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tkharleygirl
Contributor I
January 27, 2023
Answered

Speakers cutting out is boost the solution?

Hello, I have 8 one SL speakers through a 2500 sq ft house.  I had multiple problems with far reaching speakers from the router cutting out on my wifi.   I have moved the router to the central part of the house and connected one of the speakers to my router via ethernet to create the mesh sonos network.  I’m still having problems with the speakers cutting out (one of them being the speaker that is connected to the router).  I have rebooted all speakers, changed the channel on the sonos.  My last option is to call my cable provided to ensure that the channels match and the other channels are disabled. I disconnected the wifi extender and live in a house so should not have to much interference from my neighbors. My next thought is getting a boost but before I purchase it I want to ask if that is really going to correct the problem? The far reaching speakers are cutting out but it is happening on the majority of them intermittently.  Sometimes I can uncheck the speaker and check it again to get it going again but then another one will cut out.  

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John BAnswer
January 28, 2023

A few suggestions that may improve stability.  (Sorry if some have been mentioned already, but on a very quick skim back I didn’t notice them).

  1. Remove your WiFi credentials from your Sonos system.  Go to Settings, System, Network, Manage Networks.  (You cannot do this if you have a Move or a Roam, but it sounds like you don’t.)
  2. Reserve IP addresses for your Sonos speakers in your router’s DHCP settings
  3. Keep the wired speaker at least 3 feet from the router.
  4. Check that the channel width for your WiFi is 20MHz, not 40MHz or Auto.
  5. If there is a ‘band steering’ option in your router, disable it.  (Although now that you are using SonosNet, this will directly affect only the controllers, and may not have an impact even there.)
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tkharleygirlAuthor
Contributor I
January 28, 2023

, Neighbors are far enough apart that I can’t reach their network.  We only have tv’s with fire sticks and computers.  Seems to happen more at late afternoon when we log off for work.  I’ve been running them for three hours now with no cut outs so will do as you suggest, keep a log to identify what time and what other devices may be interfering but typically do not have several things going at once unless it is our phone causing it.  Since we start the music from our phones on the Sonos app does it matter what band the phones  are on since the speakers are on their own network?  Wondering if our phone has a lot of activity getting email and text alerts if that causes it? To me,  It would only seem logical if the speakers were running on the Wi-Fi. 

buzz
buzz
Grand Maestro
January 28, 2023

It depends how the SONOS system is accessing the music. In most cases, once you start music playing, the SONOS system will directly fetch the music and the controllers can be shut down or uninstalled and the music will continue. If you are playing music stored on the phone using Bluetooth or AirPlay 2, then the phone/pad is directly involved in music play and bottlenecks on the phone/pad will have an impact. SPOTIFY is a hybrid arrangement and their phone/pad App can be involved in the music play.

    John BAnswer
    January 28, 2023

    A few suggestions that may improve stability.  (Sorry if some have been mentioned already, but on a very quick skim back I didn’t notice them).

    1. Remove your WiFi credentials from your Sonos system.  Go to Settings, System, Network, Manage Networks.  (You cannot do this if you have a Move or a Roam, but it sounds like you don’t.)
    2. Reserve IP addresses for your Sonos speakers in your router’s DHCP settings
    3. Keep the wired speaker at least 3 feet from the router.
    4. Check that the channel width for your WiFi is 20MHz, not 40MHz or Auto.
    5. If there is a ‘band steering’ option in your router, disable it.  (Although now that you are using SonosNet, this will directly affect only the controllers, and may not have an impact even there.)
      John B
      January 28, 2023

      Footnote to my post…

      I am actually staggered that a Sonos Support person should say that SonosNet is only good for five speakers. For the first ten years of its existence Sonos could only be run on SonosNet. It's a mesh, for goodness sake! Every Sonos device can act as a repeater. The more the merrier!

      The most I have personally run on SonosNet is 10 'rooms', with 16 speakers once you allow for surrounds, Subs and stereo pairs  But I know that there are larger systems out there. 

        tkharleygirlAuthor
        Contributor I
        January 31, 2023

        Footnote to my post…

        I am actually staggered that a Sonos Support person should say that SonosNet is only good for five speakers. For the first ten years of its existence Sonos could only be run on SonosNet. It's a mesh, for goodness sake! Every Sonos device can act as a repeater. The more the merrier!

        The most I have personally run on SonosNet is 10 'rooms', with 16 speakers once you allow for surrounds, Subs and stereo pairs  But I know that there are larger systems out there. 

        It was an odd comment because I have a very simple set up.  I moved my router to a room with less interference.  It has helped a bit.  I ran the speakers last night and they cut out for about five minutes maybe for the speakers to discover each other on the mesh.  Then it ran for an hour fine then they cut out but came back again.  The app shows they are still playing when they cut out.  I ran some reports so will call Sonos but sounding more and more like interference.  My next thought is to get a mesh network for my router. I need to do that anyway for some far reaching tv’s. Do you think it would resolve anything if I created a mesh network with my network and changed the speakers to Wi-Fi versus the Sonos network?

        John B
        February 2, 2023

        Mesh WiFi often has features that do not get on well with Sonos in WiFi mode dand it is still generally better to run SonosNet alongside a mesh WiFi. No two situations are exactly the same, of course. 

          John B
          February 2, 2023

          It may be worth looking at your network matrix while you are running in SonosNet mode. Identify the IP address of one of your speakers in About my System.

          Then type the following into a browser, substituting your ip address  

          http://ip address:1400/system/ review

          Click the Network Marrix link.

          You can post the matrix but you may prefer to obscure the MAC addresses. 

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