Sonos Beam and 2 x Sonos Play:1’s failing to create surround sound

I just setup the beam and two play 1's yesterday. Where is it failing?

At the very end of the creating the surround sound setup, before running the TruePlay room scan. Its very strange as I can complete the full setup without adding the surround sound speakers (play:1's) but fails with them.

TruePlay for me said it's not available yet for Beam.
If you go to settings->room settings-> for that room does it say room name +LS +RS?

once setup, I found that using the built in youtube app on my TV, I went to https://youtu.be/PqVCPE8_ntE the sound was coming from where it should.

No it says room name +?+?

go to settings->room settings-> "room name" -> add surrounds.
My play 1s had a white light, since I repurposed them from else where in the house. Does yours have a green flashing or white light?

I have tried both ways. I tried having them already joined (white light) and then reset them (green light) and both failed.

can you join them individually to the network?

I would also kill the sonos app on the phone and restart the app.

The same thing is happening to me.

I contacted the Sonos Support Team on Twitter and they asked me to pair the Beam while I had a spare Play:1 connected to my ISP’s modem to avoid connection issues with my Ubiquiti access point. They also asked me to remove WiFi details since my system was previously running completely over the network, and the thought was that the Ubiquiti Access Point was having difficulty adding additional players.

None have been successful so far. The furthest I can get is the Beam and Sub paired and working through HDMI ARC with my TV. Adding the two Play:1’s fails to connect and it sends the Beam and Sub into a setting where I no longer have access to their room controls (they show as Living Room +?) unless I factory reset and re-add them.

Count me as one more. After installing the Beam, I messed up on the first try to install the two Play:1's; inadvertently installing them in another room. Finally fixed that, reset the Play:1's, and tried another install. Everything went well, until both were installed and the Sonos app went off to adjusting all the speakers to work together. Then an install error, with no real diagnostic information (e.g., make sure the speakers are plugged in). I might add that I am in an apartment complex with Spectrum/Charter wireless only. We have a strong wireless signal all over, and I added the three speakers to the system by adding their MAC addresses to my account. There were no problems with that.

I am having the same problem, everything was working with surround at first and then I disconnected the surround connection to name each of the Play:1's to a different room. Now they will not connect back to the beam as surround speakers. Troubleshooting and reseting the Play:1's has not worked. Nothing has worked and this is very frustrating.....

That's basically my problem. I noted that when I Remove Surrounds for another try, they are removed and the app shows this note: "When you remove a surround speaker that previously used in another room, it becomes a standalone player with its original name and any alarms will be restored."
First, what exactly is a Play:1 name, and what is an alarm?
And another note says: "When you remove a surround speaker that was not previously in another room, it will become an unused player, and can be set up from the Rooms menu."
I should think that resetting the player would place it in the second quoted paragraph, but apparently it doesn't. Is that the problem?

Sonos support got back to me via twitter. I ended up having to go into my router settings and removing the 3 sonos devices from the DHCP Reservation list. Once I did that I tried pairing the play:1's with the beam for surround and everything worked perfectly!

Same for me. I didn’t use it, so I just disabled DHCP on my modem and everything’s running smoothly.

My problem persists, whatever I try. From the last two replies, I suspect it lies in the Charter/Spectrum wireless system installed in our building. I don't have a router; I have access (via charter.guestinternet.com) to a table that contains the MAC addresses for all of my current wireless devices. I can add a device (such as printers or speakers) by adding their MAC address to the table. So I started my Sonos install by adding the addresses of the Beam and two Play:1 speakers.

Please, any comments?

Is there any wired connection at all? Part of my solution was contingent on removing wireless info so that my system is managed through a Play:1 acting as a Sonos Bridge. I’m experiencing a lot less latency in the app and with the speakers too.

Similar experience here, go round it by factory resetting the surrounds and the sub. Added the surrounds first then the sub.

Even though my system is a ‘Boost’ set up I found that connecting the App to the router WiFi rather than my AirPorts seemed to give a better connection experience.

When I go my Beam I had to connect it over Ethernet to add it to my system, it’s been perfect since the initial connection issues.

Same stuff, this only works for me when I connect one of the speakers using an ethernet cable. This way the speakers connect to eachother using Sonosnet (closed wifi network only for your Sonos devices).

I did some troubleshooting and called support. We basically found that the Sonos Beam sends a DHCP request for the Surround/Subwoofer using the mac-address of the Beam itself. This causes the DHCP server to reply with the info: You already have an IP, you will not get another one.

I think the setup process should be changed, because no "normal" DHCP server will let this system work.

Mine connects fine and sets up fine, just NO sound bloody comes out of the two LS + RS Sonos Play 1 Speakers. What the hell?
They connect through a Sonos Boost and were originally on their own as speakers. I don't get it???

Mine connects fine and sets up fine, just NO sound bloody comes out of the two LS + RS Sonos Play 1 Speakers. What the hell?
They connect through a Sonos Boost and were originally on their own as speakers. I don't get it???

Hi there,

You can test things out by playing some music from an online source, or your own music library. The rear speakers by default are set to low volume for music, but you can head into the settings menu and choose room settings for your Beam, then head to the surrounds menu to set the playback mode for music to full, rather than ambient.

If the rear speakers are working for music in full playback mode, the issue is likely a setting on your TV. Please turn your TV to a channel that you know is playing 5.1 audio, then submit a diagnostic report and reply with the confirmation number.

You can also see what type of audio your Beam is receiving by looking at the about my Sonos system menu when playing TV audio. The Beam should show you what type of audio it is receiving. If it is not receiving Dolby Digital 5.1, you should take a look through your TV's audio output settings to make sure it is set to output Dolby Digital 5.1.

Hi Jeff,

We are doing the same thing. We have bought a new beam and we are re-purposing two Play 1s from two other rooms to use as surrounds. Are we going to have the same problem? The beam is a Christmas present for someone. If it's going to be hassle on Christmas Day I'll have to think of a way around it.

Thanks,

Chris.

Chris,

I would guess 99.9 % of the time, it's not an issue. Otherwise these forums would be flooded with posts on a daily basis.

I have tried both ways. I tried having them already joined (white light) and then reset them (green light) and both failed. I have a new beam for my basement and when I took 2-play 1's from the upstairs to the basement. I have surround sound when playing music but not with the TV.

I have tried both ways. I tried having them already joined (white light) and then reset them (green light) and both failed. I have a new beam for my basement and when I took 2-play 1's from the upstairs to the basement. I have surround sound when playing music but not with the TV.

Hi Terry,

Can you submit a diagnostic report while your Beam is playing TV audio that should be in surround? Reply with the confirmation number and I'll take a look for you.