Answered

Connect Amp keeps dropping out audio

  • 19 September 2023
  • 98 replies
  • 6781 views
Show first post

98 replies

K

Unedited Sonos Staff words today in another thread on this subject:

we're close to releasing an update that fixes certain conditions with older players. I still recommend that you do not get your hopes up, however, as things will still likely vary on a device-by-device basis.

S
Badge +1

Add me to the list of haiving the same issues with connect and connect:amp starting last year. Following...

S
Badge +1

Has anyone back tracked to S1 and did it resolve the issues?

Bumper
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Has anyone back tracked to S1 and did it resolve the issues?


Hopefully this link works, if it’s not to the direct post if you read through the thread there is at least one

( @ANOpax ) owner posting s1 resolved it  

 

 

M
Badge

Hello all, same issue here, I have 4 connect amps and they keep dropping out, I went away on vacation but before I left I went through an entire day of trouble shooting with support and at the end was told that my product is at the end of its cycle and I need to upgrade…of course they offered me the same BS 15% to upgrade but the more I think about it the more it doesn’t make sense.

Sonos sold products which they rendered useless by upgrading the software without consent…I’m no genius but I believe that this kind of behaviour is liable!? 
 

I noticed that there was another software upgrade in Dec, they worked fine for a few days but are now on the fritz again.

T
Userlevel 4
Badge +5

I posted on another thread before I knew about this one. We built a new house about five years ago and we were convinced by one of the contractors to install all Sonos equipment inside the house. We have seven of the connect amps along with about 10 to 15 other devices from Sonos. These connect amps  all started having a problem last year like everyone else. Dropping audio.  On one I use the most, there is a subwoofer in the mix.  The connect amp will drop out while we hear the subwoofer still thumping along.  Like everyone else I jumped through all the hoops Sonos asked me to do including submitting diagnostics and all they are telling me is the products are old and I need to update with a 15% discount. 
 

We live almost smack dab in the middle of 150+ acres. So neighbors and their Wi-Fi is not our issue. I am not ruling out some occasional Wi-Fi interference inside the house, but we mostly had been fine until the middle of last year.  I have wasted time trying to configure everything over and in different ways when it sounds like these old amps just can’t handle it anymore.
 

I don’t think I’m willing to pay for a bunch of new Sonos equipment with a 15% discount when I may have to do this all over again in a few years. I’m considering what alternatives are out there.  Thanks. 

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

A lot of us have Sonos gear a lot more than six years old.

I’d call back and try to escalate your issue to a higher level tech.

A

Hello, I have been having similar issues with 2 of my 3 Connect Amps dropping out when playing music, the ones that we use the most are the Kitchen and Garden which I have the issue with but I can have the kitchen and the lesser used lounge one playing together and the kitchen drops out and the lounge continues to play, oddly I never seem to have issues when using the line in from my HDMI matrix for Firestick and Sky audio. Anyway, frustrated at the problem last week I decided to factory reset my Kitchen CA and re-add it to my system, so far I have only had a couple of drop outs and I use the system virtually every day for a couple of hours and most of the day on weekend's fingers crossed this will be a fix for the short term. 
 

I just have a couple of questions, 

Does anyone know if Sonos are going to roll a fix out for this? 
 

I would also like to know if anyone knows where I can find the detailed firmware build release notes, as I have just applied another update today and it’s moved from 76.2-47270 up to 76.2-49050 it would be interesting to know if they are trying to fix the issue.  
 
Thanks

Edit, just to confirm I have disabled the WiFi on all CA’s as they are all wired directly to my network switch. 

B
Badge +3

OK will do, btw Sonos are still saying that the problem is lack of memory and report the following :

  1. Kitchen ( Connect Amp): Free memory: 1672 KB, 1.66 MB only

  2. Living Room ( Connect Amp): Free memory: 2376 KB, 2.376 MB 

  3. Master Bedroom (Connect Amp) Free memory: 1708 KB, 1.708 MB

  4. Dinning Room ( Connect Amp) Free memory: 1564 KB, 1.564 MB

I guess it is feasible but going to try and set static IP’s next when I get a chance, will let you know.

controlav
Userlevel 7
Badge +23

My device only works for less than 24 hours after power down. It is quite annoying to power down every time before you want to turn the Music on. The Connect amp has also become slower and slower through the app. Next upgrade will be Bose or Bluesound. Sonos seems to be a product of low quality, which might be the case also for bluesound, were Bose has been on the semi high end for years.

You realize you are complaining about a device that is least a decade old? Good luck finding a 10-yr old Bose or Bluesound device that still has any software support. And please, don’t call Bose semi-high end (except maybe for their headphones).

Author of the leading independent Sonos app for Windows, the only Sonos app for Xbox, and a Sonos app for iOS
Airgetlam

I wouldn’t think it’s really on their radar to roll out a fix, unless you’ve been in communication with them, and provided them diagnostic data that they could hand over to their engineers. 
 

Most unfortunately, Sonos doesn’t post notes for firmware updates. I, too just updated my speakers, and went to look in the release notes, the last entry was back in December, so I think no one outside of Sonos knows what was in this firmware update. But I also am of the impression that when someone does post release notes, it’s only sometimes, and only when they update the controller. Which irks me, too. 

Bruce
B
Badge +3

Does anyone know the memory requirements for S2 versus S1 and whether it might be worthwhile downgrading my system to S1 to free up memory?? Im not interested in any bells and whistles and just listen to the radio streams.

