Likely this is a network issue. Is your SONOS system wired or wireless? Are you playing a single speaker? a pair? a Group? Are all of these speakers in the same room or are some in other rooms?

Hi Buzz,

I believe our Sonos system is wireless to our office's Wifi.

We're playing four speakers, two upstairs, two downstairs and one in the meeting room.

They are in seperate rooms, however our office is technically open plan. 

I have them grouped in systems by 'Downstairs’, ‘Upstairs’ and 'Boardroom’ on my SONOS controller app.

SONOS staff has access to the diagnostics and network issues will be highlighted in the diagnostics.

In SONOS lingo a “Room” is a single speaker, pair of speakers, or a surround system. Therefore a bonded pair of ONE’s is a single Room on the SONOS controller. A Group is a collection of Rooms.

From a networking standpoint, as you start to build a Group, the first member of the Group becomes the Group’s “Coordinator”. The Group Coordinator manages all of the music traffic for the Group. If the Coordinator is struggling with its connectivity the Group will suffer. Sometimes, building the Group in a different order can help if the Coordinator then has a better network connection.

Are any of your players wired to the network?

Thank you, Buzz.

I’m unsure. I believe all of them are wireless and connected to our wifi.

So are you suggesting I make one of them wired for better connectivity?

If one or more SONOS units are wired to the network, all of the SONOS units will join together, form a private wireless network, and ignore your WiFi. This is known as “SonosNet” and WiFi will ignore SonosNet. In difficult wireless situations there can be a dramatic difference in performance. Usually, SonosNet will work better, but each situation is different.

Your WiFi should be using channel 1, 6, or 11. “Auto” channel selection by a wireless router is usually a bad idea because most of them will pick channels other than 1, 6, or 11. Using other channels will result in interference between other nearby WiFi and SonosNet installations. SonosNet and WiFi should be using different channels.

Sometimes, if a SONOS unit is placed very close to another electronics device, particularly if that device uses WiFi, there can be some interference and moving a unit only a foot or so can have dramatic results.

These are general suggestions. Information in the diagnostics will help pinpoint the issue.

It’s easy to try SonosNet, simply wire one or more units to the network, then allow a few minutes for SonosNet to configure itself. If SonosNet is successful, I suggest that you remove the WiFi password from your SONOS system. Wait a few days if you like. This is the best approach if your overall wireless situation is poor for some reason. (My own situation can get dicey because there is a medical facility next door and lots of nearby WiFi installations. Wireless in general can be difficult at times.)