Hi
I don’t know if my issue is related to the 14.6 update but I noticed today that I had no sound from my surround (play 3) and my sub (Gen 2), only the Arc is working They are still present in the app under the my System view but now sound which every sources
When I reboot each of them, the sound comes back temporary, but when I switch to another source or audio format, thé Sound disappears again. Tried several times, same behavior
Thanks for your help
How this went from people trying to figure out a problem with a purchased product to you being a drama queen is anyone's guess.
It started with the poster who claimed he was going to scream at a person on the support line, I thought that was quite obvious. Don't want people calling you out for picking on those who can’t fight back? Then don’t say you are going to pick on someone who can’t fight back.
And I’m not the first “drama queen” in this thread, not by a long shot.
That's debatable.
It’s a false characterization, nobody is picking a fight with anyone. This is now feels like virtue signalling. Again, we all agree with you that screaming at support is not the correct way. Most of us who have been involved with this thread for over a month can understand the nuances here. Can we stop this now and just get back on track please.
look I’m frustrated too but paying money doesn’t entitle you to be a jerk
how’s your system after you enabled sonos assistant?
Quote from someone on Facebook with the issue;
“I’ve had this problem since the 14.6 update now iam on 14.8.1 and still the same . Apparently sonos said they can remotely downgrade the software they doing it for me going back to 14.4 or 14.5 to see if the problems go away I’ve been waiting 4 days though they don’t rush” … “they said you need a windows pc or laptop for them to remotely do it they told me this 4 days ago though and they’ve still not emailed me to sort it out yet but as soon as they do and it’s been downgraded I will definitely put a post on to let people know if it’s worked or not”
Controversial if correct! Maybe the agent got mixed up though and used the wrong terminology … as this seems totally against the grain of what’s been said here by other peoples Sonos support agents/engineers. Hopefully we will hear more …
To maybe help get this thread back on track, a little, I have a quick suggestion for some users here who are experiencing the surround dropout issue and who can perhaps easily reproduce it..
If you navigate via a web browser to the below (example) URL
http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:1400/support/review/
… replacing the place-holders with an IP address from a Sonos player, you should see a list of Sonos products listed above the option to view the Sonos matrix - in that list of Sonos system devices, there will be the two HT surrounds that are perhaps experiencing the dropout issue.
If you select one of the surrounds to simply expand the options available and then select /proc/ath_rincon/status
… it will reveal some information, including that speakers ‘operating WiFi channel/frequency’ (see attached screenshot).
My thoughts are, it might be worth monitoring that wireless channel to see what channel is in use before the speaker drops-out and then also check it again afterwards, to see if it has perhaps changed its WiFi channel at any point… it might reveal if the problem perhaps occurs when the speakers are on a particular 5Ghz WiFi channel and if it does always happen when on the same channel, then it might (just ‘might’) indicate some type of wireless interference that is ‘perhaps’ causing these dropouts.
I have posted an example screenshot of the system area I am referring to here and underlined the operating channel number.
I have also attached a screenshot of the 5Ghz channels based on the number/frequency you will see on screen in the status information, so you can quickly ‘covert’ those numbers to a 5Ghz Wifi channel.
If anyone has the incline to give that a go just to see if it may reveal anything helpful, but it does mean monitoring the surrounds WiFi channel from time to time.
Better than just sitting there and doing nothing, perhaps
?
I hope the above suggestion may help.
Wondering if anyone thinks there’s value in this test to disprove network interference. I’m home alone this weekend and can disrupt things in my house a fair bit. I live in a detached home with my closest neighbour’s wireless router more than 50 feet away from my Sonos gear and my next closest neighbour double that. I’ve already unplugged my Wireless smart home hubs and vpn router and will even disable wifi on my main router for 3 or 4 days. Arc will be wired to main router and Sonos system on sonosnet. My tv and Apple TV will be the only other devices on the network (wired connection) Do you think that would be sufficient to disprove network interference? I just don’t think that can be the cause. Of all the things tried in troubleshooting by all affected users, stability (less frequent dropouts) does not seem to be improved at all by networking fixes while HDMI connected device settings or connection changes seem to actually have some beneficial effect in reducing the frequency of drops.
To maybe help get this thread back on track, a little, I have a quick suggestion for some users here who are experiencing the surround dropout issue and who can perhaps easily reproduce it..
If you navigate via a web browser to the below (example) URL
http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:1400/support/review/
… replacing the place-holders with an IP address from a Sonos player, you should see a list of Sonos products listed above the option to view the Sonos matrix - in that list of Sonos system devices, there will be the two HT surrounds that are perhaps experiencing the dropout issue.
