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Downgrade a system that includes a Sonos One SL from S2 to S1

  • August 23, 2024
  • 13 replies
  • 511 views
Z
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I want to downgrade the system to S1. My system has 2 x Sonos 5 Gen 2 ; 2 x Sonos 1; Sonos Move Gen1; Sonos One SL (I am tired of the slow response to volume changes with the new app and also occasional streaming stoppages - which never happened before) 

Reading the Sonos product compatibility page there is a confusing note about Sonos One SL

“One SL cannot be added to Sonos systems using the S1 Controller app. One SLs that are already part of an S1 system will continue to work as they do today.”

Would greatly appreciate if anyone can:
a) confirm or not if I will be able to downgrade successfully to S1 with all the speakers

b) give a process to achieve the downgrade

 

Thanks in advance.

Best answer by Ian_S

With the One SL it would appear there was a small window of opportunity when they first came out where S2 wasn’t there yet, so they came with S1 firmware… if you have one of those, and never updated it to S2, it can continue to operate in an S1 system, however Sonos appear to be saying that once you have updated it to S2, or bought one that came with S2, there’s no way to downgrade. 

 

On your system, do you have any of the other speakers plugged in via ethernet? 

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13 replies

I
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  • Ian_S
  • Prodigy III
  • Answer
  • August 23, 2024

With the One SL it would appear there was a small window of opportunity when they first came out where S2 wasn’t there yet, so they came with S1 firmware… if you have one of those, and never updated it to S2, it can continue to operate in an S1 system, however Sonos appear to be saying that once you have updated it to S2, or bought one that came with S2, there’s no way to downgrade. 

 

On your system, do you have any of the other speakers plugged in via ethernet? 

Z
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  • zed5000
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • August 23, 2024

Thanks Ian,

 

All speakers are connected wirelessly. I bought the One SL refurbished from Sonos in late 2022.

 

 

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  • Ian_S
  • Prodigy III
  • August 23, 2024

No-way to downgrade. I asked about ethernet as I have some similar vintage kit and removing Sonosnet which I’d accidentally re-introduced, seemed to help cure laggy volume controls etc. but if you are all wireless that won’t apply. 

Another option if it’s not massively inconvenient could be to keep the One SL as an ‘S2 test room’ to see when the new app gets better while you downgrade and enjoy the rest of your system on S1. 

Z
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  • zed5000
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • August 23, 2024

Thanks again Ian.

Are you suggesting to set up two sonos systems?. i.e. The first would be all the speakers (except the OneSL) and run S1.  The second would only have only the OneSL and run S2.

 

  • Is it possible to set up two sonos systems on a single wifi network?
  • Can you run two versions of the app on one phone? (the old app to control the S1 system, and the new app to control the S2 system)

 

Ken_Griffiths

Thanks again Ian.

Are you suggesting to set up two sonos systems?. i.e. The first would be all the speakers (except the OneSL) and run S1.  The second would only have only the OneSL and run S2.

 

  • Is it possible to set up two sonos systems on a single wifi network?
  • Can you run two versions of the app on one phone? (the old app to control the S1 system, and the new app to control the S2 system)

 

Yes and Yes - I have both an S1 and Sonos App system on the same WiFi network and both Apps will run on the same controller - see attached screenshot (iPad controller in split screen mode).

But why not sell the One-SL and get a refurbished, or new, Sonos One or Play:1 to replace it instead?

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  • zed5000
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • August 23, 2024

Thanks Ken. I did think of selling / trading the SL for a Sonos Play:1 ..seems like a lot of effort especially that  I expect Sonos will finally get around to getting S2/New App all working well.

Ken_Griffiths

Thanks Ken. I did think of selling / trading the SL for a Sonos Play:1 ..seems like a lot of effort especially that  I expect Sonos will finally get around to getting S2/New App all working well.

Yeah I’m one of the lucky ones, I guess.

The new App is working okay here - just a little slow in one or two areas, but I don’t have any issues with it finding all my speakers, or playing music from my chosen services, or local library, to any speaker, or group.

I personally prefer it to the S1 App, but it’s each to their own, I guess.

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  • Ian_S
  • Prodigy III
  • August 23, 2024

Thanks Ken. I did think of selling / trading the SL for a Sonos Play:1 ..seems like a lot of effort especially that  I expect Sonos will finally get around to getting S2/New App all working well.

I wouldn’t get a Play:1 too old… A One would be the better bet, but once they sort this mess out the SL will probably be fine. 

Ken_Griffiths
Z
Ken_Griffiths

It’s so odd that we all see different things - I have a pair of One-SL’s here in a Utility area and they’ve been working fine with the new Sonos App.

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  • zed5000
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • August 23, 2024

Hi Ken , just to be clear my One SL is working ‘fine’ - well as fine as the whole S2 system. It’s just that with the S2 issues since the new mobile app was released including very slow response to volume changes; random streaming music drop-outs (that never used to occur), difficulty adding/removing speakers from groups etc., what I was looking at doing was downgrading the system to S1 and use the old app. The issue seems to be that the OneSL cannot be downgraded from S2 to S1. 

Thanks

A
Ken_Griffiths

Hi Ken , just to be clear my One SL is working ‘fine’ - well as fine as the whole S2 system. It’s just that with the S2 issues since the new mobile app was released including very slow response to volume changes; random streaming music drop-outs (that never used to occur), difficulty adding/removing speakers from groups etc., what I was looking at doing was downgrading the system to S1 and use the old app. The issue seems to be that the OneSL cannot be downgraded from S2 to S1. 

Thanks

Maybe check your Sonos product SNR levels - see this link:

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/understanding-the-network-details-section-in-the-sonos-app

I had some issues originally with volume controls being sluggish, so what I did was to ensure my speakers were all using the 5Ghz WiFi band (where that was available/practicable) and ensuring their SNR levels were set to 45dB or higher - I did that by moving my WiFi mesh hubs and after doing that I found it solved most of the issues (not all - but it was much better). See attached recording, just as an example… and that’s 25 Sonos devices in 10+ Sonos rooms.

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  • zed5000
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • August 23, 2024

very interesting - i will check this out. thanks

Ken_Griffiths
Ken_Griffiths

The Sonos products listed below now use the much faster 5Ghz WiFi band - so if it’s practical to use that band with a WiFi mesh and have all SNR levels of 45dB or higher, that’s what I did with my own Sonos system… hope that assists.👍

  • Play:1
  • Play:3
  • Play:5 (Gen 2)
  • Sub (Gen 1)
  • Sub (Gen 2)
  • Era 100
  • Era 300
  • Move 2
  • Roam
  • Roam 2
  • Roam SL
  • Five
  • Move
  • One (Gen 1)
  • One (Gen 2)
  • One SL
  • Port
  • Sub (Gen 3)
  • Sub Mini
  • SYMFONISK Bookshelf (Gen 2)
  • SYMFONISK Floor lamp
  • SYMFONISK Picture frame
  • SYMFONISK Table lamp (Gen 2)
  • SYMFONISK Bookshelf (Gen 1)
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