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I have had nothing but trouble from this sound bar. I was looking for a seamless experience and that's exactly what I didn't get. Every time I turn on the TV the sound does not come through so I have to turn the TV on and off a few times for it to find and play through the sound bar. So I disconnected from the TV. Now I cant even play music through it from my iPhone. Seriously what a waist of money. If your a techy and you like playing with these things every time they stop working then you'll enjoy. But if you just want to use the damn thing and want it to work every time, don't waist your time as it is the most frustrating experience. Also when it did work once upon a time the voice from the TV and the Lips of the person speaking were out of sync. I made the adjustment for this according to the instructions but still wasn't quite there. Just another frustration. It now sits under my TV just looking good. Dont waist your money on this Frivolous technology. So glad I didn't setup the rest of the house with them as I intended to do.

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Best answer by Airgetlam 12 October 2021, 23:59

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19 replies

Userlevel 7

No one can assist you unless you give us more details. What soundbar are you using? What model TV do you have? How is the soundbar connected to the TV? Are there any other devices connected to the TV?

Thanks its a Beam and the TV is a Hisense connected via HDMI (ARK). I’ve had it for a couple of years now and fought with it through these two years and I’m over it. I don’t have time to play around with devices that should simply work. 

Userlevel 7

You should consider connecting the Beam to the TV via optical adapter rather than HDMI ARC.

I have multiple speakers and always have issues with dropped speakers. One Arc, two Amps, two beams, two play 5s and a Sonos sub. After hours with support and every troubleshooting option available. I still have missing devices and frustrating notes like your speakers are connected but may not show up until you unplug them for 10 seconds and then plug them back in. They add with a 2nd room of the same name and then disappear completely. Hardware is good. Software and support are awful. Not a wireless option if you must connect directly to the router with an Ethernet cable to connect. Best advise is don’t make the large investment in speakers to be married to a platform that is unreliable and does not have the engineering to manage updates to handle iOS and router updates and changes. 

It’s odd, as my ten years plus experience is the opposite of yours, and I’m also not a network engineer. I do pay a little attention to the network in my home, I’m aware that any network device I own is only as good as the network it connects to. 

As a simple start, I’d suggest a reset of your network. Unplug all your Sonos devices from the wall, and while they’re unplugged, reboot your router. Once the router comes back up, plug back in your Sonos devices. The forced reload of the OS on all these devices might help. It certainly wouldn’t hurt anything. 

However, that’s not a silver bullet, it doesn’t fix all potential wifi interference problems, so reading the linked FAQ may assist, if you’ve been unable to get assistance directly from Sonos. 

 

Glad you have had a good experience. I have spent hours on with tech support and completed the troubleshooting steps you listed as well as others and cant keep the speakers online and stable. They drop off the “System”. Sadly I have 6 years of experience with Sonos across multiple properties and routers with the same experience.

Makes me wonder what the difference is between our two situations. 

For instance, you could be using ASUS routers, which are known to have issues. Or a mesh network device (Unifi comes to mind, but they’re not the only one), without running your system(s) in wired mode, which can cause the occasional issue. 

Or perhaps the fact that I’ve assigned reserved IP addresses to all of my network devices, etc. makes a difference.

I do use a fairly simple router from Netgear, and a wired network through a BOOST. But I’d have thought that a diagnostic and discussion with Sonos folks would have helped solve the network issues you’ve experienced. 

There’s no doubt that “simple” wifi interference can be complex to deal with. I’ve got personal experience with that, having an issue with a microwave at one point (internal to my home) and a neighbor with a new router (external to my home) causing issues. And hard to track down, much less resolve. 

I hope you’re able to clear up the issues that are plaguing you, and reach the much more normal situation that the majority of Sonos users are experiencing. 

I have suspected my issues are caused by the mesh created by my Eeros router and provided the model to Sonos support and updated the settings as requested. I also have several devices on hard connected to my network. After unmounting speakers and powering them off, connecting directly to my powered off router and reconnecting each device to power and then reconnecting the router to power I can detect the rest of my speakers one by one to the system followed by creating surround rooms and tuning the speakers to wake up the next day with speakers off line and no longer connected to the “System”. My frustration is based on spending a lot of money on speakers that I understood would simply my system and they have been a constant issue. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @LARIKN

Have you tried unplugging all other devices from your TV, then unplugging power from the TV for a minute? The TV creates a CEC network and some input devices are known to cause problems as CEC isn’t nearly as standardised as it should be. If that helped, reattach each device one at a time and test each time. If you identify the problem device, either disable CEC on it or put a CEC-less HDMI adaptor between it and the TV (very cheap).

