Sonos Play 5 Stereo Pair Line-In Problem

This sounds like a possible wireless network issue. The right unit should take its stream directly from the left, assuming they’re both on the same channel. 

@ratty @John B - Yes, I am starting to think this could related to my wireless network - although not 100% sure.  I have controller based Aruba Wireless in my home, as I am in IT, so this isn’t your traditional consumer grade wireless product.  I do see that the speakers are both connected to wireless, but one has negotiated 2.4Ghz and the other has negotiated 5Ghz - as such, they are obviously also on different channels.

I guess my confusion is that IF that were the issue, I wouldn’t expect Stereo Pair to work at all, but it does when steaming Pandora, Spotify, etc. in this exact same configuration.  That all works flawlessly - it’s literally just the Line-In that doesn’t use both speakers.  Do the speakers function differently with a line-in source vs streaming with regard to how the sync/pair?

@John B - Autoplay is set to “Bedroom” which is the room where the Stereo Pair resides.  I am going to try to find my audio cable for my iPhone to connect Line-In from it to see if I get a different result.

@Ken_Griffiths - Yes, I have tried all the different options for compression - no change.  Also tried all the different options with audio delay - no change. 

Line-In, at least in Uncompressed form, is more demanding than the other sources listed. It’s WAV/PCM, with shallow buffers by default.

I suppose one could try fiddling with the compression and/or delay (buffer) settings, but to be honest the combination of 2.4G and 5G wireless connections across the two units is pretty horrid. Inter-unit latency could be decidedly variable.

I’d suggest fixing the network such that both units are on the same channel. They’ll then be able to stream directly peer-to-peer. 

With those connections direct routing between the paired speakers is prevented. It is possible that the system copes with the alternative routing better with other sources. Although I would have thought using compression and delay would have got round that.

As an experiment you might try wiring a Sonos speaker to your router so that everything connects over SonosNet. 

Sorry, I skipped the fact that the OP had already tried compression/delay tinkering.

It’s conceivable, but not necessarily logical, that Sonos does something different with stream distribution for Line-In -- multicast vs unicast maybe -- and the Aruba system is obstructing traffic between the two bands.

It’s a strange one and ‘perhaps’ maybe related to your Aruba WiFi and the different WiFi bands - but next maybe try the speakers on SonosNet instead and see if that resolves the matter for you.

I’ve tested both line-in’s on the ‘Fireplace’ Five stereo pair here and both play to the pair - however I’m currently using a SonosNet setup.

It definitely ought to work, once the network is sorted out.

I’ve also used a stereo pair in the total absence of a central network, with Line-In fed into one unit. They SonosNetted together to form an AutoIP island, and both played fine.  

Appreciate all the help here.  I am going to give the SonosNet option a try.  I will need to move the equipment around a bit, so I will do that and report back.  Thanks!

For vinyl, where there's no lip sync requirement, I'd recommend a delay setting of 150ms. It'll provide a tad more stream resilience, without upsetting the whole needle experience.