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Audio cutout in a restaurant

  • November 13, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 43 views

So I have a 3 speaker system in my restaurant, all Play 1s. The speaker nearest to the router is wired the other two are connected by SonosNet and are 5m and 10m away from the wired speaker with line of sight. All speakers mounted at ceiling height approximately 2.5m.
The system works fine when it’s not so busy but in the evening the wireless speakers cut out once we get probably more than 15 people in the restaurant and I am left with only the wired speaker playing. I have tried so many things and it’s driving me insane. The router is a BT Smart Hub 2.  
What I have tried so far :

Raising the router to ceiling height

Disabling the 5Ghz band

Disabling guest wifi

Tried all 3 modes on the router

Factory reset my speakers and reset the system

Rebooted the router

Deleting and reinstalling the app

Swapping speakers around 

It would be a pain to wire all the speakers but that will be my final thing to do if all else fails. 
Are my speakers outdated and would newer ones solve the problem or is it totally a network issue. Just seems that human interference is the cause but what do other restaurants do, I mean the place isn’t massive it’s only a 50 seater.

Please help because Sonos aren’t!!

 

Best answer by Stanley_4

You need to cater to skeletons, meaty customers absorb wifi signals.

Seriously, run Ethernet to all the Sonos and be done with the wifi issues. Maybe even wiring the 5 meter one might help.

QUIT doing Factory Resets, they rarely help and make troubleshooting harder by erasing diagnostic ostic data.

2 replies

Stanley_4
  • Lead Maestro
  • Answer
  • November 13, 2025

You need to cater to skeletons, meaty customers absorb wifi signals.

Seriously, run Ethernet to all the Sonos and be done with the wifi issues. Maybe even wiring the 5 meter one might help.

QUIT doing Factory Resets, they rarely help and make troubleshooting harder by erasing diagnostic ostic data.


buzz
  • November 14, 2025

Humans are essentially bags of water and water absorbs WiFi energy. As your restaurant fills with water bags, WiFi (and SonosNet) signal strength decreases.

I normally suggest that you have the players and router above the people area, but you’ve already done that -- and more. One thing that you don’t mention is operating the system entirely from WiFi after disabling SonosNet by disconnecting the currently wired unit. Before doing that, make sure that you have given WiFi network credentials to the SONOS players.

SONOS support can help. Submit a diagnostic immediately after one of these events, then work with SONOS phone support. You can also submit a diagnostic while the dining room is empty as a comparison. It is possible that there is some interference in the site in addition to any issues created by the water bags.