Connection Issues - Sonos S1 and Connect:Amp

Is CONNECT:AMP wired to the Extreme or an Express? Are the Expresses wired or wireless? I’m not an Airport user. Is CONNECT:AMP wired to one of the Expresses? There may be an option set in the Extreme that prevents its wireless traffic from crossing over to Ethernet connections.

I still don’t think you understand what is meant by S1 and S2. 

Sonos designed new products that would not operate properly on the original controller/software as they had different requirements. Sonos had hundreds of users like yourself with older products that worked perfectly on the original controller/software and decided not to brick their products by just ditching the original controller/software and leaving them behind.

Sonos decided to maintain the original controller/software and release the new controller/software for it’s newer products and run them side by side

Since the controller/software is a download Sonos had to devise a naming method for users to know which controller/software to download...the original or new.

Sonos decided to call the original controller/software “S1” and the new controller/software “S2”. Therefore when you went to the App Store The original controller/software was easily identified with the label “Sonos S1” (Grey w/white letters) and the new controller/software was labeled as “Sonos S2” (Gold w/black letters).

Sonos on their web site as previously provided by @buzz supplied a link for users to know which Sonos products would work on the original controller/software (S1) as well as the  new controller/software (S2) and which products required S1 or S2 exclusively.

These next comments are just my honest opinion and advice I’d give to anyone. So no offense intended.

You have stated that...

“As far as repeaters are concerned, I never had any issue prior to S1. But I will try a test. I’ll unplug all the repeaters and put the Apple AirPort Extreme wifi router in the cabinet in the basement where the amp is located. I’ll plug the amp right into the Apple router. If this works, then the repeaters might be the problem. At least it’s a clue.”

Then you say…

“I’m going to stick with S1 for now. It works perfectly when I connect to the Secondary WiFi.”

The secondary Wi-Fi you say is...

“the cableco WiFi rounder SSID is called Secondary.”

All the above leads me to believe your Connect:Amp is a 1st Generation that requires the S1 controller. It seems to work best when connected to a simple router (secondary). If it is a 2nd generation then it’s the network it’s being connected to that makes the difference.

I’ll add that Airport Expresses and Airport Extreme in your “primary” network are outdated. Those products were last introduced in 2012 and 2013 respectively. As a rule of thumb if your network components are 5 years or older with no updates on the horizon it's recommended the components be swapped out for new ones. Apple ceased any meaning support as of 2018 (although you can still call Apple for limited assistance). Furthermore, there is too much signal “hopping” going on with that setup. 

My final recommendation is to consider upgrading to a reliable Mesh Network setup. 

I totally understand the nomenclature of the versions now. The gold app icon that says SONOS is actually S2. I get it. The fact that it didn’t explicitly say S2 is what threw me off. In any event, it doesn’t work with that app but I’m not sure it would’t. It says that I should use S1 OR create a new Sonos system from scratch. Since it works perfectly fine with S1 when I able to connect, I’ll just stick with S1.

Here’s an update on my troubleshooting:

I noticed that when I jingled the RJ-45 connector that goes to the AirPort Express in the basement, the light on the switch goes off. So I re-terminated with a new connector. Also, although the light on the Apple AirPort Express was green in the pool cabana, I noticed that I could not see it in the Airport Utility software. So I decided to do a hard reset on the AirPort Express. It then reappeared in the Airport Utility. I then configured it to extend the Primary WiFi network. And voila, I am able to connect to the Sonos through the Primary WiFi network which I haven’t been able to do in a long time. Not sure my issue is fully resolved. Can’t understand why one bad connection or a malfunctioning repeater would cause this issue sine the amp is plugged directly into a switch.  Anyway, time will tell.

Regarding the WiFi hardware, the bottom line is that the Apple Airport system was one of the best solutions around. It was the only end-to-end solution that allowed you to have any number of repeaters that would connect and extend an existing WiFi base router’s signal as opposed to creating new WiFi networks with different SSIDS. I know it’s dated but it’s been working perfectly fine. That said, I am looking at switching to new technology. My cableco offers this all home WiFi / TV solution. Apparently the WiFi signal is very powerful which means I may not need repeaters. I can also get 600Mbps download vs 100Mbps which is what I have now.

If I did need repeaters, what product would you recommend? Is this what you mean by mesh? What I read is that some of these products actually downgrade your speed. What’s the point of putting in a 600Mbps router to wave a repeater downgrade that to a slower speed.

Take a look at this link on Mesh Networks. It’s rather long but should answer your questions.