A
Userlevel 5
Badge +4

My device only works for less than 24 hours after power down. It is quite annoying to power down every time before you want to turn the Music on. The Connect amp has also become slower and slower through the app. Next upgrade will be Bose or Bluesound. Sonos seems to be a product of low quality, which might be the case also for bluesound, were Bose has been on the semi high end for years.

You realize you are complaining about a device that is least a decade old? Good luck finding a 10-yr old Bose or Bluesound device that still has any software support. And please, don’t call Bose semi-high end (except maybe for their headphones).

I don’t think that in this case the age is the point.  I had 6 S2 devices that I’d call ‘prior’ generation devices, all bought new and less than 10yrs ago (3 x Connect:amps, 2 x play:1’s and a Connect) that all broke with the update pushed out late last year.   That is over £2000 pounds worth.  It is not ‘supporting’ these devices if the update renders them unable to stream.  I’ve mentioned it before, I have a £25 Echo Dot that is a more reliable streamer.  I think there is a genuine cause for grievance here, after all Sonos could have twilighted these earlier gen devices on the release of S2 but they didn’t.  I’m already in the process of replacing what I have and so far I’ve paid over £1000 already.  To replace the remaining prior gen devices will set me back about another £1800.  Do I feel aggrieved , heck yeah I do.  Wouldn’t you ?  

 

andrew s 

A

My device only works for less than 24 hours after power down. It is quite annoying to power down every time before you want to turn the Music on. The Connect amp has also become slower and slower through the app. Next upgrade will be Bose or Bluesound. Sonos seems to be a product of low quality, which might be the case also for bluesound, were Bose has been on the semi high end for years.

You realize you are complaining about a device that is least a decade old? Good luck finding a 10-yr old Bose or Bluesound device that still has any software support. And please, don’t call Bose semi-high end (except maybe for their headphones).

Not really the point is it, I have 3 CA’s that all started playing up last year, this is obviously software related and not down to the kit itself for them all to develop the same fault at the same time. I am currently going round in circles with tech support whilst they are trying to pick a fault with everything other than their kit,  I have implemented every change they have suggested  but still the only thing that cures the issue in the short term is a hard reset / power down. Clutching at straws springs to mind, as the don’t want to admit they have effectively bricked 100’s if not 1000’s of units that are officially still supported by them. 

K

Has anyone back tracked to S1 and did it resolve the issues?

Yes, the referred link has the experience of one user that got out of this mess via a rollback to S1.

I never moved to S2, but after reading about this mess, I have stopped updates within S1 as well. I am fine with old CPUs/memory cards, because new ones needed to carry the load of ever bloating software do zilch for the sound quality or the user experience, in my view.

I do not think that Sonos messed around with older devices as a tactic to boost sales, but they certainly messed them up and are now being very tardy in fixing things - or even admitting to these units not being fixable because that may then mean a financial liability of offering free replacements.

But for those who can do without S2, there is a workaround that seems to be robust.

 

K

There is also a simple workaround in S2: set up line in for autoplay on each Connect Amp, and then use the cheapest Echo device you find that has a line out socket, wired via RCA to each Connect Amp. You are then free of S2, and the Connect Amp becomes a dumb servant of the Echo. And if you group Echos together, you can get all Connect Amps to play the same music in perfect sync as well.

PS: If you can find older Echo Show units that have an audio out jack - the latest models don't have these - you will even get a free bonus of being able to see album art of what is playing.

The major miss here is that this solution will not give you access to music on a local NAS.

A

I bought my S2 Connect that is suffering from this in 2019….

Exactly it shouldn’t matter when they were bought they are still supported and they have clearly caused this and it needs to be sorted. 

Airgetlam

Sonos did not force any upgrades to operating system software, and in fact went out of their way to continue to support older devices with S1. It remains the consumer’s choice to upgrade to S2 or not. 

It sounds like there are other network issues your system is dealing with, you may want to call Sonos Support directly to discuss it.

Bruce
S
Badge +1

sure but I’m already using my line in for my turntable… 

S
Userlevel 1
Badge

This same problem has been reported on other threads and Sonos have confirmed the older speakers/devices such as the Connect:Amp and Play3 do run out of memory after a period of continuous running. Apparently the newer speakers/amp have twice the memory. Only fix is to periodically reboot the speakers/Connect:Amp or upgrade 😫

Sonos staff on another thread have said they’re work g on a fix with ‘high priority’ but can give no timelines or realistic likelihood that a fix will eventually be released. My thinking is the longer this goes on the less likely they are to invest time/effort in coding fixes for older kit. Memory leaks to me suggest some resign may be necessary if they’re going to accommodate S2 functionality in older devices with constrained memory.

Airgetlam

More evidence that ‘jargon’ shouldn’t be used, a contractions that are unlikely to be known by the general public should be spelled out, the first use. 

Bruce
A
Userlevel 5
Badge +4

Same problem here.  I have a mix of old connect:amps and newer amps.  I’ve been plagued with recent drop outs whereas the system had been solid and stable for years.  Only recently had it occurred to me that the dropouts are with the older generation amps only.  So it looks like I will have to replace the 3 amps, with a total layout of £2100 minus 15% upgrade.  Not really happy about this.  
 

Based on comments here an earlier firmware upgrade has rendered the older kit less reliable.  The onus really is  on them to acknowledge the issue and provide guidance for their users.  Has there been no official communication on this, or have they let their poor support staff take the flack ?

 

andrew 

K

@Andrew-s : More colour on this issue in the link below:

https://en.community.sonos.com/components-and-architectural-228999/sonos-is-forcing-people-to-buy-new-hardware-as-they-ve-broken-the-connect-amp-and-they-refuse-to-fix-it-6888610?postid=16703518#post16703518

Reply


Terms & ConditionsCookie settings