Trending Lyricist I

Answered

Persistent playback issues

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
September 4, 2021
72 replies
1259 views

Hi all

I'm posting here as a final hope. I have a set up of:

1 x boost

1 x beam

4 x play:1

1 x play:3

2 x One SL

1 x One

1 x Sub

I moved into my current house in January, moving in with most of the speakers and adding the 2 One SLs.

The house isn't massive, but it is old. And has a mixture of walls between rooms that vary from a single bricks thickness to an absurdly thick 20 inches (of brick and stone. Like I said...old house!)

Due to the walls the house kills WIFI. I have cable broadband with download speeds of up to 220mbs if within a few feet of the router. However if you move to the adjoining room (beyond one of the 20 inch walls) you'll be lucky to even pick up the WiFi, not least achieve any respectable download speeds. So I've installed a netgear orbi mesh, with 3 access points in the 'dead zones'. WiFi now works perfectly well, as does the 2 hue hubs I have (1 hub for each floor, every room in the house is equipped with hue).

I also have ring door bell and a couple of their cameras that work fine.

I've recently shiftes the 5ghz network to the cleanest channel (using a WiFi analytics app), and shift the 2. 4 ghz to second cleanest channel, and set the sonos mesh up to the cleanest channel.

I have one neighbour who lives closely. But they often my phone won't even find their WiFi due to the walls!

The boost is hardwired into the main router, as is the sub. 3 subsequent speakers are hardwired to 2 separate APs.

But the speakers constantly cut out when playing music. Randomly on occasion, certainly when skipping a track. I've called sonos support who advised I've "done everything" and to try hard wiring more speakers (which I did, hence the number plugged in). This hasn't helped. There's no constants, some speakers are worse than others on different days. But they are all unreliable at different times. Sometimes all the speakers stop and skips to the next track. Sometimes a couple just stop playing for a few seconds.

I'm now left questioning if it's time I move to another make of speakers. I love sonos, and appreciate the house is a challenge for WiFi. But I am finding myself just switching off music and/or not even bothering to turn them on now which makes me sad!

Having checked the network matrix, it is mostly made up of green, couple of orange. No red. I spent months slowly moving speakers to new locations to eradicate red. I don't want to run cables everywhere and I've exhausted my limited knowledge of networking! I have also rebooted everything several times. Problem is its only sonos that is not working as it should.

I stream Spotify mostly. If anyone could suggest anything to try I'd greatly appreciate it

Thanks

Tom

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

Best answer by Corry P

Hi @Goteamtom

Fair enough.

I think the key will be minimising the multicasts. The PER (Packet Error Rate) between the Boost and some of the speakers concerns me, and that’s mostly to do with interference or poor reception, but getting rid of the multicast flooding may allow the system to cope with the PER we have, or at the very least it will be easier to determine when you have found the best spot for the Boost, i.e. moving the Boost will actually have a positive effect on grouped playback. Wiring more Sonos devices should make the PER less of an issue too.

Right now, the annoying factor is that you have 2 situations which both result in exactly the same symptoms. Clearing one or the other may help, but both need to be resolved before you will be able to group all your rooms together successfully.

Edit: 3 situations, if you count the possible IP conflict for the Play:5.

Show previous replies

G

GoteamtomAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

This sounds like it can eventually build up a buffer but when you skip or cause the buffer to be rebuilt the issue occurs. This either means that the first device is struggling with a connection or your broadband speed is low. (which we know isn’t the case)

Can you try turning off your Boosts and run the same test?

I'll try the boost

Some disclaimer though, I have a netgear orbi mesh set up. 3 APs. The WiFi from the main router is upwards of 200mbs. The APs tend to offer up to 10mbs (never less than 8mbs) depending on where you are in the house. Feel like I should have probably mentioned that..

UKMedia

Mesh networks can cause problems in their own right as some use different subnets and also change frequency if they detect interference. Normally best to use SonosNet in this case, unless wired via Ethernet cables throughout..

Edit: 8mbs would be more than enough...

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)

G

GoteamtomAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

Mesh networks can cause problems in their own right as some use different subnets and also change frequency if they detect interference. Normally best to use SonosNet in this case, unless wired via Ethernet cables throughout..

Edit: 8mbs would be more than enough...

Tried turning off the boost. Can't say it's made a tremendous amount of difference. The speakers joined the group quicker, but playback still struggled when I skipped tracks. (one of the speakers appear to be the new root bridge when I check the matrix)

Do you think it might be because some speakers are plugged into different access points? And maybe I'd be best of plugging as many speakers as I can into the one AP (via a switch)

I appreciate your help so far as well, thank you

UKMedia

Mesh networks can cause problems in their own right as some use different subnets and also change frequency if they detect interference. Normally best to use SonosNet in this case, unless wired via Ethernet cables throughout..