Lip-Sync is the TV’s job - only the TV knows how long it takes for it to decode the picture and display it, and it should delay the audio by the same amount. Unplugging the TV from power for about 2 minutes may help. 

 

Hi @Unhappy9 

If you have a router as well as your Eero, please ensure your Eero is in Bridge mode and reboot the main router afterwards. Thanks. More info is in my article:

 

Userlevel 5
Badge +15

@Unhappy9 So, I too have an eero mesh network (pro but not the new one). One main hooked up to the modem (Netgear Nighthawk) on main in the farthest corner of the house and then two satellites (basement & upstairs) and a Boost plugged into a tp-link 10 port switch. I am of the mindset of it “ain’t completely broke don’t fix it” but I know I am probably doing about 10 things wrong with settings etc. whether that’s on the eero or even the Sonos app (based on what I read from people on these forums). 

Tbh I am just a worried if I try and do the “right” things I will make it worse. I have no idea if my eero is in Bridge mode as Corry mentioned. I did NOT unplug all 20 Sonos products and reboot when I switched modems in July and I never did that when I got my eero mesh network a year or so ago. Just lucky I guess. I do have issues though, well Sonos ones also.

  • Two Play Ones in my office where the modem is that cut off when you turn them on and then sporadically. I believe it’s interference and probably nothing I can do.
  • I have the ridiculous sound issue with my LG tv/Apple TV 4K (old) in the bedroom (Beam Gen 1 & 2 Play Ones) where when I switch between some apps (Hulu is primary culprit) and different inputs the sound doesn’t show up where I have to turn the tv off and on to restart the connection.
  • I have two Play Ones & a Move in my Kitchen where one or more will just stop playing for a bit with no idea why. I also have an alarm set through the Sonos app to play in the morning.  Randomly it will just play static even though I programmed the same Sonos HD Radio station every day.
  • I had an issue on the S2 app where my S1 components would show up and not my S2 components and it would keep asking me to upgrade. I would have to reboot my phone each time. Gave up on that and just disconnected all my S1 components and deleted the S1 app. Seems to work.
  • I have a theater setup with an LG OLED, Apple 4K new, an Arc, Ones & Sub setup. Works well but keep getting Multi 7.1 and Stereo when I should be getting something else. Tons of different fixes I tried but nothing works. Hoping the changes coming this year yet will fix that too.

My point with all of this. I love my Sonos system. With all the flaws it still is an amazing product/service. I think it is growing faster than it’s been able to keep up with and it had some lean times as well. All you have to do is look at the hiring page and you will see hundreds of open jobs. Moving from just sound to TV/Home Theater sound is an undertaking of several magnitudes and getting everyone to play nice in a closed but open network is a huge challenge. Nothing is perfect-just look at Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and many others. It is a continual process and we have to have faith that Sonos will figure it out. In the meantime you can be frustrated, don’t give up, their is a tremendous group on the forums that can help you and hopefully you can get those big issues fixed (maybe not 100% but good enough).

I have nothing else plugged into my TV and don't see how lip sync is a problem with the TV since without SONOS all works fine. Its so unpredictable. Sometimes you need to turn the TV on 2-3 times before you get any sound through the SONOS at all. Wish I’d never bought it. 

Because the TV is altering the signal that it’s getting from the source device, doing some sort of “processing” before passing it on to the Sonos. Sonos can only play a sound as quickly as they receive it, and not earlier. 

In some cases, there are devices that cause an issue for the CEC processor in the TV set, which is why often there’s a recommendation to unplug other devices, and only test with the one device, in an attempt to reduce the number of potential variables and identify the root cause.

In other cases, there have been issues in the software that runs the TV, which can be fixed by updating the TV itself to newer software. Or a simple reboot of that software, which is what Corry P is suggesting above.

