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Bad Sonos connection, what to do?

E
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  • Esat
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Hello,

I live in a 2-floor house (ground level and 1st floor), which has 500 Mb/s internet connection. I use a TP-link Mesh wifi setup to distribute internet: 3x Deco M9plus (one is the main Deco attached to my modem) + 2x Deco M5. All Decos are connected by Ethernet cable to the first Deco router using a switch (star network). I am on S2.

In my living room (ground level), there are 1x Connect GEN2 (connected to my HiFi system’s DAC) and 1x Sonos Amp (using 2x Sonos InCeiling speakers) + 1x Sonos Sub GEN2 + 2x One SL’s as surround (previously I had 2x Play 3s working flawlessly). All of these were connected via Ethernet cables except the One SLs (Amp+Connect+Sub are connected via Ethernet cable to the main Deco M0Plus). In this living room, there is also a second Deco M9plus using a ethernet backhaul. In the same level, I have another room where there is a 1x PlayBar (in this room there is also a Deco M5 using also Ethernet cable backhaul) connected via Ethernet cable to the Deco M5.

In the 1st floor, there is a Deco M9plus attached with ethernet backhaul where there are 3 rooms (in my bedroom has also a Deco M5, ethernet backhaul). In this room, I have a Sonos Boost connected to the Deco M5 via Ethernet cable, and there are 2x Symfonisk bookshelves paired, and connected via Sonos Net via the Boost.

Everywhere in the house, I have at least 200-250 Mb/s wifi speed.

Sonos setup is with Sonos Net (WM 0).

Everything was working OK until now. When I changed the Play 3s (surrounds via wifi Sonos Net), and when I made the setup for Sonos Onel SLs as surround, everything worked nicely. However, since a couple of days, the 2x Symfonisks and the 2x One SLs were not working.

This morning, I made a modem reset, reset of all switches and all Decos. The unplugged all Sonos material. Replug the Sonos system. In the beginning everything worked (Symfonisks, and all the other Sonos connected via ethernet cables, except the One SLs (the system does not see them)). I passed a couple of hours without success (when I unplugged the One SLs and replugged I did undo the surround setup, and they worked. But when I tried to do surround setup, the system lost them). Then, as there was another Deco M9Plus near the One SLs, I put another switch to the Deco and plugged the One SLs via ethernet cables. Now everything works normally but I would not like to have this switch and cables near my One SLs...

Could you help me?

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Best answer by Esat 12 April 2022, 19:23

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37 replies

J

Sorry but I don't think my brain is up to taking that all in  but I will just say that if you have any surround speakers connected by Ethernet you should remove those cables, especially if the main HT device is wireless.

If you have set any of your wired devices to have 'WiFi disabled', please re-enable that setting.

J

As this has arisen 'overnight' and worked previously it may be a hardware fault. It would be worth submitting a system diagnostic after this has happened, and contact Support with the confirmation number. 

Or it might just be a temporary glitch, in which case you might want to power everything off and on again. 

ratty

Please find enclosed the plan. The AMP is in a closet.

 

I’m trying to square that statement with the illustration, which shows the Amp in the living room somewhere close to the TV.

ratty

I called Sonos today. The guy to whom I spoke looked to the plan in the this discussion, and told me that probably the Deco’s 5 GHz signal is too high compared to the Sonos AMPS’s signal, therefore the One SLs disconnect… He proposed me to leave the switch and the cables, and try to live with them...

That does not make sense to me, as the Amp auto-selects it’s wireless channels and it should be avoiding the channels in use by your Deco AP’s - I’ve not heard a case where a WiFi signal is too strong, maybe a case that all might be operating on the same channel, perhaps 🤔, in which case a channel change should immediately fix the issue... often a reboot should cause a product to re-auto-select its channels and hopefully avoid the channels in use by other nearby devices.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near%E2%80%93far_problem

Strong adjacent channels, or indeed anything blasting away in the same band, could be sufficient to deafen a receiver.

Airgetlam

Just to add a bit of color, and hopefully not confusion, surround speakers and Subs in a home theater room do not connect to the standard ‘SonosNet’ signal. When in the home theater configuration, they use a separate 5Ghz channel to connect to the ‘root’ of the home theater ‘room’, which, if I can understand the original post, is an Amp in this case. But it would be the same with a Sonos soundbar too. So additional sources of interference could be affecting the connection of your surrounds to the ‘front device’ of your Sonos home theater setup. 
 

Back to @John B ’s excellent assistance…..

Bruce
ratty

Where is the Amp situated? Is it in some closet, away from the living room?

How far is the living room Deco M9Plus from the two OneSLs?

E
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I called Sonos today. The guy to whom I spoke looked to the plan in the this discussion, and told me that probably the Deco’s 5 GHz signal is too high compared to the Sonos AMPS’s signal, therefore the One SLs disconnect… He proposed me to leave the switch and the cables, and try to live with them...

