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I am trying to add an S2 connect to my S1 system.  I have done this before more than once.  Now, the process seems to have changed.

  • I am running android with Sonos S1 v11.5
  • I also have an S2 system running on the same network
  • I reset an S2 connect device (running OS 14.12) and wait until it starts flashing green
  • I click “Add device” from the S1 app.  It searches, and finds my device.  As soon as I click the “set up the product” button, it presents a new screen (I am never prompted to connect the device via the play/up volume button combination):
  • The new screen is titled “About Connect”… “This product has S2 software which isn’t compatible with your S1 system.  You can: *Review options for updating your system.  *Downgrade Connect to S1 and add it to this system  *Get the S2 app and set up a separate system with Connect.  After that there are 3 clickable options: “Review your options:”; “About downgrading to S1”; and “Cancel”
    • About leads me to a web help page.
    • Cancel does what you’d think
    • Review options...I get a list of all of my S1 devices past and present.  Options on this screen are “Yes I’ll use them” and “No I won’t use them” and “not now”.
      • If I select “not now”, it jumps to “About the S1 controller” and this is a dead end that abandons the ‘add product’ process.
      • If I select either of “yes” or “no”, I get a screen “Sonos S2 available”, and then the “About the S1 controller”… which is the same dead end

SO… all paths are dead ends.  Either something broke in the latest version of the Android controller, or there is something wrong with this particular S2 connect device.

How do I add this S2 device to my S1 system?

I have no problems adding the S2 device to my S2 system.

Well I can answer my own question…

Yes - the process did suddenly change.  For some baffling reason, it’s no longer possible to use the S1 app to downgrade an S2 device to S1 (as has been possible since S2 was introduced in 2020).  As of now, the only way to downgrade an S2 device to S1 is to install the S2 app and use that to install the S1 OS on the device.  

It feels like the purpose of the change was to create a convoluted path to discourage users staying on S1.  Maybe this makes sense from some kind of corporate value perspective, but it certainly doesn’t make any sense from a consumer perspective. 

A suggestion to Sonos…  Undo this change and allow downgrading from the S1 app.

A second suggestion (assuming the first one is dismissed)... How about adding clarity to the new screen?  Perhaps add something like… “To get this device to work with this S1 system, you will need to install and use the S2 app to prepare your device”.  That would be much clearer than having to decipher that “Review options” is a dead end while “about” (which takes you out of the app) is the way forward.

 

Hi,  yes, there has been a pretty fundamental change recently that I saw no mention of in any notes.  I also used to downgrade S2 devices to S1 simply by resetting them and adding them to the S1 system - it worked great and you didn't select any ‘Downgrade' option directly -  it was just added.

Now you're forced to install the S2 app (that you quite probably have no other use for) and navigate to an option (while probably closing various popups too) to do the ‘Downgrade'.

I was pointed to the page recently - it's here - https://support.sonos.com/s/article/5097?language=en_US

If you think about it, it’s more logical and probably more reliable for the S2 app to be required to initiate a downgrade.

  • The target device is at S2.
  • The S2 controller knows how to talk to the device. The device recognises an S2 controller.
  • The S2 controller then directs the device to install the S1 firmware image.
  • After restart the device is at S1, ready for connection.

There was mention in the S2 14.12 release notes. It probably deserved a mention in the S1 release notes too.

I suppose it depends which way one looks at it.

Previously, there was no requirement for the S2 App and now there is..

i.e.

Previously:

  • The target device is at S2.
  • The S1 controller knows how to talk to the device. The device recognises an S1 controller.
  • The S1 controller then directs the device to install the S1 firmware image.
  • After restart the device is at S1, ready for connection.

As for being more reliable, I never had any issue with how it worked before and had 100% success rate. Whereas with the new setup there are more hoops to jump through, more options to select and popups you need to actively click out of (no ‘Cancel' option) - each of which a possible route to failure and confusion.

@timc995,

Maybe it was done to free up memory on the older S1 devices to help keep the services running - after all Sonos had to take similar action to keep things working on S1 (remove CR100/200 controllers etc.) shortly before the S1/S2 split.

The downgrade element was probably outliving it’s welcome on S1 and some services like BBC Sounds were added to both S1/S2 Households, IIRC🤔?

Previously:

  • The target device is at S2.
  • The S1 controller knows how to talk to the device. The device recognises an S1 controller.

Therein probably lies the issue: maintaining support in the S1 controller for how to deal with S2 devices which continue to advance in terms of functionality and their network interface. Divergence is inevitable, hence the S2 controller is best placed to deal with downgrading a device to S1.

Therein probably lies the issue: maintaining support in the S1 controller for how to deal with S2 devices which continue to advance in terms of functionality and their network interface. Divergence is inevitable, hence the S2 controller is best placed to deal with downgrading a device to S1.

 

That seems like the most logical reason for the change -- the S1 app may never need to be updated again.

I still think there’s a much better way to have the S1 app direct the user on what to do in the event it is asked to update an S2 device.  Having been an S1 user for years now, clicking the “About downgrading to S1” button is simply not something I ever figured would lead to any information that I didn’t already know!  I would have expected that link to be a bunch of information about lack of compatability, infrequent updates, potential need for a split S1/S2 system, etc..  It should be titled “How to downgrade to S1” -- that would have saved me a ton of time and frustration.

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