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I spent a day helping a friend wire 8 amps to a unmanaged switch and back to the router. After all was wired up, we couldn’t get the system to be recognizzed or work. So here are the details of the system.

The provider’s router is in the bedroom at one end of the house. There is a Google mesh router plug in to the provider router with 2 other googe mesh  units around the house. My friend also added a Sonos boost next to the router and google mesh in the bedroom. The boost was plugged into the Google mesh.

At the other end of the house, the existing system had 4 Amps connected. All amps reside in a closet at this end of the house. We have 4 more Amps that had not been connected and I added 2 more while wiring the system that day. He also has some older Play 5’s and other stand alone speakers that he moves around from time to time, though these are not a priority since we have put speakers throughout the house now.

I ran an ethernet cable from the amp closet back to the bedroom. In the closet, the ethernet was plugged into a Netgear 16 port Gigabit unmanaged switch. Each amp was than connected to the switch. 

Once the wiring was complete, nothing worked. Based on my limited Sonos knowledge, I didn’t see the need for the Boost, so I first tried the following:

Removed Boost, connected the ethernet from the switch to the providers router - nothing worked. 

Also tried reconnecting the boost to the Google mesh and keeping the ethernet to the switch connected to the provider router - nothing.

On the app, tried connecting to existing Sonos system, which it saw, said you’re connected in a window, but the app still showed Not Connected. Multiple rboots of the amps the routers, etc - nothing. 

Finally, in an effort to get my friend his music back before leaving, I disconected all ethernet cables and was able to see the system again. However, I would prefer to get it all on ethernet for reliability.

So, after reading a bunch on this forum, I have some questions and may have found some problems. 

Should the ethernet from the switch be connected to the Google mesh router or the providers router? (it appears the providers wifi radio is on, but not used. Wifi in the house is from Google mesh)

I was unable to find anywhere in the app to change settings on how the amps from wireless to wired. Do this happen automatically?

Should I wipe out the entire existing system and start over? 

Also curious, how are signals received/controlled between the app selecting music and the amp. Does the Google mesh pick up the the command and feed it to the amps over ethernet and music stream goes to amp via ethernet from the router? Or is the Amp receiving the command from the iphone and pulling stream over the ethernet?

So, I need a plan of attack for when I get back to his house. Without futher guidance form the community, I am thinking of the folowing steps:

-Reconnect amps to switch

-Remove Boost

-Connect Switch to Google mesh port in bedroom

-Wipe out existing system and start over - not sure how this is done

You advice is appreciated! 

 

 

Sonos considers wifi to be far more robust and reliable now than a few years back - hence Era by default having no Ethernet connector, and no more support (AIUI) for Boost. Since the system worked once Ethernet cables were unplugged, that might be the configuration to go for. 

Thanks for the reply. I understand Wifi is better now, but for a couple of reasons, would still like to understand how to get it to work connected to ethernet. 

First, being in a rural location, highest speed availble from local provider is something like 3 MB/S. I understand wired vs wireless won’t change the limit of the bandwith, I’d feel more comfortable that we’re using the precious bandwith more efficiently.

Second is dependability. My friend has NO ability to diagnose or fix any issues. Maybe I’m old school, but I’m still from the “hardwire whenever possible” camp.

With that in mind, it would be great to know how to get the wired set up to work.

Thanks for the reply. I understand Wifi is better now, but for a couple of reasons, would still like to understand how to get it to work connected to ethernet. 

First, being in a rural location, highest speed availble from local provider is something like 3 MB/S. I understand wired vs wireless won’t change the limit of the bandwith, I’d feel more comfortable that we’re using the precious bandwith more efficiently.

Second is dependability. My friend has NO ability to diagnose or fix any issues. Maybe I’m old school, but I’m still from the “hardwire whenever possible” camp.

With that in mind, it would be great to know how to get the wired set up to work.

