Answered

Move cuts in & out when grouped with Arc to listen to TV

  • 17 September 2022
  • 29 replies
  • 1156 views

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We recently upgraded our Playbar and Play 5 to an Arc and Sonos Move.

Previously we could group our Playbar and Play 5 and listen to TV sound with no issues. However, since upgrading to the Arc and Move, when we group them and play TV sound the Move cuts in and out constantly and is unlistenable.

We cant go back to our Play 5 setup as it is the original Play 5 which only works on the original Sonos app, not the upgraded version.

Extremely disappointed as we cannot use the Move for the reason we purchased it  >/

 

Diagnostic report: 1632836691

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Best answer by John B 18 September 2022, 11:17

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29 replies

Hi @jujiba 

If it worked with the Playbar it can work equally well with the Arc, so you are a bit premature in your extreme disappointment.  What setting does the Arc have for group audio delay?  If it is on Low have you tried increasing it? 

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Hi @John B

It was our old Play 5 that worked well with the Playbar; however we had to upgrade the Play 5 due to the new Sonos app not being compatible so we upgraded to the Move to replace it. At the same time we also decided to upgrade our Playbar to the Arc.

I do not believe I am premature in being quite disappointed; Sonos are quality systems and for it we pay a hefty pricetag and therefore we should expect it to work as it says it should. And in our case, and many others, this is not the case.

I have tried changing the audio delay and this makes no difference. The tv sound coming through the Move cuts out constantly every few seconds or so, but the Arc works fine. If we are listening to music, there is no issue, only when Move is grouped with Arc to listen to TV audio it cuts in and out.

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According to what I know, the portable speakers (roam and move) cannot be used in a HT setup. Or do I misunderstand the question?😬

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I think I will give Sonos a call on this. 

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Home theatre setup. 
 

I don’t think move will work with the arc. Instead you could go for 2 one sl’s, they should work very well 

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thanks, but the speaker is for outdoor use to hear the tv audio. Sonos Ones are for indoor use, which is why we chose the Move.

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@jujiba - Where is your Move placed? Is there anything nearby that could be causing wireless interference? If you locate the Move to another position do the dropouts stop?

edit: see your previous response. How far is the Move from the Router when outdoors? The signal may be struggling to reach that far.

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@JeroenVR

I just read this on the Sonos website FAQs about Move...whilst the question is about connecting to Sub, the answer in fact says it “can group Move with to 5.1 home cinema setup”… we have an Arc, two One’s as surround and a sub in our 5.1 home cinema setup in which I am grouping our Move with.

Does Move pair with Sub?

No. Because Move is designed to move around your home, pairing with Sub would result in imbalanced sound, with mid and high frequencies in one room and bass in another for imbalanced sound and an inferior listening experience. However you can group Move with a system that includes Sub, such as a 5.1 home cinema setup.

https://www.sonos.com/en-au/shop/move

 

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Hi @Mr. T 

I have tried placing our Move all around the house, indoor and out, as well as right next to our router. Exact same issue wherever it is placed unfortunately.

Try increasing the Group Audio Delay in the Arc’s room settings. 

Try increasing the Group Audio Delay in the Arc’s room settings. 

Already tried.

Try increasing the Group Audio Delay in the Arc’s room settings. 

Already tried.

Ah. I missed that this had already been attempted. 

There is something odd going on here if the sound is cutting out wherever you place the Move and however large the group audio delay.

Please tell us about your network. Make and model of router? Mesh WiFi? Any other Sonos besides that mentioned? Any Sonos device wired?

Hi @Mr. T 

I have tried placing our Move all around the house, indoor and out, as well as right next to our router. Exact same issue wherever it is placed unfortunately.

If the Move is connected to your routers 5Ghz WiFi band, then try switching it over to the 2.4Ghz Wifi band, which is likely what your old Play:5 would have used. Also set that band to use a ‘fixed’ non-overlapping WiFi channel, either channel 1, 6 or 11 and if your router allows set the channel-with to 20Mhz only rather than the usual 20/40Mhz that many routers seem to use these days.

See if those few quick adjustments resolve your audio dropout issues.

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There is something odd going on here if the sound is cutting out wherever you place the Move and however large the group audio delay.

Please tell us about your network. Make and model of router? Mesh WiFi? Any other Sonos besides that mentioned? Any Sonos device wired?

@Mr. T @Ken_Griffiths 

We have a Telstra Smart modem.

Our Sonos system is on our 2.4Ghz band and I have it fixed on channel 11 and 20Mhz.

