections.

3. Everything on Wi-Fi, with a few wired devices but Sonos Wi-Fi disabled (see next note).

 

Network setup

I use Unifi for networking. I’ve already went through the best practices and use a similar setup for my parents place and my own, this doesn’t seem to be an issue (anymore, took some time...)

Coverage is good in all areas except for the CONNECT. It’s outside and likely won’t be able to connect via Wi-Fi. If switching to Wi-Fi is the best solution, I will add an extra access point there though.

 

Curious to hear about your experiences!

I would suggest hardwiring the Playbar and allow the surrounds to connect to it wirelessly, and making sure the Connect Amp in the garden has its WIFI turned on for the Play 1s. 

Some users have reported issues with them recently when using them with newer speakers. Because of the older hardware, the struggle to keep up. It would be interesting to see if things work better if you turned off the Era 300 and the Roam.

 


I recently un-wired my several Sonos that were wired and went fully Wi-Fi and I feel that it was slightly faster to respond to user inputs that way.

Since then I added several Eras and an Arc Ultra would have resulted in a setup like yours with some Sonosnet and some Wi-Fi and I don’t think that is an optimal solution, it may work but with my home theater rooms requiring Wi-Fi to be on for the surrounds/subs to connect it just didn’t seem optimal.

The distant Connect could be wired and the Wi-Fi (actually the whole radio) disabled. Try it with the Connect unplugged from power and note your responsiveness, then plug it back in and see if it has any impact. Then consider the additional AP.


*IF* you have a robust well configured modern WiFi network, I don’t see any need for wiring any Sonos devices. Unplugging Sonos will also free up a 2.4Ghz channel that your WiFi can use.

But bear in mind, if you are using older WiFi standards (ie older products), your WiFi network will have to cater for those, and will reduce the overall network bandwidth.

Can you repurpose the ethernet to garden house, with additional AP? Also reduce the radio transmit power on the garden room AP, so its not visible from the house.


grsss,

Note that the SONOS documentation is misleading. Turning OFF the WiFi actually turns OFF all radio communications, including SonosNet and private 5GHz connections to surrounds and SUB.


grsss,

Note that the SONOS documentation is misleading. Turning OFF the WiFi actually turns OFF all radio communications, including SonosNet and private 5GHz connections to surrounds and SUB.

I hope to see that oopsie corrected someday, hopefully before I keel over from old age or check out due to mental issues.


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