If you hardwire a Sonos product and leave its WiFi adapters enabled, you invoke SonosNet, which is Sonos’ own hidden wireless/wired network, which ‘may’ introduce network storms with the multiple connections to the Google mesh hubs setup - so maybe see this useful post/thread started by Sonos Staff, which mentions Google Mesh WiFi too (amongst others)…

https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/troubleshooting-sonos-on-wifi-6856334?postid=16520976#post16520976

 

Finally, in an effort to get my friend his music back before leaving, I disconected all ethernet cables and was able to see the system again. However, I would prefer to get it all on ethernet for reliability.

You advice is appreciated! 

You have proved the system works without boosts and ethernet, so your friends wireless setup is currently more ‘reliable’ than ethernet/boosts.

I would agree ‘old school’ thinking would be to ethernet everything, but wireless technology has moved on. Think about it, when was the last time you plugged your phone in to a network to make a call or stream a youtube video?

You do need to follow the guide Ken posted above, with regard to router vs AP mode for the google mesh its important you only have one network. I would focus efforts on making Google Mesh wireless as reliable as possible.

I didn’t see this answered above, but your switch should be connected to the Google mesh router, not your internet service providers router.  The ISP router should really be set in a passthrough mode, or modem only mode, so that it’s not generating a WiFI signal or handing out IP addresses.  All it should do is just provide your Google mesh with outside internent connection, and the google router handle everything else.

Very helpful! Thank you all. I will certainly take the advice and clean up the WIFi situation. I saw 3 or 4 networks that were on and not being used. 

Out of curiosity, how does the Sonos system work to transmit the music stream when using a phone to play music. Is the phone simply selecting the file on the Sonos app and the amp streams through the router, either by wifi or ethernet? Am I correct that if I were to use my phone to play my Amazon playlist via Airplay, then the file is streaming thorough my phone?

There’s no reason why you can’t have the amps connected via ethernet, and with 8 amps all streaming independently it might not be the worst idea. 

You *will* have to be very careful how you add them though to stop the system creating a Sonosnet which you don’t want/need. Dump the Boost, it’s not required. 

The switches you use to plug into the Amps should be connected via ethernet to the Google Mesh units. 

I would factory reset all the amps and then add them one at a time into the system. As soon as you have added one, go into the settings and turn off the WiFi for that amp, then restart it. Verify after in the app that the WiFi is still off.

Once all the amps are added, you can add any wireless speakers etc, and these should be using the Google Mesh WiFi SSID.

Just periodically make sure that the WiFi on the amps doesn’t get switched on. As soon as it does, Sonosnet will be created … maybe they should have called it Skynet… 

On the controller device, if you completely delete the app and re-install when you try to connect the first amp after reset I think you get the option to create a new system. Create it using existing WiFi. 

There’s no reason why you can’t have the amps connected via ethernet, and with 8 amps all streaming independently it might not be the worst idea. 

I very much doubt that all 8 Amps would be able to reliably stream independently due to the limited ISP bandwidth:

First, being in a rural location, highest speed availble from local provider is something like 3 MB/S.

 

 

 

 

I guess that depends on the source of the music… MP3 vs higher bitrate vs local etc. Grouping will send the same music around locally so if it’s a busy household with lots of other WiFi devices, putting Sonos wired where you can would help in general IMO. 

I didn’t see this answered above, but your switch should be connected to the Google mesh router, not your internet service providers router.  The ISP router should really be set in a passthrough mode, or modem only mode, so that it’s not generating a WiFI signal or handing out IP addresses.  All it should do is just provide your Google mesh with outside internent connection, and the google router handle everything else.

This is an important point.  Last time I looked (which was a while back, I admit), you could not turn off DHCP on the Google mesh, so your setup must ensure that there is no competing DHCP.  I would ensure that the Google main puck is connected to the ISP router by Ethernet and that nothing else connects to the ISP router by Ethernet.  Turn off the WiFi on the ISP router so that nothing connects to it by WiFi either.  If the ISP router has a “modem only” mode this is probably the best choice. 

This may all require you to change the network connection details on some non-Sonos connected devices in your home, but you should want everything to connect to your Google mesh anyway.

If you connect the switch (with the Amps) or any other Sonos product by Ethernet, you will trigger SonosNet into existence.  This may be an unnecessary complication here but you could see how the system as a whole performs with or without.

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