Edit: 8mbs would be more than enough...

Tried turning off the boost. Can't say it's made a tremendous amount of difference. The speakers joined the group quicker, but playback still struggled when I skipped tracks. (one of the speakers appear to be the new root bridge when I check the matrix)

Do you think it might be because some speakers are plugged into different access points? And maybe I'd be best of plugging as many speakers as I can into the one AP (via a switch)

I appreciate your help so far as well, thank you

Yes, I think that would be worth a try.

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)

ratty

A few comments.

Do not wire Sonos units to the Orbis, assuming the latter are wireless and don’t have a wired backhaul. It will confuse the Sonos system no end, as it will think there’s a solid wired path available when in fact it’s flaky wireless.

Do not wire the Sub, if it’s bonded to the Beam. You should not wire a home theatre satellite unless the main HT player is also wired.

Hue uses Zigbee. Zigbee and 2.4GHz WiFi (and hence SonosNet too) often don’t get along. https://www.metageek.com/training/resources/zigbee-wifi-coexistence.html

G

GoteamtomAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

A few comments.

Do not wire Sonos units to the Orbis, assuming the latter are wireless and don’t have a wired backhaul. It will confuse the Sonos system no end, as it will think there’s a solid wired path available when in fact it’s flaky wireless.

Do not wire the Sub, if it’s bonded to the Beam. You should not wire a home theatre satellite unless the main HT player is also wired.

Hue uses Zigbee. Zigbee and 2.4GHz WiFi (and hence SonosNet too) often don’t get along. https://www.metageek.com/training/resources/zigbee-wifi-coexistence.html

I say! Might suggest some of my issues. When I spoke to sonos support line they recommended wiring "as many as possible". But I could have sworn I read somewhere not too. But I appreciate the addition of the orbi system does create additional layers of issue

I assume I need at least one speaker hardwired (I've previously hardwired the boost to the actual main orbi router, not one of their satelittes) to achieve sonos net? Am I correct? If so, would it worthwhile hardworking more speakers into the same main router (not a satellite?)

ratty

The mantra to “wire as many as possible” assumes a wired path into the network. A wireless mesh AP doesn’t count I’m afraid.

If the extra wired speakers are in the vicinity of the Boost they won’t make much of a difference. If they’re more spread out but still hard-wired it could help.

You could unwire everything except the Boost, wait 5 mins to let everything settle, then screenshot a network matrix. See what story that tells.

An alternative strategy would be to go over to WiFi mode entirely, running off the Orbi mesh. The Boost would obviously be disconnected. It might be worth a try if SonosNet struggles.

UKMedia

A few comments.

Do not wire Sonos units to the Orbis, assuming the latter are wireless and don’t have a wired backhaul. It will confuse the Sonos system no end, as it will think there’s a solid wired path available when in fact it’s flaky wireless.

Do not wire the Sub, if it’s bonded to the Beam. You should not wire a home theatre satellite unless the main HT player is also wired.

Hue uses Zigbee. Zigbee and 2.4GHz WiFi (and hence SonosNet too) often don’t get along. https://www.metageek.com/training/resources/zigbee-wifi-coexistence.html

Thanks Ratty. I must admit I was trying as many variations to see if a common cause could be identified.

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)

G

GoteamtomAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

The mantra to “wire as many as possible” assumes a wired path into the network. A wireless mesh AP doesn’t count I’m afraid.

If the extra wired speakers are in the vicinity of the Boost they won’t make much of a difference. If they’re more spread out but still hard-wired it could help.

You could unwire everything except the Boost, wait 5 mins to let everything settle, then screenshot a network matrix. See what story that tells.

An alternative strategy would be to go over to WiFi mode entirely, running off the Orbi mesh. The Boost would obviously be disconnected. It might be worth a try if SonosNet struggles.

I've now only got the boost hardwired. My understanding of the matrix is limited..does this tell you much? I find the colours to the far left varies from time to time. Typically more green than what is currently showing, but never red

G

GoteamtomAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

Having tried playing music now..

I started just playing through the dining room( 10 feet from boost, same room, nothing in between the boost and speaker). The music started immediately without issue. However when I tried to group any speaker the app said it couldn't connect. So I stopped the music, and started playing it through the living room. Took a few seconds to get going but then played without issue. I then grouped the entire house at once and it all worked fine. Until I skipped a song, then the main bedroom, dining room, utility room, and both polly's and Penelope's rooms cut out. Taking up to a minute for each one to reconnect!

Show more replies

Sign up

Login to the community