Skip to main content

In the process of upgrading my Sonos 1 system, which actually works well for me, apart from an ongoing problem of zones appearing and disappearing and not being able to be reliably grouped. I don’t think I would upgrade if it wasn’t for this problem - Sonos 2 gives me no obvious benefits for my use case.

Purchased a new Sonos Amp to start my upgrade and understand the process and the improvements. What I immediately noticed is that when the Amp is plugged in all zones in the Sonos 1 system are listed reliably and can be grouped and ungrouped at will. Unplug the Amp and old situation returns.

Both Amp snd old system (8 zones) are showing as being on SonosNet and all zones are wired where possible.

My question is this: is the Amp fulfilling the same function as a Boost would fulfil? Or in other words, will the purchase of a Boost solve my zone dropout problem? 

If yes, I may not bother moving to Sonos 2, saving over £4k and a whole ton of hassle. In the worst case I am even considering leaving the Amp in place as a 'network booster’ for my Sonos 1 set up, although this seems slightly insane! As it stands now my Sonos system is all working perfectlly 👍🏻.

Will probably try a Boost anyway, but any thoughts or insights appreciated

 

A Boost is used to set up Sonosnet, which you already have since some of your devices are wired. Maybe the Amp is in a better place in your home (least wifi interference) to start Sonosnet and that’s why you get better results when it is in use? Have you tried only wiring the Amp and see what happens then?

BOOST is simply a unit with the audio processing removed in order to reduce costs. BOOST is usually used to provide a wired connection at a location where you don’t need a player. I agree that a wireless unit is struggling and wiring AMP provides a better wireless path for that unit. The problem location could be the AMP. You can also place a wireless BOOST about midway between good and bad coverage areas in order to improve the situation.

if you have not already done this, I suggest that you “reserve” IP addresses for all regular network clients — especially the SONOS units.

I suggest that you “reserve” IP addresses for all regular network clients — especially the SONOS units.
 

Thanks both for the help. Can to you explain what you mean by reserving IP addresses please? In the beginning it was not possible to manually allocate an IP to a Sonos device. Don’t know if this has changed. I realise this may not be what you are suggesting now. I have checked in the past and the DHCP allocated addresses are not changing when the problem is present if that helps.

The wired AMP is one foot away from a wired ZP100. It is obviously only the network part of the AMP that is making the Sonos 1 network operate properly which is why I wondered about the Boost.

If the Boost is not the solution, my current plan is to use the new Amp for a set computer speakers, creating a single Sonos 2 zone by moving the computer audio output from the ZP100 to the Amp. Overkill perhaps but it appears to solve all problems 👍🏻

Most DHCP servers can be configured to give out the same address after a router reboot or address lease renewals. Lately, most routers refer to this as a “reservation”, but it could also be called “static” or “fixed” IP address.

We can’t rule out the possibility of a hardware fault. ZP100 is a likely candidate. Try using a different network port on ZP100.

Don’t ignore the possibility of silly things, such as a bad network cable.

You can go to: http://oaddress of a player]:1400/support/review and open the Network Matrix at the bottom. Red cells indicate potential issues. Unfortunately, the utility of this view is waning because the latest units do not post data here. Note that this is a static view. Refresh the page to view current data.

Terms & ConditionsCookie settings