If you select one of the surrounds to simply expand the options available and then select /proc/ath_rincon/status
… it will reveal some information, including that speakers ‘operating WiFi channel/frequency’ (see attached screenshot).
My thoughts are, it might be worth monitoring that wireless channel to see what channel is in use before the speaker drops-out and then also check it again afterwards, to see if it has perhaps changed its WiFi channel at any point… it might reveal if the problem perhaps occurs when the speakers are on a particular 5Ghz WiFi channel and if it does always happen when on the same channel, then it might (just ‘might’) indicate some type of wireless interference that is ‘perhaps’ causing these dropouts.
I have posted an example screenshot of the system area I am referring to here and underlined the operating channel number.
I have also attached a screenshot of the 5Ghz channels based on the number/frequency you will see on screen in the status information, so you can quickly ‘covert’ those numbers to a 5Ghz Wifi channel.
If anyone has the incline to give that a go just to see if it may reveal anything helpful, but it does mean monitoring the surrounds WiFi channel from time to time.
Better than just sitting there and doing nothing, perhaps?
I hope the above suggestion may help.
When I look at the Operating Channel for ALL of my speakers its in the 2000 range, not the 5000 range. Which I think are 2.4Ghz range.
What do you have connected that is on the 5000 range? (as per your screenshot)
Is it because I have the boost and its using 2.4Ghz for all speakers perhaps?
look I’m frustrated too but paying money doesn’t entitle you to be a jerk
how’s your system after you enabled sonos assistant?
I’ve been out of town since I installed it. On my way home today
Is it because I have the boost and its using 2.4Ghz for all speakers perhaps?
I’m assuming nothing is wired in your Home Theatre setup, particularly the surrounds (not recommended)…
The home theatre master players contain two radios: 2.4GHz and 5GHz. The 5GHz radio is only used to connect to its satellites (which is also why the HT master cannot connect to a 5GHz WiFi).
When in use, the HT surrounds (and Sub) should each be using frequencies in the 5Ghz band. In fact rebooting the main HT device can sometimes cause the channel frequency to switch. Its an Ad-hoc wireless connection and not related to the router WiFi.
I think there are some occasions where the 2.4Ghz band maybe used by the Sonos surrounds for updates and possibly if all are in sleep, rather than just standby, mode etc; so it may just be that and probably nothing to worry about at this stage.
Mid-Frequency 2412 is 2.4Ghz channel 1 by the way.. so I assume that’s your SonosNet (Boost channel).
edit: see what the channel/frequency on the surround shows when you are watching TV. (You may need to refresh the browser page).
Is it because I have the boost and its using 2.4Ghz for all speakers perhaps?
I’m assuming nothing is wired in your Home Theatre setup, particularly the surrounds (not recommended)…
The home theatre master players contain two radios: 2.4GHz and 5GHz. The 5GHz radio is only used to connect to its satellites (which is also why the HT master cannot connect to a 5GHz WiFi).
When in use, the HT surrounds (and Sub) should each be using frequencies in the 5Ghz band. In fact rebooting the main HT device can sometimes cause the channel frequency to switch. Its an Ad-hoc wireless connection and not related to the router WiFi.
I think there are some occasions where the 2.4Ghz band maybe used by the Sonos surrounds for updates and possibly if all are in sleep, rather than just standby, mode etc; so it may just be that and probably nothing to worry about at this stage.
Mid-Frequency 2412 is 2.4Ghz channel 1 by the way.. so I assume that’s your SonosNet (Boost channel).
Thanks Ken. Yep, that is correct. And when I started playing the rears and subs switched to 5000 range as per below. So this is all adding up.
Here are the frequency / channel numbers for the 2.4Ghz band…
bonded speakers use 5ghz when on wifi but they use 2.4ghz when on sonosnet right?
I experience the issues with both scenarios which makes me think it’s not interference. What are the chances I’d have interference on a certain channel on both bands around the same time
If you can get the surrounds to dropout, it would be interesting to see what, if anything, happens to the 5Ghz ad-hoc wireless channel frequency. I understand that the channel is set by the master HT player and I’m just wondering if the surround might be dropping when on a certain assigned channel, as that might infer something is causing wireless interference - perhaps something near to one of the speakers using the routers 5Ghz band, perhaps?
My other thoughts are, that some modern routers and mesh-base systems (which can often have the same WiFi SSID for both their 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands) may have ‘band steering’ enabled to assign network devices to the most appropriate local WiFi band... Sonos speakers do have both 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz radio adapters, so I’m wondering if the routers are trying grab the surround speakers away and put them on their own band, causing the ad-hoc 5Ghz WiFi connection (between the main player and surround) to drop.
