Local music library and playlists on my NAS using PLEX - is this working finally?

i’d love your input per below.

When I use ARC (wired) with other zone(s) - usually the JBL and Fireplace zone - I have dropout issues more.

When I add Roam to JBL and Fireplace (and/or ARC) that’s when dropouts happen more regularly.

If I listen to MOVE (WiFi) or Media room zone (Wired) individually with no other zones, I never experience drops.  Same with the Pool zone which is always played individually, I experience no dropouts.

The JBL and Fireplace alone seem to experience fewer dropouts than when I add Roam or ARC.

Since the ARC serves as the TV soundbar, if it’s been part of the group during last playback of music, then I have to add it back in.  It is a bit of a conundrum as to the proper sequence (though your GC comments will help focus again on that).

Here’s the example I’d like your instruction on:

Let’s say I had ARC, JBL, Fireplace and Roam on together during playback and then I stop.  At some point I open Sonos and start playback again (same playlist - or even choose a different one) - I usually will leave the zones selected though I may drop Roam and/or ARC may be muted or removed because of watching TV.  

What is the best method to pick up listening if I’m on the same playlist - meaning I don’t want to start over?  Do I turn off all the zones but one, or unselect all of them and then pick one, and then pick another zone or two? But I don’t playback until I do one zone and then another one or two for example?

Do you understand my query?

Thanks.

Hi ​@bubbascant 

Ah - I thought you were referring to JBL speakers (the brand), but I see you have a room called JBL!

If I understand correctly, you are referring to poorer performance/reliability when grouping to play TV Audio, specifically, to rooms other than where the TV is connected?

This is to some extent expected, as sound-bars* will not wait for other rooms to sync before playing audio as it is more important to stay in sync with the TV picture - unlike with music, where a grouped speaker can be pre-fed what is to be played and buffer it prior to playing in sync. For a time, we allowed users to do this, but did not officially support it due to it relying utterly (and more than normal) on the robustness of the network.

Since then, however, we have added a buffer option for this use case. Increasing it will improve playback reliability, but will also make the grouped rooms more and more out of sync with the sound-bar* connected to the TV. Please go to Settings icon » [room with TV connection] » Group Audio Delay and experiment with each level - you’ll want the lowest level that is reliable.

Note that if you can still hear the sound-bar in another room where you have a speaker grouped in, the combination will likely sound bad to your ears.

*If you have an Amp connected to a TV, please read Amp instead of “sound-bar”.

I hope this helps.

The four speakers in the living room are JBL and are in the ceiling.  They are in the same area as the ARC with the Sony TV.

You said: If I understand correctly, you are referring to poorer performance/reliability when grouping to play TV Audio, specifically, to rooms other than where the TV is connected?

No, nothing to do with TV audio if I’m understanding you correctly.  All my references are playing music with Sonos app and Plex.  

I don’t think room with TV connection is part of things. I never hear music out of sync not matter which zone(s) I am playing to.

You said: *If you have an Amp connected to a TV, please read Amp instead of “sound-bar”.

What does this mean? Sorry.  The ARC is connected to the TV and serves as its own amp, right?  There is no amplifier used in any zone except the Sonos Amp boxes (one in the media room, three in my credenza under the TV which plays to the four JBL ceiling speakers, the Pool outdoor speakers and the two Fireplace ceiling speakers).

Does this help?  Again, I’m just wanting to set up the GC concept properly for best performance from Sonos (which the new update will also hopefully improve on).

I wanted to compliment you on the document you put together and shared with me.

I don’t think there is a support document for selecting a group coordinator, no, but I do cover it in my article linked below:

I sent that to my A/V company guy and asked for his feedback - and whether our current setup needs any modification, especially with respect to the update on the app when I do that.

Hi ​@bubbascant 

Ah ok. If you are hearing these dropout issues with music playback, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports - I can only guess as to what is happening.

Sorry - I was trying to cover all bases. I was just saying that I had used the term “sound-bar” a fair bit, but that what I was saying also covers Amp connected to a TV, which is not a sound-bar.

Sorry - I would not expect an upcoming update to resolve this issues. They are likely caused by local networking conditions. While experimenting with which speaker is the GC may help, if it does not, I recommend again that you get in touch with our technical support team. The speaker logs will be needed to determine the best course of action, moving forward.

Thank you - I hope you found it helpful!

I appreciate your feedback.  A bit overkill I know, but just so I make sure I’m communicating properly…

ARC - connected to TV via ethernet

JBL, Pool, Fireplace - three Sonos amps in the living room credenza connected via ethernet

Media room - sonos Port connected via ethernet

Roam and Move - WiFi only

A quick question, I went into the Sonos app on my iPhone and went to settings/system/Products and then the Arc and I noticed as I scrolled down a bit it said “Home Theater” and then underneath that I see TV Autoplay (enabled) and Ungroup on Autoplay (enabled).

JBL, Fireplace & Pool - the autoplay and Ungroup on Autoplay are all disabled.

Media room - doesn’t show the same options for Autoplay and Ungroup on Autoplay

Roam and Move don’t have those options either.

Since the Arc is the only one that has TV autoplay and Ungroup on Autoplay enabled and the other amps (JBL, Fireplace and Pool) don’t, could that be causing any issue on dropouts during playback? Should they all have the same setting in other words for the Autoplay and Ungroup?

Thanks

Hi ​@bubbascant 

No. These settings (or lack thereof) are not going to cause any issues.

Most likely, a network interface somewhere is maxing out - an issue probably caused by interference, or multicast flooding, or limited local bandwidth. As stated, I can only guess as to what the issue is without seeing reports from the speakers, and there are many too many possibilities to list.

Of course, part of the issue is that I cannot know all I need to know. You have stated that your Arc (not ARC - ARC is something completely different) is connected to your TV with an ethernet cable, which, while possible, certainly would not result in TV audio coming out of the Arc. Having most of your players ethernet-wired will largely eliminate interference as an issue, but if another device is flooding them with multicast packets, they would certainly struggle with distributing audio to other rooms. Remember that while ethernet is free from interference, at 100Mbps, it is considerably slower than modern WiFi, so any flooding would likely overwhelm the interface.

I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports.

Again, thank you so much for your prompt reply.  

When I say “Arc” - I’m meaning this model - Sonos ARCWMWW1BLKARC Wall Mount.

I’m a touch confused when you say that I stated that my Arc (not ARC - ARC is something completely different) is connected to my TV.  What does that mean?  Arc versus ARC?  I’m meaning the Sonos Arc soundbar.

As mentioned, Sonos support seemed to isolate the issues as bandwidth from Control4 - which their lead support team says is poppycock  - but nonetheless, we set C4 up on its own so as to not conflict.

This is why i was hoping the new app would help.

I will do as you stated with getting in touch with Sonos technical support.  My plan is:

Update my iOS for my iPhone and iPad. Update my apple TV devices.

Then update Sonos app at that point.

I have told my A/V guy that I want to remove the C4 setup as Sonos should not have a problem with that according to C4 and my A/V guy who stated is beyond bewildering why Sonos has problems with interference with the C4.  I have to pay C4 a yearly fee just to use their app on my iPhone because of this current setup. They said a home user should not have to pay to use the app but, because of the setup that was done, the only way is to use the higher end method and that requires a yearly subscripton.

Anyway, all info you probably aren’t needing but that’s my plan. I’d rather not pay for a free C4 app just because has trouble. My A/V guy who does major setups for a lot of known companies, says Sonos and C4 work fine in other setups and says my setup he did is the same as for other setups he does.