I have a good Sonos setup and love it to bits. I rarely have any problems. I love it being connected to my home theatre to really punch out some volume when it's needed.
But, I have a friend (who is not very computer literate and has asked me to investigate it further), who has 4 Play 3s and a soundbar. He has set one a Play:3 up next to each of he and his wifes lounge chairs so they can vary the volume separately for each speaker nearest to them. They are very happy with it because they both have hearing problems and this solves that problem. BUT, more and more lately the volume has been fluctuating between loud and soft on both Play:3s and the soundbar. He says he rang Sonos who did an upgrade over the phone, which fixed it for a little while, but now it's back again. They are frustrated almost to the point of throwing them out.
I read where one fix is to disbale the hardware controls but that is exactly what they don't want. It's how they change the volume for each speaker. Unfortunately they are not very proficient with the Sonos app so using that is not an option.
Is there any fix for this problem? It seems there are many who are experiencing it.
Thanks in Advance.
Answered
Volume fluctuates with LG TV use
Best answer by Airgetlam
Do you have access to their TV? I'm going to guess that the TV output to their soundbar (which one?) is set to variable, so it's reacting to whatever the setting is on the TV set at the time. If you can go into the audio settings for the TV, and switch the optical output (I'm making an assumption here) to "fixed" rather than "variable", that might be the issue.
It might be useful to let us know what the make and model of the TV is, what the source of the programming is (Cable? DirecTV? Over the Air?) and what the soundbar is (PLAYBAR? PLAYBASE? Beam?) so that we can be a bit more specific, if the above doesn't fix the problem. But that's the only explanation I can come up with that would affect both the PLAY:3s and whichever Sonos soundbar they have.
I'm not sure that there are "many" who are experiencing this.
It might be useful to let us know what the make and model of the TV is, what the source of the programming is (Cable? DirecTV? Over the Air?) and what the soundbar is (PLAYBAR? PLAYBASE? Beam?) so that we can be a bit more specific, if the above doesn't fix the problem. But that's the only explanation I can come up with that would affect both the PLAY:3s and whichever Sonos soundbar they have.
I'm not sure that there are "many" who are experiencing this.
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Do you have access to their TV? I'm going to guess that the TV output to their soundbar (which one?) is set to variable, so it's reacting to whatever the setting is on the TV set at the time. If you can go into the audio settings for the TV, and switch the optical output (I'm making an assumption here) to "fixed" rather than "variable", that might be the issue.
It might be useful to let us know what the make and model of the TV is, what the source of the programming is (Cable? DirecTV? Over the Air?) and what the soundbar is (PLAYBAR? PLAYBASE? Beam?) so that we can be a bit more specific, if the above doesn't fix the problem. But that's the only explanation I can come up with that would affect both the PLAY:3s and whichever Sonos soundbar they have.
I'm not sure that there are "many" who are experiencing this.
It might be useful to let us know what the make and model of the TV is, what the source of the programming is (Cable? DirecTV? Over the Air?) and what the soundbar is (PLAYBAR? PLAYBASE? Beam?) so that we can be a bit more specific, if the above doesn't fix the problem. But that's the only explanation I can come up with that would affect both the PLAY:3s and whichever Sonos soundbar they have.
I'm not sure that there are "many" who are experiencing this.
Hi Airgetlam,
Thanks for your reply.
I've had a look at their TV and its a 3 year old LG 55EF950T-TA OLED. The sound bar is a playbar and the optical lead plugs into that from the TV. I guess the sound is sent from the playbar to the boost and then broadcast from there?
I couldn't find any option in the sound output to switch anything to Fixed. I did however experience the problem and it's not so much fluctuating as cutting in and out. The sound will simply turn off for a second or two, and then turn back on. It happens independently for each speaker at different times.
I have tried to upgrade the TV firmware but could not find any option to do it in the settings so I need to follow up on that, but now hearing the problem I'm not so sure it's what your fix is for...
You're right in that "many" was an incorrect description, but there are certainly a number of posts relating to this and similar issues.
Andrew
Thanks for your reply.
I've had a look at their TV and its a 3 year old LG 55EF950T-TA OLED. The sound bar is a playbar and the optical lead plugs into that from the TV. I guess the sound is sent from the playbar to the boost and then broadcast from there?
