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Sonos S2 system not working well

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63 replies

M
Userlevel 2

are you out of your mind with that response? I’ve been a network admin for 25 years, I know it’s not my network. We’re all having the exact same issues after upgrading. How dare you come and piss all over our issues just because yours works fine. You're the worst kinda internet troll. Piss off, there is a problem with the app update %100. going from S1 to S2. I’m listening to constant dropouts and the app itself slow down and locks up.

In my long experience on this forum providing helpful advice (not trolling) I have learned that someone being in netwrk admin makes it less likely, not more likely, that they will be correct about the nature of the problem.  I am not p***ing on your problems either - just pointing out that ff you don’t tackle whatever is causing the problems you are experiencing, but just call on Sonos to ‘fix’ it, you are never gong to find a solution.

And for a start, the app is just a remote control, so what you are doing if you blame the app update is the equivalent of blaming your TV remote because there is a problem with your  TV. 

The app update also upgrades the firmware on the speakers, which was a major upgrade and affected the functioning of the speakers

I won’t get into flame war with you but the S2 controller/Firmware update has serious issues.

 

J
Badge

Adding my voice to this. 
I thought S2 would be a more reliable platform, but it’s much worse. 
I have 5 speakers through my house on Sonosnet, with a boost. 
Basic things like pressing Pause do not work reliably. The current input takes ages to show on the app. Adjusting the volume is laggy. Sometimes when you open the app, your previous volume settings apply and all of a sudden the volume jumps up. It’s ridiculous.
Please put your software development energy into making play controls and volume adjustment work smoothly instead of pointless crap like the current updates have given us. 

106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

When you connect one of the speakers by cable while keeping wifi on, it creates a Sonosnet. All your speakers connect to that and not your wifi. If this cabled speaker is not near the center of all you speakers, Sonosnet will work less well than wifi for the other speakers. When you disable wifi on your cabled speaker the others speakers will have reverted to wifi.

W

Like many others here my Sonos system has been ruined since the launch of the s2 app. Basically for me when I load the app it takes 10-15 secs for the app to respond on my iPhone so I can’t change volume etc. I’ve since sold both my play 1’s and both play 3’s and as much as I have loved the play 5 as a lounge speaker I think it’s time to get rid. Such a shame as I was so invested in the setup but can no longer recommend 

L

Thank you Sonos!

I was having major issues similar to the above comments in this thread… I came here looking about a month ago in an effort to find out what I could do to get my Sonos back to its former reliable selft. Since upgrading to Sonos 2 a few months back it has been nothing but hair pulling… Until.. I download the latest update about a couple of weeks back. Instantly fixed all issues!.. No more wifi dropping out, no more speakers not appearing, no more “app cant find a sono system” issues.

My love for this system has be rejuvenated. :-*

W

i am having a similar issue.

i am convinced the S2 upgrade degrades the wifi connectivity. Units  that worked perfectly no longer connect  after the upgrade in their identical locations. When Imove them closer to the router they connect; move them back and no more.

what a disgrace !

 

 

K

Sonos - please listen to your user community. There is something seriously wrong with S2. We all have a lot invested in this product. This S2 rollout has been an absolute failure. I have four rooms on my network and now only one works. Rooms appear out of no where and then disappear. What is the solution. Can we go back to S1?

 

Yes.  Same here.

My Play:1s all show fine.  The SLs though…  They come and go on the app.  And when they do come on the app and I attempt to play something I get a “cannot connect” popup.  And then on the Windows controller they don’t show up at all, just on the Android app.

Just horrible.  How did such a great system become a total dumpster fire?  Especially when downgrading is such a hassle.

J

Add me to the group with lag and dropouts since moving to the new App. Please fix this!! I already have all my sonos using reserved IP’s.

Every time there is an app update, a vanishingly small, miniscule proportion of the Sonos user base comes on the forum and says 'the update is full of bugs'. It never is. S2 is working fine for me and the many other friends and family who have Sonos systems. 

If it was inherently full of bugs then we would all be having problems. We aren't . QED.

C

Add me to the list of frustrated users of the S2 platform. I get so many Error 701 messages when trying to play music that the system is no longer enjoyable. The soundbar and sub are great when using the TV, but trying to play music is now frustrating to the point that I give up. 

J

So @bluezapfel , if you want to tell us about your network and Sonos set up, there are people on here ready to try to help - with no guarantee of course.  Mesh or conventional?  Access points, extenders, EoP?  Wifi or SonosNet?

R
Userlevel 1

Hello, please find the screen below which comes from my router.

