Sub wont work on WiFi

  • 28 November 2020
  • 9 replies
  • 414 views
S
Userlevel 1

I have recently upgraded the audio at a clients home with a Sonos solution for this room as cabling is an issue and we want a sub for it. 

This is a big property with a Control4 system. Network is Pakedge RK1 router, HP switches, and Unifi AP’s.  The network is flat, so dont start thinking its manged. Multicast, UPNP is as one would expect for an AV system.

 

SO we have installed a Sonos Amp to drive our ceiling speakers in a AV rack in the basement, hard wired into the network and we want the sub to be wireless in the room. 

Had trouble at first trying to get it to pair wirelessly, hard wire in and presto upgrade done and now pairs.

 

Appears good in app (+) when powered on (-) when powered off.

Call Sonos get this :


Thank you for contacting Sonos Customer Care.

As we discussed on the call, most common router settings for Sonos to work.
1) 2.4 Ghz enabled
2) Split 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz (separate SSID for each band)
3) Make sure Mode is set to 802.11 BGN
4) Client isolation should be off to ensure wifi devices can communicate with each other
5) Select a manual wifi channel, do not set to auto
6) Security type should be WPA2 with AES Encryption
7) Enable UPNP
8) Set Wifi channel on 2.4 to 1, 6 or 11

If you can not separate the two bandwidths please turn off the 5 GHz, and then reboot the router. 

Your reference number for this inquiry is 02336502

Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions

 

All Of which seem pointless to me but hey I give it a go and muck about with the Network, to no avail. (YES I rebooted the router)

Other Sonos Devices work fine on the WiFi I should add!!

 

This is a brand new Sub, Brand new kit that is meant to be used by the average consumer. I cant imagine it should be this hard to get it to work on the WiFi. 

 

I have wasted about 4 hours trying to get this damn thing to work on the WiFi. What was meant to be a simple job is now turning into a nightmare. 

Any sensible solution to this. Looking on here I see alot of people having this issue at one time or another, but this is fresh out the box. 

I wonder if the unit is faulty or if its a firmware issue? It works fine no problem hard wired in.

 

Besides all the factory resets,  re adding, router reboots, fiddling with the network,  turning on and off, I have switch off and on wired/wireless settings in the app. Oh don’t ask about Radio interference because there is none and the wireless access point is about 5 meters away in the ceiling so the signal couldn’t be better.  

This was meant to be a simple solution for us to deliver to our client (who loves Sonos by the way) which is now making me regret choosing this audio solution as we get hardly any points selling this product and now my labour is over budget.

 

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9 replies

S
Userlevel 1

I should also add I have another project which has similar kit, except they have Beams or ARCs, as well as Subs and Amps. One question I was asked by Support was, how far away is the amp from the Sub?

 

Is this of concern, she got cut off so didn't finish the conversation with her ( I waited 45 mins to speak to her)

S
Userlevel 1

When the Sub is close to the amp it works on the WiFi

ratty

The Sub doesn’t connect to WiFi. It connects directly to the Amp’s own local 5GHz.

If the signal from the Amp in the basement is insufficient then the Sub will drop off. 

 

S
Userlevel 1

That makes sense ratty

 

Well that is what I discovered yet I was lead to believe this works on the WiFi? not its own version of it. I guess a bridge wont work on S2? I cant put a playbar/beam etc with this TV.  I tried looking up how far can paired sonos devices be apart and I did not find a sensible answer. They should really make it clearer that the products need to be close to each other and that really they are not using the wifi at all, more like bluetooth. 

S
Userlevel 1

Quite disappointed of late with Sonos must say, and I have been dealing on and off with their products for 15 years.

J

This is a robust design (direct routing over 5GHz within a HT setup) for 99.9% of customers. It is admittedly not great for remote rack systems but as these are generally, as in your case, professional installs perhaps it is assumed that this is understood. 

If Sonos put this stuff in consumer marketing it would possibly baffle and therefore scare off potential customers totally unnecessarily. 

ratty

@Spahawk72 

A Sub in a home theatre setup never connects to real WiFi, i.e. a router or AP’s WiFi. It only ever connects directly to the HT master player, the Amp in your case. 

Even in a ‘wireless’ (WiFi) setup, without any Sonos devices wired to the network, the Sub would effectively proxy through the HT master.

The direct wireless connection to the HT satellites is required to guarantee low latency. Clearly the working assumption is that the satellites would not be that far away from the HT master player. 

Yours is not the first occasion that someone has complained of a centrally located Amp being unable to service an in-room Sub wirelessly. The only solid solution would be to wire the Sub as well.

S
Userlevel 1

Thanks for the comments all. I have not used many Sonos products in my projects for obvious reasons for the last 3 ½ years as that is probably clear by now. 

Unfortunately I assumed this would work on the “WiFi”. As stated in the beginning cabling to the sub location is an issue. The only thing I can do now is see if we can stick in a speaker bar above the TV or return the Sub and Amp. We do have a wireless bridge on site we could hide behind the TV but as that is a legacy product it wont work right.

Could an ethernet/wifi convertor OR Sonos Boost work? Rack is about 40-50 meters away from the room.

ratty

Could an ethernet/wifi convertor OR Sonos Boost work? Rack is about 40-50 meters away from the room.

Boost is a 2.4GHz device and can’t assist with HT satellites directly. Disabling the Sub’s wireless and using a Boost effectively as an adapter onto SonosNet risks dropouts due to traffic load and/or interference. There’s a reason Sub uses 5GHz. 

In theory a 5GHz WiFi bridge, plugged into the Sub, might work if there’s an AP nearby. The Sub ought to think it was wired. However the latency from the Amp to the Sub, via the shared WiFi, could still spike and trigger dropouts. Very much a case of YMMV, and a totally unsupported arrangement. 

Another possibility is Ethernet over powerline. Again unsupported, and a potential can of worms.

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