Of course that’s just some ‘pie in the sky’ thoughts, but maybe those who have this issue might want to perhaps explore such things.
bonded speakers use 5ghz when on wifi but they use 2.4ghz when on sonosnet right?
I experience the issues with both scenarios which makes me think it’s not interference. What are the chances I’d have interference on a certain channel on both bands around the same time
No, that’s not the case. The surrounds ‘bond’ to the master HT device using the ‘fast’ 5Ghz band ad-hoc wireless connection - it matters not how the Arc/Beam etc; is connected to the LAN. The 2.4Ghz band is not quite fast enough to keep up with the video on the TV screen.. you would end up with lip-sync issues if all were to use that band.
A Sonos HT device uses its 2.4Ghz band for its wireless connection for music audio/updates etc but the TV audio is received over HDMI-ARC or Optical and the rear channel TV audio is sent to surrounds immediately - hence only the 5Ghz band can be used to do that task (unless you choose to wire all to the router/switch).
bonded speakers use 5ghz when on wifi but they use 2.4ghz when on sonosnet right?
I experience the issues with both scenarios which makes me think it’s not interference. What are the chances I’d have interference on a certain channel on both bands around the same time
No, that’s not the case. The surrounds ‘bond’ to the master HT device using the ‘fast’ 5Ghz band ad-hoc wireless connection - it matters not how the Arc/Beam etc; is connected to the LAN. The 2.4Ghz band is not quite fast enough to keep up with the video on the TV screen.. you would end up with lip-sync issues if all were to use that band.
A HT device uses its 2.4Ghz band for its wireless connection for music audio/updates etc but the TV audio is received over HDMI-ARC or Optical and the rear channel TV audio is sent to surrounds immediately - hence only the 5Ghz band can be used to do that task (unless you choose to wire all to the router/switch).
Wow okay I had the wrong understanding all this time
If you can get the surrounds to dropout, it would be interesting to see what, if anything, happens to the 5Ghz ad-hoc wireless channel frequency. I understand that the channel is set by the master HT player and I’m just wondering if the surround might be dropping when on a certain assigned channel, as that might infer something is causing wireless interference - perhaps something near to one of the speakers using the routers 5Ghz band, perhaps?
My other thoughts are, that some modern routers and mesh-base systems (which can often have the same WiFi SSID for both their 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands) may have ‘band steering’ enabled to assign network devices to the most appropriate local WiFi band... Sonos speakers do have both 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz radio adapters, so I’m wondering if the routers are trying grab the surround speakers away and put them on their own band, causing the ad-hoc 5Ghz WiFi connection (between the main player and surround) to drop.
Of course that’s just some ‘pie in the sky’ thoughts, but maybe those who have this issue might want to perhaps explore such things.
Thanks
My other thoughts are, that some modern routers and mesh-base systems (which can often have the same WiFi SSID for both their 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands) may have ‘band steering’ enabled to assign network devices to the most appropriate local WiFi band... Sonos speakers do have both 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz radio adapters, so I’m wondering if the routers are trying grab the surround speakers away and put them on their own band, causing the ad-hoc 5Ghz WiFi connection (between the main player and surround) to drop.
Early on, I had some similar thoughts. However, I was thinking it was related to the 2.4Ghz 20Mhz and 40Mhz co-existance. i.e. whether the router was moving between 20Mhz and 40Mhz and that is why the speaker sounds is lost. I was further encouraged when I sometimes heard this really poor base sound that did not sound right - a little bit like a CB where someone is talking off-frequency so you can hear them in a garbled way as the frequency are close.
Not sure how much water that theory holds and I have turned off co-existance anyway and still had issues. But my router still broadcasts 40Mhz when I look at my Wi-Fi scanner…..
My other thoughts are, that some modern routers and mesh-base systems (which can often have the same WiFi SSID for both their 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands) may have ‘band steering’ enabled to assign network devices to the most appropriate local WiFi band... Sonos speakers do have both 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz radio adapters, so I’m wondering if the routers are trying grab the surround speakers away and put them on their own band, causing the ad-hoc 5Ghz WiFi connection (between the main player and surround) to drop.
Early on, I had some similar thoughts. However, I was thinking it was related to the 2.4Ghz 20Mhz and 40Mhz co-existance. i.e. whether the router was moving between 20Mhz and 40Mhz and that is why the speaker sounds is lost. I was further encouraged when I sometimes heard this really poor base sound that did not sound right - a little bit like a CB where someone is talking off-frequency so you can hear them in a garbled way as the frequency are close.