I couldn't find any option in the sound output to switch anything to Fixed. I did however experience the problem and it's not so much fluctuating as cutting in and out. The sound will simply turn off for a second or two, and then turn back on. It happens independently for each speaker at different times.
I have tried to upgrade the TV firmware but could not find any option to do it in the settings so I need to follow up on that, but now hearing the problem I'm not so sure it's what your fix is for...
You're right in that "many" was an incorrect description, but there are certainly a number of posts relating to this and similar issues.
Andrew
OK, gotcha. Not that familiar with the LG series of TVs, but I do know a bit about the Sonos system, so I may be able to help you, or you may need to ignore me, and contact Sonos on one of their true support lines, rather than the community here, but let's see.
It's unfortunate that the TV doesn't have a setting to change the output signal, but I guess that would have been too easy of an answer.
I had to go back and reread your original post, as we're not actually talking about surrounds here. Saves some discussion about 5Ghz etc, but that's not important here. Since they're using a BOOST, then the Sonos devices should all be on the SonosNet network. When you look in the controller, under ...More and About My Sonos System, all of the speakers should be showing up as WM:0. If they're not, you may want to go into the settings for the wifi, and remove any data that's there. I think there's an "erase" or "delete" button. What you're trying to do is make sure there's only one way for the speakers to connect. The software is designed to take the lowest cost path, but depending on the situation, it might be their wifi, it might be the Sonos wifi, and the waffling between the two would certainly cause dropouts. So we remove the wifi data, and rely on the SonosNet data, the way they were originally designed. And in that case, they might be going back to the BOOST with the signal, but it's much more likely that they're going straight to the PLAY:3s on the mesh network.
However, all wifi signals are subject to wifi interference. That's either from inside the LAN, or even outside. It could be that there's a neighbor's signal, or microwave, or phone, etc, that's causing an issue, so it's worth reading that FAQ and checking all the boxes.
But wifi interference could only explain volume issues on those grouped rooms with the PLAY:3s in them, it wouldn't explain the change in volume on the PLAYBAR, since that comes directly from the TV set across the optical connection, and there's no interaction with a wifi signal at all.
Have you been there when they've experienced one of these volume reductions? I'm really wondering if it's only with the PLAY:3s rather than on the PLAYBAR itself.
One of the things to double check on that TV, though, which might explain "some" cutouts, is that the audio settings are locked down to Dolby Digital. I've seen on some channel, a few years ago, when they put one of those scrolling text bars across the bottom, they accidentally pushed the sound to DTS (or something that my PLAYBAR couldn't interpret), and when the scrollbar went away, I got sound back. Took a while to figure that one out, fortunately it was on a DVR recording, so I could replay it several times. But once I locked down my source (DirecTV and AppleTV) to be only in Dolby Digital, rather than "Best Available", that issue went away.
It strikes me when I reread the description of the setup is that the PLAYBAR might be being controlled by a remote control. I don't remember if you can remove that, but it's worth looking at the potential that they're unknowingly changing the volume of the PLAYBAR with the remote control (sitting on it? who knows!) However, changing the volume of the PLAYBAR would not affect the grouped rooms, which may be why there's a perception difference there.
It's hard to diagnose and suggest solutions remotely for something like this, I suspect you're feeling much the same, since you can't always be there when it happens. But if there's any way that you can convince these people to submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of having this problem, and writing down the number, you could then contact Sonos to discuss it. There would likely be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.
Oh, and if you're still with me after this giant wall of text, there's one other thing I'd recommend, which is low cost, low effort, and might potentially help. Unplug the Sonos devices from power, and then reboot the router. Once the router comes back up, after a minute or so, go ahead and plug back in the Sonos equipment. What that will do is force the router to reset its DHCP table, and the Sonos devices will get new IP addresses as a result. There's a slight possibility that the router handed out duplicate IP addresses the last time the system was updated.
Let us know how you get on. And even if you can't call Sonos when you're at the location, you might be able to talk to their 24/7 support folks via Twitter or Facebook. I'm a fan of the phone conversations, myself, it gives them the opportunity to do some remote looking at the system, but that may not work with the timing of your visits.
Good luck!
It's unfortunate that the TV doesn't have a setting to change the output signal, but I guess that would have been too easy of an answer.
