Skip to main content

I am hoping someone can help. We have Sonos, a Beam (with TV plugged in via ARC), an amp (with turntable), an old Play 3 and a Roam.

I am having real problems connecting the TV to the system. I can get it to play through the Beam, but not the other speakers, which was my hack for a surround sound type TV watching experience.

This is a recent problem, and I've done the basics (all updates, unplug from power, unplug ARC, etc.) and still doesn't work.

Sometimes the other speakers show up in my controller (sometimes they do not), and even if I crank the volume on the amp and the play 3, no sound comes out.

I do find this constant connection issues frustrating with Sonos.

Side note: primarily my wife uses the Beam voice controlled with Alexa, not sure if that is related or not.

Any advice warmly appreciated.

Not, I think, related, the Alexa part. It does, to me at least, sound like you have network issues that need to be dealt with. And the “all updates, unplug from power, unplug ARC, etc” just doesn’t provide quite enough detail to be sure about what process was followed in that.

I’d start by unplugging *all* Sonos devices from power, then reboot your router. Give the router a couple of minutes to finish the reboot process before plugging back in the Sonos devices. 

That’s a fairly easy step, which *might* solve some issues, but isn’t a silver bullet by any stretch, since we’re not really sure what’s going on.

It might be helpful to share some insight on your network. Which router are you using? Is a Sonos device plugged in to the router with an ethernet cable? 

Other pieces that might be helpful could be which version of the Sonos controller you’re using, S1 or S2, and which release number. It might also be beneficial to us creating a mental image of your system if you were to share what OS the controller device is working on, including the OS release number.

I’d probably also take a look at the  wifi interference FAQ, as it’s possible that some of your devices are being affected by that, either from within your home, or from external sources, such as a neighbor. 

I’ve been running a SonosNet network on my system over the last 10 plus years, and have had minimal reasons to look at the network. I’m convinced that we can get your system to the same point, so you don’t need to deal with “constant connection issues” in your network. 

Finally, since this is just a community site, and not actually Sonos support group’s hangout, I would recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it.

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

When you speak directly to the phone folks, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and network.


Oh, extra data points needed, based on your title. 

Are we talking about issues with the sound coming from the TV set only, or is that not an issue, and the issue is only when streaming music from Sonos?

If it’s just when getting data from the TV set, I’d be double checking the settings on the TV, and making sure that the cable is correct, essentially ensuring it’s the one provided by Sonos, or a version that’s HDMI 1.4 or above. 


Thanks Bruce, I am going to follow all your recommendations closely tonight and then report back.


The TV will play through Beam, never an issue with that. The TV audio will NOT then connect to my other SONOS products, so no surround sound right now.

Music/streaming services are spotty, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.


Gotcha. So I do think we’re talking about a network issue, and not a CEC/HDMI ARC issue. Good to rule out those random variables, so that we can hopefully hone in on what the actual issue is. 


Definitely a network issue, will report back.


The TURN EVERYTHING OFF technique worked, at least for now Bruce. I think it’s a router issue.

 

Fingers crossed we’re smooth sailing from here.


That’s certainly an indicator that it’s likely to be a router issue, for sure...but nothing, i’ve discovered, in networking is 100% :)

Since that seemed to fix it, I’d certainly be investigating in your router’s manual on how to set up reserved IP addresses for your network stuff, and leave the floating IP addresses for your guests, when they come to your home. When I finally did that many years ago, all sorts of interesting network things stopped being an issue. 

Glad you’ve gotten some relief.