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Avid Contributor I
November 5, 2023

The Sonos system is just *too* fragile…

  • November 5, 2023
  • 18 replies
  • 672 views

After I-don’t-know-how-many years and ten Sonos units, I’ve given in. 
 

The whole lot are being sold, to save my sanity and pass the burden of these cursed ‘speakers’ to some other naive idiot who thinks a ‘premium’ product with such a fragile network operation is acceptable in this day and age.

 

My current network is Orbi-based, with several satellites across a large house, and every floor and room has exceptional signal.

 

All ten Sonos Play:1/Ones are connected wirelessly, and are not near any large objects, sources of interference or peas hidden under ten mattresses…

 

And yet, despite working perfectly well for the past week, and there being no changes or alterations (including updates) to my Sonos products or network during this time, for the past two days I have been completely unable to use *any* Sonos for any type of stream or playback.

 

All I receive from the app is the usual spinning circle of boredom before being told that either there’s no connection from the Sonos unit to the service (for internet streaming) or the all-too-common and generic ‘error 1001’, that local audio on my network can’t be added to any queue.

 

Despite the protestations of some fully-paid-up Sonos advocates, the fragility of the Sonos network is really not good enough. There are so many other types of products that work in conjunction with home wifi and the broader internet, that function perfectly well without requiring constant and ridiculous special treatment just to be anything other than an expensive paperweight. Most of these other products aren’t even classing themselves as a ‘premium’ item, either.

So that’s it for me. I’ve been to-ing and fro-ing over the Era models for the past few months but unless those units have actually been engineered properly to function as a mass-market product, then I think I’d rather just wind the clock back and kit out with quality bluetooth/airplay speakers instead. 
 

Sonos units sound good, but they ain’t *that* good…

 

Would Era be a sanity saver? Or should I hand in my Sonos badge?

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18 replies

Contributor I
November 5, 2023

Sonos system is stable, Network stability, network interference and compatibility is mostly the common issue for Sonos devices. I miss discussing stuffs here. 😁

jgatie
November 5, 2023

@jgatie  which set of instructions/where? I see you have quite a few posts :)  I’m happy to read anything at this point.

@buzz  I had Airtime Fairness already disabled across the board so that apparently hasn’t helped. I’m on Asus firmware version 3.0.0.4.388_23285-g5068da5 which is still the latest according to them.

 

Connection problems which appear suddenly are often caused by network problems, not Sonos problems. The typical cause is duplicate IP addresses. These often show up after an update or power outage because a reboot requires the device to request a new IP, and the router, having lost track of current IP assignments, issues a new IP that is in use by another device. Rebooting the router may offer a temporary respite, but in reality it exacerbates the situation because the reboot simply loses track of the IP assignments all over again. You need to do a complete refresh:

Reboot/power cycle your devices in the following order:

Modem
Router
Switches or hubs
Wired Sonos units
Wireless Sonos units
Computers/printers
Wireless devices - phones/tablets etc.

Allow each device to come back up before proceeding to the next. Note that you can permanently prevent duplicate IP addresses by assigning an IP to each device's MAC address in the router setup. See your router manual for details.

 

In addition, the specific recommendations for your router should be implemented before doing the network refresh.  It's probable that the frequent router reboots to try to fix the router problems have devolved into IP conflicts.

Virtuoso
November 6, 2023

Had my Sonos S1 in SonosNet mode and my Move quite happily talked to the APP and other Sonos speakers (grouping etc).

Worth a try using SonosNet.

We have a TP-LINK Deco S4 Mesh and Sonos is happy on that now in normal WiFi Mode.

Can imagine it being very frustrating when they don't work as they are not cheap speakers!.

buzz
Grand Maestro
November 6, 2023

Expense does not necessarily protect one from reality. I was once struggling along on a glare ice roadway when a fancy sports car with all sorts of four wheel drive and anti skid features blasted by, its driver probably snickering at my slow clunker. A couple miles down the road I observed that premium car a few hundred feet off the road in a field. I doubt that the driver simply wanted to build a snowman next to a scarecrow.

Lyricist III
November 10, 2023

Thanks @jgatie .  I’ll give it another go. I’ve had got as far as binding the Sonos units each to its nearest mesh node ( @ratty ‘s suggestion) but will try to get further to fixed MAC addresses. It does not help that even if I don’t reboot my router intentionally, I live in a neighborhood with somewhat frequent electricity outages. Even though I have power backup, it’s not the industrial-strength kind that can cut over in 0.1 ms or whatever; it takes long enough that the router (and everything else) goes down perhaps 15 seconds and comes back up (translation: involuntary reboot).

buzz
Grand Maestro
November 10, 2023

It sounds like you have a motor generator type of power backup. For critical items, such as the router and desktop computers an additional battery powered UPC would be useful. It should have good transient protection, but it only needs to support it’s clients until the generator kicks in.

Lyricist I
January 24, 2024

SONOS: 11 Connect: Amp, 2 Connect, 3 Play:1, 5 Playbars, 5 subs, 1 boost.  

Network:  Deco BE85. Mesh..6 Satellites and 1 main router.  5gb Fiber. Entire house is WIRED CAT 8.  

132 Thread devices and 35 Matter. 

29 wifi light switches, 18 security cameras (wifi) and some or (hub connected). 

HomeKit primary home operating system. 

Had URC for AV home control but eventually fell off a cliff when Nest moved to Google.  

Network is Router direct to 10gb stacked Switches. (5 units)

Wifi:  2.5, 5 and 6 all running.  No guest, No IOT.  

Cleaner, Amp, Boards...full Server Room.  

I have 22 in-home wired ceiling speakers (Klipsch).  

 

I’ve hired PRO’s from multiple services to come “remedy” my SONOS network issues.  Everyone gets it working, the same as I have, for about a day.  Network congestion melts down and everything requires Manuel Reset (aka. unplug all).   

 

No solution has worked so far.

 

Dedicated “myHomesononet” did not do the trick SSID.  Wifi or wired.   

 

I have unplugged Sonos for the last time.  Sonos 1 v Me 0.   

I am seeking any option that may be a mild plug and play alternative to my system with the hopes of replacing the lease amount.   

 

I will say:  Playbars all work fine direct connect to TV’s.  Using as output for Apple TV is fine.  When using Sonos path, the wheels come off.  

 

I’m usually not one to seek “community” feedback but I’ve spent the $10K on pro’s with no luck.  Most push their products which may work but they also pushed Sonos.  I don’t want to fight the fight any longer.  Just swap for proven alternative that can integrate without sending Home Network into tailspin every 12 to 15 hours.  

 

 

 

Ken_Griffiths
January 24, 2024

@NixFix,

There are currently two ongoing audio interruption issues, with both the Playbar & Connect:Amp reported recently and Sonos have announced they are urgently investigating the matter. That’s perhaps what you’re seeing. See these two links:

Playbar audio interruption issue:

Connect:Amp audio interruption issue:

I would perhaps wait until the fix has been released, as that may resolve your issue. Just keep your eye on the above two threads.

If you want to check that the reported issues are what you’re encountering, then it’s perhaps best to reproduce the audio issue and immediately submit a Sonos system diagnostic report from within the Sonos App, note it’s reference and then contact/chat with Sonos Support Staff via this LINK and see what the Staff can perhaps suggest to resolve the matter.

Hope that assists.👍