Sonos Amp and Sonos Sub, Sub stops playing after being paired and doesn't show in the Sonos App

You could try wiring both to Ethernet.

Hi, thanks for the reply.  They were both hardwired at one point.  In a perfect set up, I’d like to have everything hardwired and have Wi-Fi turned off totally, but in trying to get to that state I ran into a problem where turning Wi-Fi off on my Sub would turn Wi-Fi on, on my Garage Connect and vice versa.  I could never get Wi-Fi turned off on both at the same time.  I called Tech Support and they told me my Amp was causing a network loop, but no explanation of why or how.  Their direction was to keep only my Arc hard-wired and leave the rest wireless.  That worked for a day, then my Sub in the Kitchen (that pairs to the Amp) stopped working.  So here I am…

Also, to add to that, I thought that even if both were hardwired, Sub’s pair to the player they are working with via Wi-Fi, but not your home Wi-Fi, a dedicated Sonos Wi-Fi that is used for pairing surrounds, subs, etc.

​@Stanley_4 is correct as a possible solution. Note that subs and surrounds bonded to amp, speakers or soundbars communicate over a hidden 5Ghz channel. 5Ghz is very fast compared to 2.4Ghz; but is short distance and has very little wall penetration compared to the former. That’s why bonded devices are best placed in the same room with the primary device.

There is no good reason to disable the internal radio, what the disable wifi actually does, except in dense rack mounting of multiple Sonos devices.

Do you have smart / managed switches? There is a good bit of discussion here on setting them up to work with Sonos.

I do, I run Ubiquiti in my house. Their guidance is to either go all wired or all wireless. And if you go wired to turn off the wireless on the Sonos decides to prevent network loops, as well as setting the STP priorities which I have. 

There are some ubiquity topics here that are good.

Also try this link

https://github.com/IngmarStein/unifi-sonos-doc

Thanks for the links. I'll check them out. I guess in short I'm asking if an Amp and Sub can be "paired" and not have Wifi enabled at all if they are both hardwired. I've seen posts on Reddit saying as such and I could swear that is how I had everything until I started adding Play 1's. But would like to get a solid answer before I pull my hair out messing with network settings. 

I guess I can start by powering everything off except the two, wiring them up and see what happens. 

An Amp can not be ‘bonded’ ( see Sonos terminology thread.) with a Sonos Sub because Sonos has no idea where the cutoff should be, as it doesn’t ‘know’ what speakers are wired to the Amp’s speaker posts. And they don’t have anywhere in their software to ‘set’ such a cutoff. 

You can, however, drive a third party Sub with the Amp’s line level sub output, as long as the Amp is not in surround driver mode. 

Huh, apparently this is different than before, with the newer Subs and Amps (likely the mini Sub, and the gen 4 Sub, along with the Amp), here’s the data on the sales page for the Gen 4 Sub;

• Sub 4 is not compatible with Play:1, Play:3, Play:5 (Gen 2), Connect:Amp, SYMFONISK Bookshelf (Gen 1), or SYMFONISK Table lamp (Gen 1).
• All Sub products are not compatible with Move products, Roam products, Port, ZP80, ZP90, Connect, or Connect:Amp (Gen 1).

So, I’d likely call Sonos Support to discuss it.

When you speak directly to the Support staff, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your network and Sonos system.

Hi, thanks for the reply. I know the Sub (gen3) will bond with my amp. It is literally the only option in the app other than my arc. I even get the amazing "audio queue" when they bond that t lets me know the process is finished. The issue is after a bit the sub becomes "un-bonded". I think it might be and distance a different floors issue. 

That’s certainly possible, ‘bonding’ usually takes a 5Ghz channel to connect. On a ‘normal’ network, it would also connect via LAN, if both were wired to a router, but I’m not sure about the whole Unifi thing. Which is why I haven’t been commenting, I just don’t have the experience/knowledge.

I’d still recommend a call, though. 

Yes, and/or your home WiFi is using 5GHz channels causing interference, especially if they are using 80 or 160MHz channel width. Is there an AP near or in between Sub and Amp by any chance? How many APs in total? I would consider moving Sub and/or AP if so to try to confirm.

If you have no option than to go wired, I would have a read here page 9 in particular:

 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/64d25b2ad1525118c018cbb3/t/67d08e530115140fb1f951be/1741721172373/01_TheGuildFieldGuides_SonosNetworkingBestPractices_Nov2024.pdf

If using a Fully Wired Surround Setup, first setup the entire system with WIFI enabled on all devices (make sure your STP settings are applied!). Then disable WIFI on the primary device, THEN disable WIFI for each of the satellite devices.

Use the link that ​@Stanley_4 posted above for the details for STP details for your UI network. Before you make any changes on your UI, make a backup, note the changes you make and be patient.

I have a Unifi AC-LR on each floor.  However, the AP in the basement and the first floor are not directly between the Amp and my Sub.  I’m using 20MHz Channel Width for my 2.4GHz and 40MHz for my 5GHz.  Unifi is set for 160MHz for 6GHz, but my access points don’t have a 6GHz radio in them.  I moved my Sub across my Kitchen last night so it is about 10 feet away from the Amp and a floor above (still wireless).  I had to factory reset it and re-add it, for it to come back online, but it is still showing in the App today and playing with the Amp.  And by the way, thank you for that link.  I’ve never seen it and it full of great information!  THANK YOU!!

Glad you got it (getting it) sorted. 40MHz channel width is a wise choice for 5GHz band, no need to be greedy. 

I spent the whole afternoon messing about with the Amp and Sub (everything else was unplugged and/or turned off).  I also cleared all of the data cache in my Sonos app, so I was setting everything up fresh.  I had my Amp set up and working great with no Wireless network at all.  As soon as I try to “bond” the Sub to the Amp my entire wireless network goes down.  I’m not sure what is going on.  I followed all of the steps in the article that ​@Stanley_4 posted in my Unifi network.  After a few hours I gave up and moved the sub to a less optimal location where it does connect over the hidden 5Ghz connection to the Amp and moved all of my Sonos gear back to wireless.  So far it is working well.  Fingers crossed it stays that way.  Thanks for all of the input on this topic, I appreciate it.  I might call Support next week when I have some time, to see if they can get me going on a wired set up.

Yep, totally understand that is the issue, just not sure how to fix it.  ​@Stanley_4 linked to a Github that seemed to indicate you can leave Unifi in RSTP mode for mixed use with some specific settings.  I followed all of those, and even with just the two devices was having STP problems.  Ubiquiti has different “rules” for how to set up Sonos, but since I have a Roam and Move (both can only do wireless) they indicate I have to use a full wireless set up.  I listened to music most of the night last night and was still experiencing the random drop outs on different players occasionally, so I’m sure there is more messing about with this in my future.  Thanks for the links I’ll check them out.

So after messing about with everything and looking at network data, I had a hunch that one of my Unifi AP’s was going bad, or was too old to handle as many clients as I had connected.  I upgraded one AP (the one all my Sonos devices connect to) to a Unifi U7 Pro and so far the fully wireless set up has been rock solid.  Still wish I could get everything wired, but I’m happy this seems to have fixed the issue.

Thanks for the update, and good to hear it’s (hopefully) sorted.