Within our Sonos system we have the Arc, sub, plus two Play 1’s connected to our main TV as our home theatre setup. We also have in another room our older Playbar connected to another TV. Plus we have the Move.

We used to have a Bridge connected directly to our router however Bridges no longer work on the new Sonos app so had disconnected that. We therefore do not have any Sonos wired to the router.

@jujiba,

I am wondering if it’s this one🤔?…

https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/telstra-smart-modem-gen-3

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@jujiba,

I am wondering if it’s this one🤔?…

https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/telstra-smart-modem-gen-3

Gen 2, but why would it be the router if sound works fine when we are listening to music and grouping the Arc system and our Move?

@jujiba,

I am wondering if it’s this one🤔?…

https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/telstra-smart-modem-gen-3

Gen 2, but why would it be the router if sound works fine when we are listening to music and grouping the Arc system and our Move?

Just some of the user comments seemed to infer the gen3 wasn’t all that wonderful and there was mention of issues with Bose speakers. A bit flaky by all accounts, so if it was your device, I would have perhaps suggested trying something else in its place, in case there was a compatibility issue with some WiFi adapter hardware and to see if things then improved for you.

@jujiba,

I have a Sonos Arc here with surrounds and sub and have grouped it with our Sonos Move and apart from the usual delay related to ‘group buffering’, it plays the TV audio fine, even with the Arc buffer set to its least setting of 75ms and it doesn’t dropout at all.

Admittedly I use the two rooms mentioned (Arc/Move) more, in fact regularly, to play music audio (in sync) and the Move never drops its connection .. so something is wrong somewhere, whether that is your Move, Arc or the WiFi network in-between, so it’s worth exploring each of those elements. It just happens when I searched for the Telstra product there were some negative reviews in regards to that brand/model.

I’ve briefly gone back to (re)search the gen2 model and seeing reports on band-steering, but not had a chance to fully read those, as it’s late where I am, but it might be worth perhaps digging further into that aspect.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nbn/comments/qf6oft/telstra_smart_modem_band_steering/

I experimentally grouped my Move, which by default resides in the kitchen to my living room Playbar for half an hour then to my media room Arc. Played TV sound fine in both cases. Brief experiment and the Move is not far from the router, but I really don't think there is a generic problem with the Move. 

@jujiba . It is worth pointing out that when you had the Bridge and Play:5, Sonos was not using your WiFi (except for controllers). It was using SonosNet. Now Sonos is using your WiFi. A lot more has changed in your setup than you perhaps realise.

If there is a :band steering: option on the router I would disable it. 

You could submit a system diagnostic and contact Sonos Support with the confirmation  number.  Or you could try a different router.

Edit: the diagnostic might identify if there is a fault in your Move, for example. 

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Sonos have advised that the Move does not work with the Arc when grouped and wanting to listen to TV audio. Apparently due to the Move being ‘portable’ and works on the 5G network (and you cant force to the 2.4G network) and Arc works on the 2.4G, there is a buffering delay for TV audio.

Sonos have advised that the Move does not work with the Arc when grouped and wanting to listen to TV audio. Apparently due to the Move being ‘portable’ and works on the 5G network (and you cant force to the 2.4G network) and Arc works on the 2.4G, there is a buffering delay for TV audio.

It will work, but there is a delay - if you are getting intermittent TV audio, then increase the increase the buffer size by going to ‘Settings/System/[Arc Room Name]’ in the Sonos App and select ‘Group Audio Delay’ and set it to a medium, high or max buffer size… see if that resolves the TV group playback issue.

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Sonos have advised that the Move does not work with the Arc when grouped and wanting to listen to TV audio. Apparently due to the Move being ‘portable’ and works on the 5G network (and you cant force to the 2.4G network) and Arc works on the 2.4G, there is a buffering delay for TV audio.

It will work, but there is a delay - if you are getting intermittent TV audio, then increase the increase the buffer size by going to ‘Settings/System/[Arc Room Name]’ in the Sonos App and select ‘Group Audio Delay’ and set it to a medium, high or max buffer size… see if that resolves the TV group playback issue.

I did that but no change at all. Continues to cut in and out every few or so seconds.

 

It will work, but there is a delay - if you are getting intermittent TV audio, then increase the increase the buffer size by going to ‘Settings/System/[Arc Room Name]’ in the Sonos App and select ‘Group Audio Delay’ and set it to a medium, high or max buffer size… see if that resolves the TV group playback issue.

I did that but no change at all. Continues to cut in and out every few or so seconds.

You must have some rather nasty network-latency issues, if ~2-second audio buffer, is not reliably working across your wireless network.. maybe try a different WiFi channel on your router for its network signal and see if that resolves it for you.