Using Sonos app in 2 different homes...and taking sonos speakers from one home to the other

Apologies,  it your post is indeed somewhat confusing, at least to me. I parse your questions as:

1. can you set up an already set up Beam On a new network, without a factory reset which erases everything.
2. not sure how this relates to your vacation house…

So, a couple of comments. First, here’s how to change a WiFi on your system: as part of the new router - installation instructions FAQ.

Now, some more explanation / caveats. If you’re just moving physical location in the same WiFi, you’d just need to change the name of the speaker, if you want to. Moving it from upstairs to downstairs wouldn’t make any difference to the Sonos, assuming both locations have the same signal coverage. 
 

Now, some other information, pertaining to a second location. All data is stored on the speakers, not in your controller, or on a web source. So if you ‘add’ something to your main home, it won’t reflect on your second location, despite the fact that they’re connected to the same email. Sonos just doesn’t store data in a ‘multiple locations’ way. So, if you add something in either location, you’ll need to do the same thing in the other location. 
 

Does that make sense? Ask more questions if you need to. 

Oh, to comment about your title…

If you add a device from one location to another (moving a speaker from one house to the other), when you add it to the second without a factory reset, it will copy the contents of that system over to the new location, effectively melding the two set ups.

Thank you for the reply.   Sorry about confusion in the post...honestly wasn’t trying to be.

So in short, based on your reply am I correct in saying I can move speakers between homes and set them up without any issues?

Since the existing speakers are physically moving from one house to another, is it best to factory reset them?  Or just set them up on the app?

Didn’t think you were ;) we all process data differently! 

Yes, you should be able to ‘move’ speakers between homes. If you’ve setup the WiFi with different SSIDs, just connect the speaker you’re ‘moving’ with an Ethernet cable. 

No, I wouldn’t suggest a factory reset…I’d almost never suggest that, it is honestly super destructive to the data stored on the speaker. Connection with an Ethernet cable is a much better solution, especially if they’re both tied to the same email. Just wire them, and they should show up in your controller, with the same ‘name’ as before. 

Quick question regarding the Ethernet cable.  Do I have to connect each speaker with an Ethernet cable for Sonos to recognize them?  Won’t the app recognize the speaker once there is power to it and I add the new home network to the app?  Or as you said its because the WiFi networks have different SSIDs (wifi names?) and connecting an Ethernet cable is part of the new setup?  And does the Ethernet cable need to go directly to the router during this setup?  Just asking because I’m fairly new to Sonos and just want to make sure I understand exactly what you are saying.  

No, just the one speaker that you’re moving from household to household. It makes it easier for it to ‘join’ the new system. And that can be removed once it’s in your system, and showing up in the controller. But it makes it easier for it to join and copy overall the data, in both directions. Doesn’t hurt to leave it wired if you can. 

My advice is also that you never turn off the ‘radio/wifi’ on any device in the controller, even if it is wired.

So, the answers to your ‘quick question’ are:

1. Yes.
2. Not necessarily, the new network needs to be communicated to the speaker, if it is a different SSID. You need that cable to communicate any data, including changes to the network, to the ‘moved’ speaker first. 
3. Yes.
4. Yes.

One thing that might help you understand Sonos a bit better is to realize that the controller is merely a window through which you are communicating to the real app, which is running on your speakers. Each Sonos device is a computer, and the controller allows you to send commands to it. If that computer doesn’t ‘know’ about a new network, until it is told via Ethernet cable, no amount of changing data on the controller will reach it. 

Take a look at the speaker compatibility list in this link for S1 and Sonos App products.

Your Sub Mini will not work on the S1app.

You may have to run separate systems (S1 and Sonos App) depending upon how you plan to integrate the Sub Mini.

The only way to have a seamless setup using the Sub Mini would be to factory reset any speaker currently on S1 that is capable of running on the Sonos App. The downside to a factory reset is that you will lose all stored playlists. 

Ah, a good point, which I missed in the original post…and S1 devices will never communicate with S2 devices. so if you’re running both ‘homes’ using the same controller, it would likely be all S2 and work as suggested.

If, however, one home is running S1, and the other running S2, nothing I said will work. 

I suggest upgrading the S1 system to S2. Otherwise, you’d need to upgrade and downgrade units as you move them from system to system. This would be messy.

So a little more history on this which might help to make sense of my situation.  The setup I had at vacation house 1 (call it VH1) on network A1B1C1 (not the real name but lets call it that for this explanation) was 1 pair of Era 100s, 1 pair of One SL, a Beam and a Sub Mini.   No longer have VH1, now have vacation house (VH2) with network 2A2B2C.  From VH1 I took the pair of Era 100s and the pair of One SLs.  I set up those 2 pair of speakers in VH2 in 2 different rooms.  The way I did that was powering them on and then completing the setup in the Sonos app once the app recognized the speakers and they both work fine.  In VH2 I upgraded to the Arc Ultra and the Sub 4 and also added 1 pair of Fives and 1 pair of Era 300s but have not set up any of these speakers yet.  Am I going to have an issue setting up the Arc Ultra, Sub 4, Fives and Era 300s in VH2 with the Sonos app when I get around to it?  I then took the Beam and Sub Mini to my house and want to use them in the basement only.  This is where I am having the issue.  Do I just do a factory reset on the Beam and Sub Mini?  I’m not worried about losing anything on either of these.  As I said these 2 speakers are for the basement where the kids hang out and watch TV and play xBox. 

I use the apps below.  Someone mentioned the Sonos S2 app.  When I look in the app store on the iPhone I don’t come across a Sonos S2 app.  Just come across the icon below the Sonos and Sonos S1 apps.  Is that the correct app I should switch to?