I had to go back and reread your original post, as we're not actually talking about surrounds here. Saves some discussion about 5Ghz etc, but that's not important here. Since they're using a BOOST, then the Sonos devices should all be on the SonosNet network. When you look in the controller, under ...More and About My Sonos System, all of the speakers should be showing up as WM:0. If they're not, you may want to go into the settings for the wifi, and remove any data that's there. I think there's an "erase" or "delete" button. What you're trying to do is make sure there's only one way for the speakers to connect. The software is designed to take the lowest cost path, but depending on the situation, it might be their wifi, it might be the Sonos wifi, and the waffling between the two would certainly cause dropouts. So we remove the wifi data, and rely on the SonosNet data, the way they were originally designed. And in that case, they might be going back to the BOOST with the signal, but it's much more likely that they're going straight to the PLAY:3s on the mesh network.
However, all wifi signals are subject to wifi interference. That's either from inside the LAN, or even outside. It could be that there's a neighbor's signal, or microwave, or phone, etc, that's causing an issue, so it's worth reading that FAQ and checking all the boxes.
But wifi interference could only explain volume issues on those grouped rooms with the PLAY:3s in them, it wouldn't explain the change in volume on the PLAYBAR, since that comes directly from the TV set across the optical connection, and there's no interaction with a wifi signal at all.
Have you been there when they've experienced one of these volume reductions? I'm really wondering if it's only with the PLAY:3s rather than on the PLAYBAR itself.
One of the things to double check on that TV, though, which might explain "some" cutouts, is that the audio settings are locked down to Dolby Digital. I've seen on some channel, a few years ago, when they put one of those scrolling text bars across the bottom, they accidentally pushed the sound to DTS (or something that my PLAYBAR couldn't interpret), and when the scrollbar went away, I got sound back. Took a while to figure that one out, fortunately it was on a DVR recording, so I could replay it several times. But once I locked down my source (DirecTV and AppleTV) to be only in Dolby Digital, rather than "Best Available", that issue went away.
It strikes me when I reread the description of the setup is that the PLAYBAR might be being controlled by a remote control. I don't remember if you can remove that, but it's worth looking at the potential that they're unknowingly changing the volume of the PLAYBAR with the remote control (sitting on it? who knows!) However, changing the volume of the PLAYBAR would not affect the grouped rooms, which may be why there's a perception difference there.
It's hard to diagnose and suggest solutions remotely for something like this, I suspect you're feeling much the same, since you can't always be there when it happens. But if there's any way that you can convince these people to submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of having this problem, and writing down the number, you could then contact Sonos to discuss it. There would likely be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.
Oh, and if you're still with me after this giant wall of text, there's one other thing I'd recommend, which is low cost, low effort, and might potentially help. Unplug the Sonos devices from power, and then reboot the router. Once the router comes back up, after a minute or so, go ahead and plug back in the Sonos equipment. What that will do is force the router to reset its DHCP table, and the Sonos devices will get new IP addresses as a result. There's a slight possibility that the router handed out duplicate IP addresses the last time the system was updated.
Let us know how you get on. And even if you can't call Sonos when you're at the location, you might be able to talk to their 24/7 support folks via Twitter or Facebook. I'm a fan of the phone conversations, myself, it gives them the opportunity to do some remote looking at the system, but that may not work with the timing of your visits.
Good luck!
Hi Bruce,
Wow what an awesome email. Thanks so much. You've covered lots of ground and I can fill you in with a few things (which don't necessarily need a reply).
I was there when it happened. That's how i knew it was a dropout of the sound and not a fluctuation. There was no microwave or anything going though. Note however that they live in an over 55 village and the residential villas are very close to each other so external interference is a possibility. It happened at least 6 times in less than 10 minutes, for 1-2 seconds each time - I really understood their frustration. The Playbar did not drop out at all - you were right to question that. Just the one PLAY:3 I was listening to. The other one - 2 metres away did not drop out at all but they did mention that it has.
I will do the reboot, check the WM:0 status, and set the sound to Dolby, I know for sure it's not currently set to that.
I have also source a firmware update for their TV and will apply that when I get back there. I'm hoping it may have an option for Fixed optical output.
In the meantime I've suggested they call Sonos next time it happens which they are happy to do.
Thanks so much for your reply, its really appreciated.
Andrew
Wow what an awesome email. Thanks so much. You've covered lots of ground and I can fill you in with a few things (which don't necessarily need a reply).