Not sure how much water that theory holds and I have turned off co-existance anyway and still had issues. But my router still broadcasts 40Mhz when I look at my Wi-Fi scanner…..
A single 20MHz channel will be more stable in active regions with a lot of frequency noise and interference. A 40MHz channel-width provides for quicker transfer rates and higher speeds, but it does not work as well in congested locations (ie. neighbouring WiFi signals seen in your mobile network setup screen)… so when troubleshooting these type of speaker dropout issues, I would certainly aim for 20Mhz channel-width for your routers 2.4Ghz band and 40Mhz for the 5Ghz band.
I’m having same issue. I switch from Xbox one to Apple TV and my surrounds and sub will drop out. Just recently started. No prior issues and run an Eero mesh system.
I’m having same issue. I switch from Xbox one to Apple TV and my surrounds and sub will drop out. Just recently started. No prior issues and run an Eero mesh system.
I would note the Staff comment in this thread, to submit a Sonos diagnostic report within 10 minutes of it happening and note it’s reference …and contact Sonos Support via this LINK
I still haven’t been able to break it after installing Sonos voice assistant
I’ve been running with eARC turned off for the past few weeks with a lot of success except when switching to the Xbox. I got cocky tonight and turned eARC back on because I really wanted to be able to use the Atmos I paid for by upgrading from my Playbar. Within five minutes of watching TV and just changing channels, not changing input sources, my sub and surround dropped out. Back to just using ARC. Will try the voice assistant activation route this weekend and see if I have any more luck. At this point the Arc is just a waste of money if I’m only going to be using Dolby 5.1. The Playbar handled that like a champ for years with no dropouts or problems. Not really happy I dropped $800+ right now for a worse experience.
Has Sonos stated that it’s definitively not a software issue? I’ve only seen responses that say they can’t reproduce the issue. Granted, I haven’t read every page of this thread.
That's a very fair question.
Sonos have remained fairly neutral in their responses. They have not explicitly ruled out a software issue, but neither have they offered any root-cause to why a subset of their customers are having an issue despite this thread and multiple support/diagnostics submissions.
I am certain this is challenging and specific edge case problem - which makes it hard to diagnose especially in lab type environments. But as mentioned before, there is a Sonos process to diagnose and resolve technical issues. But the process is being followed and once it gets to the Engineers, contact is severed or responses are untenable. In my personal situation, I now have two dead ends despite Corey P’s statement of the process to follow and Sonos commitment to fix.
Just checking in. Some of my posts have been deleted (external links of where to complain - heck - I even got banned from one of those sites for complaining, lol!)
Can’t remember my last post but can confirm that I haven’t had a drop since I installed the sonos voice assistant and power cycled everything. It’s been over a week and it’s just working flawlessly with my TCL series 6 Roku tv. I have not, and will not reconnect my ATV 4k (said I would try it but I don’t want to mess it up - too tired of this).
Two Ones, two gen 3 subs and an Arc, all up to date (14.8.1 in app). Even reconnected my satellite back up (Asus zenwifi ax 6600) and haven’t had a problem. Only installed voice assistant on Arc.
Hope this post doesn’t get deleted. I don’t switch inputs, just use the Roku and it’s been solid.
I’m happy to hear you’ve been unaffected but I like to switch inputs between my ATV and my 4K blu ray and my gaming consoles. Every time I do it’s a gamble to see if the system stays stable or not and frankly there is no consistency. I’m sure if I never switched inputs I’d be in the same boat as you but I want to get the most out of my system that I’ve spent a lot of money on…
I haven’t been unaffected. For two months since 14.6 update I was power-cycling everyday at one time or another just like everyone else. And I wasn’t even using my ATV or switching inputs. Just my using my Roku tv. There is no consistency, you are correct. That is what is maddening about it.
All I can say is it’s stable now. And I am not not switching inputs (wasn’t before). I don’t get it. All I did was install voice assistant on arc, power-cycle everything and it’s been fine like it was before the 14.6 update.
Just not sure the input switching is the definitive problem as I wasn’t doing it and still had the issue before installing voice assistant.
I’m sorry you and others are still dealing with this problem and I didn’t mean to sound flip about it. I can only report what I know.
A single 20MHz channel will be more stable in active regions with a lot of frequency noise and interference. A 40MHz channel-width provides for quicker transfer rates and higher speeds, but it does not work as well in congested locations (ie. neighbouring WiFi signals seen in your mobile network setup screen)… so when troubleshooting these type of speaker dropout issues, I would certainly aim for 20Mhz channel-width for your routers 2.4Ghz band and 40Mhz for the 5Ghz band.
Thanks
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