Move & Roam don’t connect properly to Beam & Ray whem watching TV.

 I had the same issue last year.  I purchased one Era 300 with the intent to purchase a second one at a later date then use both for surround.  I put the single 300 in the kitchen for dinner music.  I decided to try listening to the news during dinner so I grouped the 300 with the Arc.  Unfortunately the dropouts bugged the crap out of me.  Gave up that idea.  May try it with the Move stereo pair to see what happens.

 Just tried the Moves grouped with the Arc playing TV sound.  Yes, there are dropouts.  Would be nice if this could be fixed.

Thanks to you both. 
@AjTrek1 - There’s no lag, it’s just the drop outs. I spoke with Sonos, and the tech seemed to think it was due to my internet speed. However, I have no issues with connecting my Era 100s to the Beam to create the surround sound, and also connect a Five in the kitchen, and that works perfectly. I can also add all the other wired speakers in my house and they connect to the TV sound. The drop outs only happen with the portable speakers annoyingly.

@MoPac - your issue with the Era300 doesn’t make sense as the 300 is wired, and should connect as per my Five in the kitchen.

It would be interesting to hear how you go when you try connect the Move to the Arc. Try it in another room and see if the sound is constant. 

Thanks again for your insights. 
My problem is yet to be solved. 
I’ll try the tech again. 
Muz✌🏼

Murray Muzza:

 The single 300 in the kitchen was wireless at the time when “grouped” with the TV while watching the news.  There were dropouts.  After purchasing a second 300 I then “bonded” them as surrounds.  They work fine as surrounds.

 I tried my Move stereo pair the same way I tried the single 300.  When the Move stereo speakers were “grouped” with the Arc surround system so we could listen to the news in the kitchen there were dropouts.

@MoPac - good to know it’s not just me. I didn’t realise the 300 could be a portable? Do you mean it wasn’t plugged in?

Frustrating that the portable speakers don’t connect very well for TV audio. But seems that both of us have found a solution by buying more Sonos speakers! 

I’m exactly not sure what the Sonos tech was getting at with ‘internet speed’ but I suspect that he meant that it had to do with the speed of your local wifi network.

I think it might help to go over how Sonos devices connect to each other in different situations.  The Sonos portables and more recent Era speakers always connect through your WiFi network. The quality of the connections are highly dependent on the quality of your router.   Older speakers use a custom network created amoungst Sonos devices called Sonosnet.  This is always 2.4 Ghz.     When a home theatre room is setup, the soundbar, surrounds, and sub are connected through a private 5 Ghz network.  5 Ghz is needed for the speed to avoid lip sync issues, and since the devices should be relatively close together, it is rarely an issue.  So portable speakers/Eras, older speakers, and home theatre speakers all connect differently, which is why you get different results.

Also worth noting that when playing TV audio, the speakers can’t really build up a buffer of the audio to handle small losses in communication easily.  The audio needs to be near real time.  With streaming audio or aux sources, you can build up a larger buffer to better handle drop outs.  This is why you might see drop outs with TV audio, but not streaming audio.

I know it’s cliche to say, but I think the problem that needs to be addressed is improving your network.  I could be that switching the channel your router uses, adding a satellite if you have a mesh network, or an upgraded router if the router is out of date, are options.  

BTW, the reason why you don’t see dropouts on video streaming and maybe other audio devices you have again has to do with buffering. Because the content doesn’t need to be real time (even live events can be a few seconds off), they can ‘hide’ any break in communication by having a larger buffer.

You could try increasing the audio delay to increase the buffer and help with the audio dropouts.

https://support.sonos.com/en-ca/article/tv-audio-stops-or-skips.

5. Adjust the group audio delay

The group audio delay setting introduces a delay between your Sonos home theater product and any grouped rooms while playing TV audio. This reduces the chance of audio issues occurring when your Sonos products are playing TV audio in a group and the sync between the audio and video is not critical.

1. In the Sonos app for iOS or Android, go to the Settings menu.
   • If using the Sonos S1 Controller app, go to the Settings tab and select System.
2. Under My System, select your home theater product.
3. Under Home Theater, select Group Audio Delay and then choose a delay option.

Thanks @melvimbe, your explanation makes perfect sense. Tech did mention the different ways the various speakers connect to the router, so I understand what you’re saying. 
I think the solution to connect the portables is better internet. Luckily, my home theatre works fine, and I can connect to the Five in the kitchen seamlessly. 
Appreciate your insight here Danny. 
 

Cheers. Muz

@Murray Muzza, try my advice above before making changes to your network.

 No.  The 300 must be plugged in.  I thought maybe you were referring to Ethernet.

I had the same issue with my Era 100 and Beam 2 cutting out when streaming tv from my Arc. The issue was resolved when I ran a ethernet cable from my Arc to the wifi router. After that, no more cutting in and out when streaming TV. 

I’m having this issue, and a Sonos rep flat-out told me that this feature was “unsupported”. Meanwhile, adjusting the group audio delay is exactly what fixed it. Thank you so much for posting this, you’ve helped bring my blood pressure down.