I was there when it happened. That's how i knew it was a dropout of the sound and not a fluctuation. There was no microwave or anything going though. Note however that they live in an over 55 village and the residential villas are very close to each other so external interference is a possibility. It happened at least 6 times in less than 10 minutes, for 1-2 seconds each time - I really understood their frustration. The Playbar did not drop out at all - you were right to question that. Just the one PLAY:3 I was listening to. The other one - 2 metres away did not drop out at all but they did mention that it has.
I will do the reboot, check the WM:0 status, and set the sound to Dolby, I know for sure it's not currently set to that.
I have also source a firmware update for their TV and will apply that when I get back there. I'm hoping it may have an option for Fixed optical output.
In the meantime I've suggested they call Sonos next time it happens which they are happy to do.
Thanks so much for your reply, its really appreciated.
Andrew
Andrew,
Happy to have pointed you in about 15 different directions 🙂 The nature of a device such as Sonos is somewhat dependent on the wifi environment, and there's a lot of people out there who don't think about the fact that there's a lot of outside influence on that...they just think if it's inside their home, it can't be caused by anything outside.
The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced it may be a duplicate IP address issue, which is what the unplugging and rebooting the router should fix, at least in the short run. If that's the one of those several options that does the trick, I'd look into setting up reserved IP addresses for all their network devices, which would keep this situation from recurring again, as long as they have that router. One of the unfortunate things that occurs is that the Sonos update process includes a reboot of the Sonos devices, at which point they request a new IP address from the router. If the router is "lost" in the DHCP table, where it keeps track of IP addresses, it can hand out bad/duplicate IP addresses, and then the speakers "fight" for connection, and can drop out. It's not really a Sonos issue, it's more of a router issue, but Sonos updates expose it more frequently than other devices, generally speaking. For me, it took about 10 minutes of rummaging around in my router's instruction manual online in order to learn how to do it, but I haven't had an issue with my Sonos system since that point. It's most unfortunate that each router company seems to handle it in a slightly different manner, otherwise I could see Sonos including it in their own install process, since assigned IP addresses for all network devices is just good housekeeping.
Anyway, good luck!
Happy to have pointed you in about 15 different directions 🙂 The nature of a device such as Sonos is somewhat dependent on the wifi environment, and there's a lot of people out there who don't think about the fact that there's a lot of outside influence on that...they just think if it's inside their home, it can't be caused by anything outside.
The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced it may be a duplicate IP address issue, which is what the unplugging and rebooting the router should fix, at least in the short run. If that's the one of those several options that does the trick, I'd look into setting up reserved IP addresses for all their network devices, which would keep this situation from recurring again, as long as they have that router. One of the unfortunate things that occurs is that the Sonos update process includes a reboot of the Sonos devices, at which point they request a new IP address from the router. If the router is "lost" in the DHCP table, where it keeps track of IP addresses, it can hand out bad/duplicate IP addresses, and then the speakers "fight" for connection, and can drop out. It's not really a Sonos issue, it's more of a router issue, but Sonos updates expose it more frequently than other devices, generally speaking. For me, it took about 10 minutes of rummaging around in my router's instruction manual online in order to learn how to do it, but I haven't had an issue with my Sonos system since that point. It's most unfortunate that each router company seems to handle it in a slightly different manner, otherwise I could see Sonos including it in their own install process, since assigned IP addresses for all network devices is just good housekeeping.
Anyway, good luck!
Hi again,
Thanks - that was the only thing I didn't do this morning! But their TV is at the latest firmware and still does not have an option to used Fixed Optical output, but I have set the audio output to Dolby Digital and I have checked all speakers are running through the Boost. I didn't check the IP address but will definitely check and set them at the next visit (they live a few houses from my dad...). I've done that before several times at home and other places so it won't be onerous.
Thanks again - and thanks for keeping in touch, truly appreciated. :D
Andrew
Thanks - that was the only thing I didn't do this morning! But their TV is at the latest firmware and still does not have an option to used Fixed Optical output, but I have set the audio output to Dolby Digital and I have checked all speakers are running through the Boost. I didn't check the IP address but will definitely check and set them at the next visit (they live a few houses from my dad...). I've done that before several times at home and other places so it won't be onerous.
Thanks again - and thanks for keeping in touch, truly appreciated. :D
Andrew
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