Soundbar cutting out

I'll respond to this post, rather than your other one. Can we agree to keep it all in one thread, rather than multiple threads?

In order to help you, I think we need more information. What is the source of movies and live TV that you're watching? Is it a cable box, satellite receiver, over the air, game console, computer? What kind of signal is being sent to the PLAYBAR, is it stereo/PCM or Dobly Digital? You can check this by opening up the Sonos controller app, going to Settings> About My Sonos System and looking for the listing of the PLAYBAR, and particularly the line that says "Audio In".

Is it only the PLAYBAR that is dropping out, or do you have a SUB or surrounds that are dropping out as well? How is your Sonos system connected? Are you in regular mode, where everything is off of your wifi, or do you have one of your devices connected to your router with an ethernet cable?

Might also be worth it if you were to submit a system diagnostic, and post the number here, for the folks at Sonos to look at.

Yes, you can't stereo pair the Sonos One and the PLAY:1. While they're similar in size and shape, they aren't the same on the inside, and Sonos thinks there's enough sonic difference not to allow pairing between the two. That's been the case since the Sonos One was released, so it's not a new change.

Bruce,
I am new to the forum, obviously and didn’t mean to make two similar posts, I will delete the other.

Let me try to answer all your questions. First off, I’m unsure how to submit a diagnostic.

The source of live TV is just regular attena as I have cut the cord. It also cuts out on Sling TV, Netflix, Amazon Video etc. All these are running through my Amazon Fire Stick.

I believe it’s PCM as I have a Samsung TV and I checked sound settings and this was the only option. I will check the Sonos app to see as wel( i am at work currently and the sonos app will not connect to my home WiFi obviously, so the options are minimal and cannot check the audio in or out. There are four options and Dolby is an option on my TV but it was greyed out and I couldn’t select it.

It is the playbar and surrounds (sonos 1 and Play 1). I have surrounds but like I said, the Play 1 and Sonos 1 do not link in order to create true surround. What I have done in the meantime is created three different “rooms” and grouped the speakers together to create “surround sound”. I will be taking back either the Play 1 or Sonos 1 and getting two that match. I’m not sure which one yet as I have an Alexa Echo Dot and might use that instead of the Sonos 1. No sub as of yet, that will be coming soon.

I am in regular mode, everything running off WiFi and I have checked my WiFi connection and everything is good to go there.

Once I unplug the playbar from the power source, it tends to work for a while and then gets choppy and again and eventually cuts out. I haven’t used them enough to notice if it cuts out on music as well or just the TV. I’m wondering if maybe the audio cord is bad?? Or it might have something to do with the Samsung TV. Just looking for help on trouble shooting. I’ve seen other users post similar questions and they have all submitted tickets without any luck.

System is running on the latest updates.

Hope this helps.

Un-group the Play1 and the One, run the Playbar on it's own for a few hours.

When in Surround the rear speakers use 5ghz wifi.

Some Samsung TV's need a firmware update as well, make sure that is up to date.

Thanks. Even when ungrouped, as of last night, watching ESPN on Sling TV the soundbar cut out twice. Had to unplug, then wait, and it began working each time.

I also checked my Samsung tv and all updates are current as I saw in the forum that an update could be needed. I am running on 5ghz WiFi I believe, as my router has two options and I run all media like this on the 5.

I’ve noticed several other issues like this in the forums but nothing seems to address the issue other than calling tech support, which I may do tonight if I continue to run into this issue.

Thanks for your tips.

If you click on the words "submit a system diagnostic" in my post above, you'll be take to the FAQ on how to do that.

Sonos itself runs on 2.4Ghz normally speaking, but the PLAYBAR connects to the SUB and surround speaker on it's own 5Ghz network, which you can't see (it's not a public network, won't show up in a device as a network to connect to.) You may want to check the Wifi Interference FAQ

PCM tends to be stereo, not 5.1, but it's possible that the option for Dolby Digital was greyed out because the thing you were watching at the time wasn't in DD. Might be worth double checking that setting while watching a movie like Star Wars, etc, that you know is actually in 5.1.

Yes, I'm familiar with not being able to connect to my system while at work. It makes answering questions hard sometimes, because it's hard to remember where everything is. Perhaps I shouldn't answer so many questions while I'm not a home :)

Unfortunately, many who post end up calling in to Sonos and getting help in that fashion, and don't come back here to post the findings. It's a tad frustrating to those of us who want to know what the resolution is, so that we can help others.

Since you don't have a pair of either PLAY:1s or Sonos Ones, we can ignore the surround issues for now, and just concentrate on the PLAYBAR issues. And no, I don't think it's the optical cable. The behaviour wouldn't be 5 or 10 minute of working, and then cutting out, unless your moving the TV or speaker around after 10 minutes.

You're certainly doing all the right things. Checking for Samsung updates was a good thing. 🙂 We'll figure this out.

A lot to answer there. So yeah let’s just stick with the playbar. I have it DD now, cutting out and turning off watching Atenna TV NBC... music doesn’t seem to have an issue playing amazon music through the sonos app. It’s only the TV. As I’m typing this, the TV cutting out has stopped and it is working fine. Well, I take that back. Now it’s cutting in and out.

