audio interruptions when grouping

​@CharlieWesty 

Hi..

the reason for your problem is using grouped rooms in TV mode. Using two speakers of the same model that are compatible as surround speakers would solve the drop out problem, but won’t let you hear stereo on these speakers in TV mode. They just would play some simulated surround signal. 

So I recommend to improve your settings to get better group performance. 
First you can check your wifi and e. g. test other channels. Also you can change audio settings in Sonos Beam room. There you can find „audio delay for groups“. Try the next higher level to increase audio buffering. But be aware that this increases the delay between video and audio. 
 

https://support.sonos.com/en/article/tv-audio-stops-or-skips-when-non-home-theater-products-are-grouped-with-a-home-theater-product

If the dropouts persist try a streaming source and post back if that also has dropout issues, it may be a connection problem at that point.

Personally, I’m finding that AI doesn’t understand SONOS very well.

As TO said Spotify / Sonos music (other sources I suppose) play fine. So I really think it’s an buffering issue because of limited or disturbed wifi data traffic. Adjusting audio delay (buffer size) imo would be a workaround, but first I would try to improve wifi quality. 

Note, YouTube played through the TV is different from YouTube played as a music service through the Sonos app.  One is treated as a TV source that must be synchronized with video, so any grouped (meaning Sonos Grouping) speakers will be out of sync due to buffering.  Music sources played through the Sonos app don't need to sync with video, so the buffering isn't noticed.

As stated above, TV sources are best played as a single room, unless the other speakers are far enough away to not notice the buffering.  A single room TV setup can be any combination of a soundbar (or Amp) bonded with 2 Surrounds and/or 1 or 2 Subs.  

Thanks for your replies people.

All the speakers are in the same physical room.  room.

The era 300 was the last addition and out of the box it worked perfectly with YouTube.  I fear I've stuffed up the setting somehow.

I tried increasing slightly audio buffer sound butvthatvdid not improve anything. 

Grouping speakers in the same TV room without them being configured as Surrounds is not recommended.  It does nothing to improve the sound and, in fact, it takes away from the way a TV source is mastered.  In short, more speakers doesn't always mean better sound.  Either purchase another speaker for a matching pair to get a proper surround setup, or use the extra speakers in another room.

You seem to have an odd setup, submitting a diagnostic and then calling support will let them see data we users can't. 

Forgive me, what makes it odd?

As my room is too small for another era 300, I think the easiest fix is to sell it and purchase 2x era 100s and set them up as surrounds.

I should then have no drop out issues with YT, or other streaming services.

I think YT is not true streaming? Unlike live sports, which i watch a lot of.

​@CharlieWesty 

I would try fixed wifi channels. For 2,4 Ghz try channel 1,6 or 11. For 5 GHz also use a fixed channel that isn’t used that much nearby. 

Two Era 100s as surrounds will sound great with your Beam 2.

Trying to “group” other speakers with your home theater setup in the same room, is not going to sound good.

As I wrote before… a surround setup doesn’t support stereo on the rear speakers in tv mode. So if you watch YouTube on your TV (what is a stereo signal) you won’t hear much from the rear speakers. 

I disagree somewhat… 

Not often but sometimes when watching tv, we are sitting in the dining room part of our big living room. There an Era300 is placed. I group its room with the home theater setup (Beam2, Sub Mini, 2x Era100) in the couch area of the big room to hear tv audio also quite good from the Era300. Not a daily usecase, but it works perfectly, even both rooms are in the same physical room. To get the rooms in sync I use the „tv dialogue sync“ option in home theater settings. That causes a minimal delay to video that for me isn’t remarkable at all, but audio imho sounds perfectly that way. 

True. However, if you’re watching TV, stereo is coming from the Beam 2 (where it belongs?). If you are listening to music via sonos, then have Surround Audio → Music Playback set to Full and hear the full stereo from the Era 100s.

That‘s right… but I think TOs usecase is what we should have in mind. And if he likes to use one or more different single speaker(s) grouped with the ht setup in tv mode, I first would try to get this managed instead of adopting personal preference to another kind of setup.