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Arb
Contributor I
March 10, 2019
Answered

Playbar drops sound from TV intermittently

  • March 10, 2019
  • 7 replies
  • 1730 views
My Playbar is connected to my Panasonic TV with an optical cable and has worked perfectly like this for the past 4 years. Just this week it has started to intermittently drop sound. Any ideas what might cause this?
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    Best answer by Ken_Griffiths
    I noticed also that the white led began flashing when the sound dropped. Almost as if the play bar had had a reboot signal. I have checked the seating if the optical cable at both ends and it seems good. Any ideas what might cause the led to flash? ThanksThe following link explains the LED lights on your device...

    LED Lights on Sonos Products.

    I would perhaps choose to Submit a Sonos System Diagnostic immediately after the next dropout of the PlayBar and post the reference here. Then contact Sonos Customer Care via the link below and ask them to look at the Diagnostic report to see if they can see any possible reason for this happening.

    Contact Sonos Customer Care/Twitter (24/7) etc.

    Hope that helps.?

    7 replies

    Airgetlam
    Airgetlam
    March 11, 2019
    Could be any of several things. In order of what I think is potential order of possibility:

    1) The cable may have been crimped, and partially broken. I've seen reports of cleaning/moving of the TV/PLAYBAR contributing to this.

    2) The cable may have come loose from either socket, in the TV or the PLAYBAR, for the same possible reasons as 1)

    3) A firmware update may have changed the audio settings on the TV (this happened once to me on my Vizio) which caused it to send non Dolby Digital signals to the Sonos, so that it can't be processed by the Sonos.

    4) The Panasonic's electronic board that feeds the optical cable may be failing.

    5) The PLAYBAR itself may be failing, although I've never anything like this posted here in the years I've been reading and responding here. Fortunately, you can get Sonos to look at a system diagnostic in which there might be information about the hardware within the Sonos. Just run the diagnostic, and post the number here.

    Hope that helps.
    Bruce
    buzz
    buzz
    Grand Maestro
    March 11, 2019
    I’ve seen cable boxes do this too. There will also be momentary mutes in the TV’s internal speakers when using a digital audio feed (such as HDMI or optical).
    Airgetlam
    Airgetlam
    March 11, 2019
    Ah, good point. Sometimes my satellite dish is obscured by clouds/rain, and while the video signal seems fine, the sound drops out. Hadn't thought of that one, since it's pretty rare. Thanks, Buzz.
    Bruce
    ArbAuthor
    Contributor I
    March 11, 2019
    I noticed also that the white led began flashing when the sound dropped. Almost as if the play bar had had a reboot signal. I have checked the seating if the optical cable at both ends and it seems good. Any ideas what might cause the led to flash? Thanks
    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_GriffithsAnswer
    March 11, 2019
    I noticed also that the white led began flashing when the sound dropped. Almost as if the play bar had had a reboot signal. I have checked the seating if the optical cable at both ends and it seems good. Any ideas what might cause the led to flash? ThanksThe following link explains the LED lights on your device...

    LED Lights on Sonos Products.

    I would perhaps choose to Submit a Sonos System Diagnostic immediately after the next dropout of the PlayBar and post the reference here. Then contact Sonos Customer Care via the link below and ask them to look at the Diagnostic report to see if they can see any possible reason for this happening.

    Contact Sonos Customer Care/Twitter (24/7) etc.

    Hope that helps.?
    buzz
    buzz
    Grand Maestro
    March 11, 2019
    I’m “recovering” from a move and have an abbreviated system setup. There is a healthcare facility in the building next door that has some sort of transmitter operating in the microwave band. Earlier, the left ONE dropped off the network and the status light started flashing white. Then the right ONE dropped off, also flashing white. Then the ONE’s came back and BOOST dropped off. Since BOOST is on the floor below, I could not observe it’s lights. A couple minutes later all was restored without any action on my part. It is interesting that, even while BOOST seemed to be offline, I could interrogate the system.

    In spite of the ghastly looking network matrix, the system seems to be working OK. Here is a diagnostic taken some hours after the above event: 207624947. If you can find it, there is a diagnostic taken close to the event, but the iPad lost the text copy for me to include here.

    At mid day the matrix looks much better.
    ArbAuthor
    Contributor I
    March 11, 2019
    Thanks Ken will try that next time it happens. Tony
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