The audio in, in settings about my Sonos says DD 2.0. I have a DD, PCM and DTS Neo 2.5 option on my TV. All three are available to select. Currently running on DD, with the play 1 and sonos 1 ungrouped. Only sound is coming from Playbar. Same issue. Just frustrating, as you know, dropping over grand for speakers to have them not work properly.

8290935 Is the recent diagnostic code that I got. While submitting this it was cutting out, in DD, on WiFi, with only the Playbar connected or playing sound. Ungrouped the sonos 1 and play 1.

I only seem to experience the cutting out when using the Playbar to listen to TV sound. Playing music, through amazon using the app and the Playbar seems to work fine with no cutting out or loss of sound.

I assume that means there a connectivity issue with the TV to the Playbar? How to figure that out, I’ll have to call and I will post back in here what they tell me to do.

Understood. To be honest, I don't think it's the speaker, I think it's the TV not sending a proper stream to the speaker. There's just not that much on the speaker side to go wrong. Either the TV isn't sending a consistent signal, or there's an issue with the cable. If it was the speaker, you'd be getting cutouts while listening to music as well as TV.

There have been a couple of firmware updates for Samsung TVs over the last 12 to 18 months, designed to update exactly this kind of issue, but you indicate that you've checked for that, so I'm at a loss.

For your audio settings on the TV, I'd stick with DD. PCM would be stereo only, and DTS Neo 2.5 won't be interpreted by the PLAYBAR.

You know, you're saying you're running off antenna. How strong is the signal? It's possible that you're getting data loss on the signal as it comes in to the antenna. Do you have something else you can use to drive the TV set , like a DVD player?

The next time it cuts out, I'd definitely submit a system diagnostic, and post the number here, for the folks at Sonos to look at.

Bruce,
It cuts out on all devices, Xbox 1, Netflix, Amazon video through fire stick and also through my Samsung TV zaps. I agree, either the cable is bad or my TV isn’t communicating correctly. Sound doesn’t cut out on normal TV speakers, which is what I have it on now. I’ll turn back on DD and when it cuts completely out, I’ll submit a diagnostic and then post the # here.

I checked the software update option on my TV under support tab. Don’t see a firm ware but I assume that’s the same thing.

Sound completely gone #8290978 was submitted at 9:17 pm CST. Now, back on at 9:18 CST... completely cut out again.

Appreciate your time and thoughts.

8290994 Dead ass sound...

Yes,, firmware and software are effectively the same. Let's see what Sonos has to say about that diagnostic.

Will Sonos respond to this thread or somewhere else for the diagnostic?

Well, you have a few choices. Eventually, it could be today, it might not, someone from Sonos will respond here. Or, you could choose to avail yourself of one of their other methods of contact, which appear to be more immediate, by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page that says "Contact Us". I recall that they have twitter, and maybe Facebook messenger, as well as the phone lines. Any of those would probably be much quicker than the relatively asynchronous forums.

Yeah, I tried calling last night. Told me it would be over a 30 minute wait..... I’m just surprised that this company is staying competitive with the mass amount of issues their products seem to be having. Looking over this forum and there seems to be a TON of issues. I guess I can try Twitter or FB....

My initial thoughts on this is that it smacks of the TV not processing the audio properly in DD mode. Especially with the Amazon Fire as it outputs DD+ to the TV, and your TV will then need to downgrade further into DD for the Playbar.

We can run a process of elimination. Please can you run the TV in PCM mode with your aerial ONLY. Do you still get drop outs?

Hi guys am having issues with my tv and sound bar, music runs fine but no sound in tv, only happened since last update

Also have been in contact with customer support tried everything they suggested but just more frustration

This problem is all over the forums. I have had my Playbar for approximately one year, worked wonderfully the first six months or so, in the last couple months it cannot get through two songs. Works fine when wired to the TV, but ever since the Sonos software update it does not connect to anything online. Everyone keeps recommending router configuration fixes and other items, but ultimately this is a Sonos problem that they need to fix given the number of people experiencing the same issue. If Pandora on my phone plays perfectly over my Wi-Fi but switching to the Playbar does not work, it is a Sonos issue. Fix it please.

Assuming that it is a problem with your local wifi, which it does sound like it is, how do you propose that Sonos "fixes" it? How can they "fix" the fact that your router has handed out a duplicate IP address, or that your neighbor has added a new wifi signal that is stomping on yours?

Not a problem with my local Wi-Fi - everything else on my network (Xbox One, Apple and Android Phones, PC, appliances, etc.) works perfectly fine without interruption. Pretty sure that if Pandora, Netflix, and other streaming apps play just fine on the wireless over other devices that this is a Sonos created problem. And dozens of other users are saying the same thing.

OK, I won't argue with you on this. I'm not there, I obviously don't know your particular situation. I can recommend that you submit a system diagnostic, and post the number here, for the folks at Sonos to look at. That might point them in the right direction to fix the issue you're experiencing.

Did that days ago. They are blaming it on the plug and play protocols, yet no other device is having this problem. Whatever is keeping the Playbar from being, discoverable on the network, shall we say, other products are not experiencing the same impediment. To me, this suggests that Sonos has a software problem plaguing their products as a result of recent updates because this issue has appeared recently for a lot of people when it did not originally exist. I think they need to issue an MR directed at their Wi-Fi connection.