There have been several reports of issues with the Hisense brand of TVs, and their ability to “pass through” a signal directly, without modification. I’ve not seen any previous mentions about needing to power cycle the TV before in order to activate the ARC (part of CEC) function, though.  

Of course, if it’s a hardware issue, and the TV is incapable of passing through the necessary data fast enough to get lipsync with an outside device (Sonos or any other, doesn’t really matter), than your issue is with the TV manufacturer, and not Sonos. 

Same issues. Previously connected as surround speakers disappear. I am not sure why Sonos engineers can’t figure out these bugs.  

Another night wasted troubleshooting this awful equipment. I unmount and unplug speakers and drag them to my router, unplug and reply’s routers and speakers to try and connect. The Sonos app cheetahs multiple rooms with the same name. Can’t locate speakers using “missing speakers” the user interface on the app sucks. Finally get speakers to connect one at a time. Move them back to the room and plug them in and they disappear again. Now I have two rooms with the same name and I am still missing my rear speakers. I have eight hours wasted on these speakers I bought. Cause they were supposed to be wireless and simple. I am told to connect them to the router to trouble shoot and they disappear as soon as they are moved. If anyone at Sonos monitors this forum and cares at all, please explain why no one at support can help me. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @Unhappy9 

Everyone at Sonos support can help you - that’s why we’re here.

It sounds like there’s something about your network that’s blocking the local Sonos traffic on your network. Often this is due to unsupported WiFi extenders, multiple routers, or the configuration of a multiple WAP (Wireless Access Point) system. I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team, who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports. Or, go to Ask a Question and get some help from our very helpful community.

Hi Corry P. I have been in touch with Sonos technical support several times and have spent hours on the phone and on chat with open cases sharing my screen and camera and troubleshooting. We go through the same steps and finally connect the speakers. The next day they are gone again. Sonos support is aware of my network and has seen the set-up through my camera. I have a spectrum modem connected to an Eero Gateway eero pro that is connected to a switch that connects the majority of my devices. Only my Sonos sub and two play 3 s are wireless. I never have issues with the sub. The play 3s used as rears for surround do not stay connected. 

Userlevel 5
Badge +15

@Unhappy9 I am just looking at my setup which is somewhat similar to yours and have a few questions for clarification. Have you been in contact at all with Spectrum? I know their modems are quirky and had issues with them as far as settings until I bought a Netgear instead. Also, curious why you have your router run through a switch and not hooked up directly to your modem or am I misunderstanding you? Finally, have you considered a Boost plugged in to your switch. It’s what I have and hadn’t had any networking issues once I dealt with all the S2 conversion issues. May be simplistic but just some thoughts I had. 

@Jeffrey_35 Thank you for your reply. I have not been in touch with Spectrum because I am not having issues with any of my networked devices with an Ethernet cable and the wireless is disabled on the Spectrum modem. I did have the Spectrum modem connected to a router that ran through a Switch (NETGEAR ProSAFE JGS524PE 24-Port Gigabit PoE Web Managed (Plus) Switch with 12 PoE Ports) and the switch was connected to the eero Gateway Pro. On a support session with Sonos Tech they had be connect the Spectrum Modem directly to the eero gateway pro and then from the eero gateway pro to my switch. I have not considered a boost plugged in to my switch. I am not familiar with a boost. I do not have a very big house and it is a single story with the eero gateway pro and  two beacons. the area teh mesh has to cover is very small and I get strong wifi signal and speeds over wifi. I can connect the play3’s directly to the eero gateway pro and get them to show up and configure one at a time and then move them back to the room as wifi connected rear speakers It is a buggy process that takes several attempts for them to show up and configure and then show up again when they are moved and reconnected to power. I also lose the first one when connecting the 2nd speaker, the room names change on there own to Den 2 or create two of the same room name with speakers in the same room connected to one or the other. If I can get it all to work and connect the surround and tune they drop off again randomly within 24 hours and I start all over.

Userlevel 5
Badge +15

@Unhappy9 Thanks for the clarifications. Maybe try the Boost. It’s like $100 I believe and it hardwires a Sonos to that router (I have mine hooked to my switch). It makes things a lot more stable. At worse, if it doesn’t work you can return it. It shouldn’t be but seems like it’s a rubiks cube finding the right combination.