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No sound from Sub connected to Arc

  • 11 September 2022
  • 13 replies
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I set up a new Sonos system today and am having problems with getting sound from the Sub.  My system consists of the following:

--Two Sonos Ones connected by wifi

--Arc connected by wifi

--Sub paired with the Arc and connected to the router via ethernet

From the beginning, I cannot get sound to play out of the sub. I have tried all the usual remedies including resetting the router, powering off all Sonos devices, factory resetting the sub and reinstalling, and switching the Sub connection from wireless to wried.  I checked by sliding the sub bass level back and forth on bass heavy content. None of these steps have helped.

This is the second Sonos system I have set up in the last 6 months and I had the same problem with my first system. When I installed a Boost via ethernet to my router, on my other system, that solved the problem. I do not have a Boost on my current system, but could acquire one if that is the solution (although it seems odd to have to have a Boost for the Sub to work).

Is it possible I got a dead Sub from Best Buy (I assume there are components that could fail that would render the Sub silent but sill allow it to connect)? Should I just take this back to Best Buy and get a new one and try again.

Any suggestions would be helpful. I generated a diagnostic code right before posting in the event that might be helpful (this is my first posting but it seems Sonos employees sometimes respond). It is frustrating to have this issue arise with both system I have purchased.

The diagnostic code is 641525654

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Best answer by Ken_Griffiths 11 September 2022, 20:21

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13 replies

Userlevel 4
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I think the best you can do is connect only the Arc to ethernet. That will then -after reboot- create a network voor the one’s and sub. If you only connect the sub with ethernet, it doesn’t work. 

Agree with @JeroenVR .  Having only the Sub wired is a major mistake.  Wire the Arc, leave Sub and surrounds wireless,  Do NOT ‘Disable WiFi’ in the Arc settings (nor on any other device).

Power off all your Sonos devices, power on the Arc, then your other devices.

The arc is not in a location where it can be connected via ethernet. So, it sounds like I should not connect either one via ethernet. I tried that configuration and it didn’t work.

You are correct that much better to wire nothing than just to wire the Sub.

You will have to give more detail than "it didn't work". What did you do? How did it fail? Were there any warning messages?

Please also give details of your network. Simple router? Mesh? Access points?

Userlevel 7
Badge +18

As a temporary thing, if no joy with nothing wired, can you physically move a One and connect that to Ethernet? Don’t allocate it a new room or anything. Then try setting up the Arc and Sub. 

I factory reset both the arc and sub and reset up with just WiFi connections. The sub still isn’t working. If a Sonos employee looks at this on Monday, the diagnostic code is:

353551564

I factory reset both the arc and sub and reset up with just WiFi connections. The sub still isn’t working. If a Sonos employee looks at this on Monday, the diagnostic code is:

353551564

Are you perhaps playing a PCM 2.0 audio source, rather than 5.1 surround sound? What is your Sonos App ‘now playing’ screen showing as the audio output from the TV?

Have you tried playing a music audio source from one of the various sources available in the Sonos App, like Sonos Radio, for example?

I purchased a Boost, factory reset everything, and reinstalled after setting up the Boost first. The Sub works now. Odd that I need a Boost to get the Sub to work properly. This is the only thing that fixed my other system. 

I purchased a Boost, factory reset everything, and reinstalled after setting up the Boost first. The Sub works now. Odd that I need a Boost to get the Sub to work properly. This is the only thing that fixed my other system. 

That sounds like a router brand (make/model) that does not support the main player (Arc) proxying the bonded device IP address - The master player (Arc) mostly uses an ad-hoc 5Ghz WiFi connection to talk to the sub, when it’s bonded, and its IP address is ‘proxied’ via the Arc from the routers DHCP server. However… One or two routers don’t like to supply IP addresses via a proxy. I suspect that might have been your issue. Placing all on SonosNet usually resolves the issue, as it did on this occasion. Just curious though, what make/model of router are you using?

 Hi Ken. Do we know why adding the Boost would fix an IP Addressing issue? I can't immediately think of how this would do it

 Hi Ken. Do we know why adding the Boost would fix an IP Addressing issue? I can't immediately think of how this would do it

I think Ken’s referring to the known problem in WiFi/’wireless’ mode of some routers’ DHCP server not recognising a flag in the IP request which indicates that it’s being made by the HT master on behalf of a satellite. The confused DHCP server apparently just re-issues the HT master’s IP rather than a new, unique one for the satellite. 

 Hi Ken. Do we know why adding the Boost would fix an IP Addressing issue? I can't immediately think of how this would do it

I think it’s something to do with the Boost reporting back to the router/DHCP Server as being a wired Ethernet network connection and that the IP addresses on the secure wired LAN (SonosNet) are fine to hand out because all are wired (even though they actually aren’t) but I’m not entirely sure on this one @John B, except one or two routers are apparently reported in the community here to occasionally not proxy the IP addresses of bonded surrounds/sub via a wireless Sonos HT device, like an Arc/Beam etc. Maybe wiring the Beam would also have sorted the issue too, but I understand wiring any Sonos device and switching over to SonosNet can often resolve such issues. Sorry my knowledge on this topic (and a few others😀) is somewhat limited.

Ah I see @ratty has explained it much better than my guesswork. I’ve rarely seen this sort of issue reported here in the community and that’s why I was curious to know which make/model of router was being used by the OP.