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zone disappears if one of several speakers are not powered

  • August 3, 2025
  • 5 replies
  • 77 views
B

I have a few zones that are a 3 speaker setup (Beam + 2 Ones, Ray + AMP).  Sometimes I have 1 speaker in the zone unplugged on purpose - example below.  I’ve noticed the zone then disappears so I can’t use that zone at all until I power the missing speaker.  I’d like to keep using the zone even if there are speakers “missing” because they are not plugged in.  How can I do this?  Or is it a feature request? 

Example zone: my AMP powers 2 soffit speakers for my back deck.  I have a rolling cart for my outdoor TV, which includes the Ray.  When watching TV the AMP speakers serve as the surrounds paired with the Ray.  I turn off the cart’s powerstrip when not watching TV, hence the Ray is unplugged most of the time.   Now, because of the zone setup, I can’t play music out of the AMP when just hanging out on the deck. 

Best answer by jgatie

Surrounds are connected directly to the Beam via a private, one way 5 Ghz connection.  This is due to the low latency needed to sync them with the video.  If the Beam is powered off, that connection is severed. 

You would need to remove the Amp from the Beam in the setup prior to shutting off the Beam in order to use them as regular speakers, then add them back again to use as surrounds.

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5 replies

jgatie
  • jgatie
  • Answer
  • August 3, 2025

Surrounds are connected directly to the Beam via a private, one way 5 Ghz connection.  This is due to the low latency needed to sync them with the video.  If the Beam is powered off, that connection is severed. 

You would need to remove the Amp from the Beam in the setup prior to shutting off the Beam in order to use them as regular speakers, then add them back again to use as surrounds.

Airgetlam
106rallye
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  • 106rallye
  • August 4, 2025

If you want to use the right Sonos lingo, when you say “zone” you mean “room”.

Stanley_4
  • Stanley_4
  • Lead Maestro
  • August 4, 2025

Looks like Sonos has revived Zone which they had dropped in the past and replaced with Room.

Unlike Shakespeare I suggest hanging the marketing department, then the lawyers. SIGH.

https://en.community.sonos.com/tutorials%2Dand%2Dhow%2Dto%2Ds%2D229149/sonos%2Dterminology%2D6905527#Zones

 

controlav
B
  • BrianA
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • August 8, 2025

Thanks for the replies.  I should have mentioned these are all connected via ethernet  (Beam ↔ switch ↔  AMP) because setup required that, I assume due to the distance.  Mentioning in case it is important for this discussion.  

You would need to remove the Amp from the Beam in the setup prior to shutting off the Beam in order to use them as regular speakers, then add them back again to use as surrounds.

Yes, but this is a system setup hassle that does not pass the spouse test.  Rather than that, I would like the room to play the audio on whatever room speakers remain powered up rather than ignore the entire room.  Perhaps that’s not possible with the way Sonos software works, but wanted to throw this use case out there for consideration if there’s no way to do it today. 

jgatie
  • jgatie
  • August 8, 2025

Thanks for the replies.  I should have mentioned these are all connected via ethernet  (Beam ↔ switch ↔  AMP) because setup required that, I assume due to the distance.  Mentioning in case it is important for this discussion.  

You would need to remove the Amp from the Beam in the setup prior to shutting off the Beam in order to use them as regular speakers, then add them back again to use as surrounds.

Yes, but this is a system setup hassle that does not pass the spouse test.  Rather than that, I would like the room to play the audio on whatever room speakers remain powered up rather than ignore the entire room.  Perhaps that’s not possible with the way Sonos software works, but wanted to throw this use case out there for consideration if there’s no way to do it today. 

 

It is indeed not possible.  As stated above, surrounds are directly connected to the main HT component (in your case, the Beam) by a one way private network as required for the low latency needed to sync them with video.  Because this private network is originated and managed by the main HT component, if you turn off the main HT component, the surrounds are no longer visible on the network. 

Stanley_4
Airgetlam
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