 

Line 2 and 4 are 2 Sonos speakers which disconnect alle the time. But loo at the signal strenght, which is around 90%.

 

Therefore i think that the issues come from the S2 firmware, as ive said i never experienced this before.

B
Userlevel 2

Of course I'll help, that's why I spent the time to post.

I have an Orbi with 3 satellites, one  being an outdoor satellite. I have three play 1, one play 3,  one play 5, with  the sub connected to it and now Sonos move.

when I got the Sonos move I upgraded from s1 to S2. And that's when all the problems started. I had no issues before going to S2.  And it makes no sense to me why upgrading the app has started causing dropouts and lag issues. But it did. I don't know what their app does and how it communicates and configures all the speakers and keeps them in sync etc. 

J

Hi. The app does none of that, the system does, and in the same way S1 did.

First question.  Do you have any Sonos device wired to your network, or does everything connect via WiFi?

Second question. It is pure Orbi, no other router involved?

B
Userlevel 2

Yes just Orbi, all wifi. 

Airgetlam

As explained many times in this thread, it isn’t the sotware that you’re having issues with, it is your local network, the great majority of users are not experiencing any issues with either S1 or S2. 

Without details of your setup, two rather effective but general things to do are:

  1. Read and apply such solutions as can be found in the wifi interference FAQ. This kind of issue is by far the most common issue plaguing users.
  2. Refresh your Sonos network by unplugging all Sonos devices from power. While they are unplugged, reboot your router. Only when the router comes back up should you plug back in the Sonos devices.  This resolves several potential issues, by forcing both the router and Sonos devices to reboot, and reconnect. But it would only fix one of the potential issues if the Sonos devices are powered off while the router is rebooted, if they remain powered on, it won’t have the same effect.

Sonos is a networked speaker system, so if there is an issue internal to your network, it will reflect on the Sonos performance. Of course, the above two potential solutions probably cover only 98% or 99% of the potential issues, there are certainly less common ones. If those two solutions don’t work for you, I would recommend that you submit a system diagnostic , and call Sonos Support to discuss it, or post the number here.

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the specific issue and help you find a solution.

When you speak directly to the phone folks, there are more options available beyond just the diagnostic analysis. 

Bruce
B
Userlevel 2

I will give that all a try and report back. Thank you for the detailed explanation

 

B
Userlevel 2
Badge

This is the article that solved my problem, both with the speeds I was getting as well as with reliability of Sonos connectivity. https://community.tp-link.com/us/home/forum/topic/203906

Airgetlam

I find it unusual that someone in a position of an IT director hasn’t contacted Sonos directly to seek assistance in resolving their issues. 
 

Bruce
K
Userlevel 6
Badge +3

8 years with Sonos, 16 components now, (8 were recently upgraded so I could use S2 features) - purchased units almost every year.  Over years of trying to stabilize my system with the help of some high-level Sonos engineers, we’re still forced to WIRE over half of our Sonos components to get even reasonable stability!!  (wireless audio - my arse!)

Indeed I could have wired the same rooms for HiFi speakers had I not bought into the marketing hype Sonos sold all these years. 

Look! S2 is WAY MORE unstable than S1 and even if the fanboys here won’t admit it, many inside Sonos will (anonymously of course).  

I was an I.T. exec for decades, live in small home with no Wi-Fi interference for neighbors (who are far away) and I know more about routers/switches/modems/Wi-Fi than most consumers.

8 years of attempts to isolate Sonos units, Wi-Fi interference, cell phones, on and on! 

Several top end routers, all Cat 6 (or better) cabling.

Every single aspect (including a detailed network diagram) scrutinized by Sonos engineers year after year! 

100’s of diagnostics submitted, traffic managed, Static IPs assigned, then un-assigned, multiple units Wi-Fi turned off then on then off again. 

Engineers agree, I’ve done EVERYTHING CORRECTLY AND THERE ARE NO ISSUES WITH MY HOME OR SET UP!!!   Their advice; WIRE UP MORE UNITS!!  

FORGET Sonos HD radio!  Unstable b/c of the limitations of even Gen2 Sonos units.  Canceled my subscription after support admitted that it probably won’t get better soon!

And don’t get me started on the horrific management decisions to gut support and software programming staff, while farming out support to off-shore, contracted, companies with uncaring and under-trained staff.  And lastly the brain-dead, poorly managed roll-out of the S2 line! 

The few remaining top tier support staff are excellent, dedicated, smart, friendly, and helpful but there are limitations to what they can control. 

Rant off - Have a lovely holiday everyone and STAY SAFE!

Annazel S
Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @benjamindm.

