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Hi,

 

Have a set of Fives set up as stereo pair supported by a sub. Stream content from Sonos app works flawless. But when using Airplay, it only stream to one of the two speakers. And to get them working again, I need to re-configure the stereo configuration. (After an Airplay stream, it destroys the stereo setup even streaming from the Sonos app, even configuration is show present. After re-setup it works again.)

 

I have tried to stream directly from Spotify app and using generic Airplay stream from other source with same results. Narrow issue down to Airplay+Stereo Pair in Sonos. 


Have all the latest soft- and firmware with only iOS devices used in house hold. Tried from different iOS devices with same results. 
 

Suspect IP for stereo pair is ignored by Airplay and stream is sent directly to ‘first speaker’ in pair setup. That would suggest Airplay destination is wrongly flagged by Sonos app. No idea on how to fix that and that would be a bug in Sonos app, if my suspicions are correct. Strange thing is that I did not find anyone else with same issue investing 10 minutes search. That could also mean the issue is entirely with my gear/setup or simply I am bad searching. Anyway, help appreciated. 
 

Any suggestion to solve?

Just for info, Airplaying to my Play:5 pair + Sub works fine and doesn’t break the stereo pair.  It’s really weird that yours does and I do not recall ever seeing this before.  Sorry - not much help!

I suspect network gremlins. One of the stereo pair is the local ‘Group Coordinator’ and sends the stream to the other of the pair (and a Sub if there’s one). When wireless network bandwidth is throttled -- by low signal strength and/or interference -- it can cause the bonded units to drop out, leaving just the GC playing.

If the Fives are on the WiFi, as opposed to using SonosNet on a different channel, the bandwidth competition from the AirPlay stream could the straw which breaks that particularly camel’s back. In that case moving the Fives to SonosNet might help.

I suspect network gremlins. One of the stereo pair is the local ‘Group Coordinator’ and sends the stream to the other of the pair (and a Sub if there’s one). When wireless network bandwidth is throttled -- by low signal strength and/or interference -- it can cause the bonded units to drop out, leaving just the GC playing.

If the Fives are on the WiFi, as opposed to using SonosNet on a different channel, the bandwidth competition from the AirPlay stream could the straw which breaks that particularly camel’s back. In that case moving the Fives to SonosNet might help.

 

Thanks your your insights. Will look for my old Sonos bridge and make a try. What speaks against that is that everything works fine streaming from Sonos app. 

Actually nothing “streams from the Sonos app” as such. It’s a remote control, which tells the player what to go and fetch for itself.

As for the old Bridge, I wouldn’t recommend it personally. It’s very old wireless tech, and the power supply has a habit of failing as it ages. For the sake of an experiment I suggest you temporarily wire a Play:1. Give the system five minutes to reconfigure itself into SonosNet mode then see how it behaves.

Actually nothing “streams from the Sonos app” as such. It’s a remote control, which tells the player what to go and fetch for itself.

As for the old Bridge, I wouldn’t recommend it personally. It’s very old wireless tech, and the power supply has a habit of failing as it ages. For the sake of an experiment I suggest you temporarily wire a Play:1. Give the system five minutes to reconfigure itself into SonosNet mode then see how it behaves.

Got it. Thanks. For comment on “streaming from Sonos” I actually meant, given your insights, “stream triggered through Sonos app” from example Spotify. Odd thing is that works nicely and problem only occur when I trigger stream via Spotify directly. 

Spotify can be played on Sonos in 3 ways:

  1. commanded via the Sonos app -- this streams directly to the player without touching the mobile
  2. commanded via the Spotify app using “Spotify Connect” -- again this streams directly to the Sonos player
  3. played through the Spotify app and sent via AirPlay -- the stream has to loop out to the mobile and back again

The last option imposes extra load on the network.

Hi @Matteliden 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

Are you still having this problem? If so, I recommend getting in touch with our technical support team - they can get diagnostics from your speakers and look into what’s going to fix the problem.

As mentioned by @ratty, there are more efficient ways to play some sources that via AirPlay, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to play AirPlay without this happening.

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