Do you have to be a tech genius to own a SONOS system?

  • 2 February 2023
  • 5 replies
  • 92 views
P

I have s medium sized 3 bed semi in the London suburbs with business broadband (300mb) from BT with a BT Hub 2. There are dozens of smart home devices on the wifi, plus a couple of phones/ipads. PS4, TV and SKYQ are wired to the the router (SKYQ multiroom which I think creates it’s own network) as well as two high end PCs. There are occasional wifi visitors.

I currently use Alexa devices of various types in all rooms for Multi-Room-Music. It is not great but gets by mostly. It is steadily getting worse with Spotify /Radio drop outs and white noise. Resetting is a pain with power cycles, router restarts etc….then all is well for a while but problems inevitably return. Amazon have not been much help. (I found that MRM from Alexa does not work well with the BT discs and had to disconnect them)

So I am considering a SONOS system but looking on this forum I am a little concerned that I will just swap my current issues for new ones. I am pretty tech savvy but my wife isn’t an I want something that “just works”. I understand that occasional issue can arise but anything more than “switching it off and on” to fix it would make buying it an expensive mistake.

The setup would be

3 Ones, (office, bedroom, lounge)

1 move (Kitchen and garden)

1 Port (to plug in to curremt amp)

2 Roams (or maybe 1 roam + 1 One) for the spare bedrooms and to take music in to the bathroom.

I can wire the Office One to the router and create a SONOS network which I thinks is pretty robust.

Will this all “just work”?

(Also - if I have a SONOS network the portables cannot use it but do they still work seamlessly - ie can play what all the other units are playing?)

Lastly - I think I am right in saying I can bin my Alexas (well ebay them) and use the Sonos for my smart home commands?

Thanks for any advice people can give. (I did search articles and found a great WIFI troubleshooter - which is what prompted this question - but nothing that put my mind are rest :-) )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 replies

melvimbe

Sonos is rock solid for the majority of people, but it’s not 100% bulletproof either.  Forums are not necessarily the best place to judge how reliable a product is since people go their to complain, not give positive reviews.  It’s sort of like judging on how healthy a city is by only visiting the hospitals.  Anyway, but what you stated about existing network issues, it wouldn’t be too surprising if you have some to deal with.  But I think using Sonosnet, selecting the right wireless channel, and other common troubleshooting should resolve any issues if you have them.

(Also - if I have a SONOS network the portables cannot use it but do they still work seamlessly - ie can play what all the other units are playing?)

 

Yes.  If the are connected to WiFi.  Roam can connect to bluetooth and WiFi at the same time, but Move cannot connect to both at the same time.

Lastly - I think I am right in saying I can bin my Alexas (well ebay them) and use the Sonos for my smart home commands?

Yes, but you can use your existing echos to control Sonos as well.  You probably want to keep at least one and setup an alexa group for the Port, since it does not have it’s own voice control.  Also, know that while Alexa on Sonos can control music playback, smarthome control, and your typical questions, some features like voice calling, intercom, etc are only available on the echos.    Many will still use echo devices to control Sonos everywhere for that reason, or so they can place a dot closer to seating area, etc.  I personally use both strategies, depending on the particular room.

Danny
P

“ It’s sort of like judging on how healthy a city is by only visiting the hospitals “ had me laughing out loud. Thanks for the input. All duly noted.

J

My experience of Sonos has been pretty much as @melvimbe ‘s.  I also have a Move and a Roam that work seamlessly with the other devices, which use SonosNet.  Sonos usually works out of the box, but every environment is different.  Given that you are tech savvy I’d recommend reserving IP addresses in your router for all your Sonos devices.

If I were to guess at an area that might give you a problem it would be that the BT Hub 2 does not allow the two bands to be given different SSIDs, nor for ‘band steering’ to be disabled (as I recall), and flipping between bands can cause a bit of instability.  But those are rare  ‘hospital’ reports and I am a big Sonos fan who has used the system without problem for 10 years.

P

Thanks John and Danny . The BT Hub 2 is a pain esp. for home automation where they all need 2.4 but are set up via apps and the phone always picks 5...so I have diabled 5 completely. It also made my current Alexa MRM more stable (but not trouble free). I may look to upgrade to a better router when I take the plunge. Good to hear about the seamless working Sonosnet and roaming units and static IPs seem to be a must. 

You have put my mind at rest. 

 

J

The fact that you have disabled the 5Ghz band sets my mind at rest on your behalf too (in the context of the BT Hub 2).  If you have any teething problems it is most likely to be caused by interference. Make sure your SonosNet channel is different from your Wifi channel, (each should be one of 1, 6 and 11) your wired device is at least a metre from the router, and your WiFi channel width is 20MHz not 40 or Auto, 

If you do have problems there are plenty of people  here who can help.  But it would be great to hear back that your system is in robust good health.

As an experiment you should try setting up two of your Ones as a stereo pair.  I think this sounds amazing for the price / size of speaker.  Somehow the whole sounds even better than the sum of the parts.

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