Thanks for reaching out and welcome to the community!

Sorry to hear about it, let me help you on figuring this out.

 

There are many potential causes when the speakers are dropping out of the system (Wireless interference, Gateway issue, Source issue, service issue, etc ).

This can cause audio interruptions during playback and with the Sonos performance as well.

 

If you’re having trouble using direct control, and your Sonos is not showing as the target device, I suggest trying the following steps:

 

Step 1 - Update both apps

  • Update the music service (Spotify) app and the Sonos app. Only the latest app versions work with Sonos
  • Please confirm that no updates are available and bot app are using the latest software version.

Step 2 - Ensure that Cloud Connections are active

  • In order for Sonos speakers to be discovered, they need to have established network connections.

Step 3 - Confirm the Sonos app displays all rooms

  • If the Sonos App can't see the Rooms, the Direct Control App won't work.

Step 4 - Please confirm that the device is on the same network as Sonos

  • It’s not uncommon for a mobile device to be streaming off of the cellular network.
  • Connect the device to the correct WiFi and test Direct Control.   

 

If the issue persists, kindly please submit a diagnostic report through the Mac’s Sonos app, and reply with the confirmation number.

I'd be glad to review your system further and it will also help in identifying what's causing the issue.

 

Let me know how it goes and if you have any other questions or run into any issues, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question
W

curious to know if your stuff is the newer models or so-called legacy products. 

in other words, do the current models avoid  the problem. 

G

I am frustrated beyond belief.  I have 8 Sonos speakers and a sub and Playbar.  Everything worked fine on the original Sonos app, but since upgrading, I can’t connect my speakers unless at least one is plugged into my router.  I could get some speakers to work but then they disappeared from the app.  I even deleted the app and two speakers continued to play and then I couldn’t turn them off because they were no longer on the app.  Sonos 1 was amazing and I had no issues.  I just want my old connections back.  i can’t even begin to count the number of hours I have spent rebooting, resetting and reconnecting with no success.  This is so disappointing.  I need to find a solution because this is not acceptable and after reading all of these posts, there is a huge issue going on here and it needs to be resolved.  

As a follow up….I finally came across a couple of speakers that had not been reset or upgraded to the new version of the app.  Unfortunately, I could not get all of my speakers to join the network wirelessly, so I was forced to connect one of my speakers directly to my router.  I am using the original Sonos app, but every time I access it, it tries to launch the new app. It is easy to mistakenly do this.  At the end of the day, I feel like I ended up surrendering, which is so disappointing since this worked so well before.  I guess I am just glad that I have music piped through my entire house at this point.  

Annazel S
Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @RobinP  and @PrescottGoggins.

Thanks for the response and for the feedback.

Having these issues isn’t exclusively with just the S2 app, it can happen even before the S2 updates.

Most of the time, it is an IP address related issue after an update.

There can be many reasons for this but a common cause is duplicate IP addresses within your home network. 

Something to try that has helped a lot of folks is to refresh your local network:

  • Unplug all your Sonos devices.
  • Reboot your router.
  • Give the router a couple of minutes to come back up, then plug back in your Sonos devices.
  • Give them a couple of minutes to reboot and reconnect as well, then test. 

 

To prevent it, try to reserve an IP address within your router settings for all permanent devices.

This ensures that a device is never just allocated to the next IP address that the router ‘thinks’ is free.

 

While we don’t recommend downgrading your products to S1 after updating to S2, it is possible to downgrade.

An existing Sonos product running S1 software is required to downgrade an S2 product back to S1.

Note that all settings and preferences will be lost when downgrading a product from S2 to S1.

For more information, kindly refer to this article.

 

Let me know how it goes and if you have any other questions or run into any issues, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question
J
Badge

curious to know if your stuff is the newer models or so-called legacy products. 

in other words, do the current models avoid  the problem. 

No it’s all S2 gen stuff. 

S

I also had major problems after upgrading the system to S2 today, with only one of my five speakers (IKEA Symfonisk) appearing in the app. The others did show up randomly – but not consistently, and the whole system was laggy and unreliable.

It seems the problem was in that a few weeks ago I had connected (the only visible) speaker with an ethernet cable, thinking it would auto-disable the WiFi on the speaker. It turned out this was not the case, but you’ll need to disable the WiFi manually through the Sonos app. After disabling the unnecessary WiFi connection, everything just started to work as expected, and the rest of the speakers showed up. For some reason, this caused major issues only after the S2 upgrade.

Hope this helps someone with similar issues. It would certainly help if the Sonos app would give more useful debug information when things are not working...

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