Ken_Griffiths

I called Sonos today. The guy to whom I spoke looked to the plan in the this discussion, and told me that probably the Deco’s 5 GHz signal is too high compared to the Sonos AMPS’s signal, therefore the One SLs disconnect… He proposed me to leave the switch and the cables, and try to live with them...

That does not make sense to me, as the Amp auto-selects it’s wireless channels and it should be avoiding the channels in use by your Deco AP’s - I’ve not heard a case where a WiFi signal is too strong, maybe a case that all might be operating on the same channel, perhaps 🤔, in which case a channel change should immediately fix the issue... often a reboot should cause a product to re-auto-select its channels and hopefully avoid the channels in use by other nearby devices.

Stanley_4
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The interfering device doesn’t even need to contain a radio, just be putting out enough RF noise to swamp the signal. I had an external hard drive (with no radio) that would knock my Play 3 off line if it was within a couple feet of it.

Some days it just comes down to unplugging everything else and trying again. Even that won’t help if it your neighbor’s gear causing the issue.

E
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Hello All. 3 weeks passed… Finally I found the solution: I have sold my One SLs (to a higher price of course) and bought a pair of used Play 1. They work without any problem without the need of ethernet cables… They work perfectly.

E
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The guy from Sonos badly informed me… If it is a WiFi interference problem, why would Play 1s work correctly?…

 

E
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Hi John B,

Thanks for the reply.

In summary, Sonos Amp does not see the One SLs when I try to make a surround setup.

Individually, if there is no surround setup, they work (Sonos App sees them). When trying to do a surround setup, they got lost…

When putting One SLs also on ethernet, everything works.

WiFi is not disabled…

 

J

 When trying to do a surround setup, they got lost…

 

Could you be a bit more precise about what this means please?

E
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Normally, when you buy the 2x One SL, and include to your system, they become first individual speakers. 

Then, you have 3 options: 1) use them individually in separate rooms, 2) create a stereo setup (LR), or use them as surround speakers with Sonos Amp (Dolby 4.1 in Sonos).

When I try to attach them to Sonos Amp without ethernet cables, the App cannot finish the setup, and they disappear from the App’s menu.

If I attach them via ethernet cables, it works…

Previously, I had Play 3s, and used them without any problem with Sonos Net wifi. I changed them to Sonos One SL (bought on February), they worked also for a while but today I could not do the surround setup without ethernet cable attachment.

 

J

Also, do you have wireless enabled on both the TP-Link and Deco?

E
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TPlink Decos are my WiFi Mesh system. They work without any problem

 

Airgetlam

I’ll play that game….I’ve had both a failing microwave that borked my Sonos speaker’s ability to stay on a signal, as well as a neighbor installing a new router which stomped on my signal. Took a while to figure out the latter, as all I was aware of was that someone moved in next door….didn’t really consider that they might mess my wifi signal in my house. The microwave was pretty clear….when it was on, the speakers were off. :)

Bruce
K

Digressing a little with a general question that may still be relevant to the OP:

If one has a state of art mesh WiFi giving good coverage across the home as the OP seems to have, is it now better to use Sonos in WiFi mode? Do such systems obsolete Sonos net, and therefore the need to wire any Sonos unit to the core network?

E
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Thank you very much. Should I call them or wait that they reply here?

 

Ken_Griffiths

Thank you very much. Should I call them or wait that they reply here?

 

I would call them, or perhaps chat online, once you have the diagnostic reference. You might also want to consider toggling ‘OFF’ the WiFi on the Amp and then try toggling it back ‘ON’ to make sure it is definitely working, as that is used to communicate wirelessly (over a 5Ghz Ad-hoc connection) with the two surrounds (ideally).

E
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Thank you all for your replies and comments.

I will try this long Easter week-end different configurations. However, for the moment, even the One SLs are cabled via ethernet, I am happy; at least, everything works…

I will give you a feed back.

Thanks again.

ratty

Digressing a little with a general question that may still be relevant to the OP:

If one has a state of art mesh WiFi giving good coverage across the home as the OP seems to have, is it now better to use Sonos in WiFi mode? Do such systems obsolete Sonos net, and therefore the need to wire any Sonos unit to the core network?

It depends. With many WiFi mesh systems there’s next to no control over channel allocations or even the ability to split the bands onto different SSIDs. In some situations a Sonos pair or group could end up with nodes spread across multiple mesh access points. If the Sonos devices are using different channels they’re unable to interconnect directly, so are at the mercy of potentially variable latency via the mesh backhaul.

When problems occur on a WiFi mesh the standard advice is ... to wire a Sonos device to the mesh primary.

E
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Thank you very much for your answers. I think that this is a 5 GHz issue because the Deco M9Plus is just between the 2 One SLs...

E
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Please find enclosed the plan. The AMP is in a closet.

 

E
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And in the upstairs, there is another Deco M9Plus just the same level as Sonos AMP. There is a Deco M5 just the same level as Playbar (our bed room), on which a Sonos Boost is connected + 2x Symfonisk without cable connection (Sonos Net to the Boost). All Decos have ethernet cable connection to the Main Deco M9Plus. 

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