After lots of investigation and comparison, in January I decided to select Sonos for my whole-home music system speakers, to be controlled via my extensive Home Assistant smart home system via the Music Assistant subsystem (HA/MA). The purchase timing was influenced by IKEA discontinuing their Symfonisk line, with the remaining speaker inventory available for half-price, plus a Sonos 25%-off sale.
I first bought a pair of Symfonisk Picture Frame speakers, and after onboarding them with the Android Sonos app, they were instantly discovered by HA/MA after adding the MA Sonos Provider. Aside from lacking the TruePlay feature, these speakers were everything I hoped they would be. Great sound for just $150 each.
So I immediately bought a pair of Sonos Era 100 speakers (for BT and aux-in support) and a pair of Roam 2 speakers (for initial outdoor support), which also were onboarded via the Sonos app and were discovered by HA/MA.
The system performance was even better! I especially liked how I could group speakers and play a common stream in sync across them. (Which is needed, as I soon will be adding person localization to HA/MA, which in turn will enable me to use dynamic grouping to implement “follow me” streaming capabilities as I move through my home.)
However, after a large batch of updates landed in mid-February (including to Sonos speaker firmware, Home Assistant, and Music Assistant), my Symfonisk speakers (not Era 100 or Roam 2) started behaving badly.
- When I start any stream (filesystem or internet), the Symfonisk speakers would play for 10-15 seconds, then stop playing and disappear from the network.
- Only cycling power to each Symfonisk speaker would restore them.
- The Era 100 and Roam 2 speakers were not affected.
- All speakers continued to work fine from the Sonos app (after power cycling the Symfonisk).
- All speakers were (and still are) running Sonos firmware version 93.1-74010
I’ve been extensively troubleshooting the issue with the HA/MA folks, with the situation only getting weirder, with no specific cause found. Heavy thrashing the HA/MA software components, versions and configurations likely didn’t help either. Fortunately, we did stumble into a work-around:
- Adding the Sonos S1 provider somehow bypasses the Symfonisk problem.
- However, my Roam 2 speakers are now served by the Sonos S1 provider, rather than the Sonos provider.
- Only the Era 100 speakers are still served by the Sonos provider.
As I’m new to the Sonos ecosystem, I’m unfamiliar with the Sonos firmware history and issues (aside from the switch from S1 to S2 and the famous App-pocalypse, which aren’t an issue for me). It was the near-universal current Sonos success within the HA/MA community that finally convinced me to select Sonos for my own home.
Does my situation sound familiar to anyone here? Do you have recommendations for things I should try?
For example, I haven’t run the Sonos app for a while, and there is another speaker firmware release waiting. Should I go ahead and install it? Is there a way to revert back to the prior firmware version, 93.1-73190?
Thanks!
