Boost Needed for Warehouse?


Hey All,

I am operating 5 or so Play 3's across a 10k sqft warehouse. We have one Play3 plugged directly into our Eero network and have gotten better performance doing that, but are still having some speakers drop off.

My question is: Do we need a boost? Two boosts? How many boosts would you suggest?

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

12 replies

Perhaps an important sub-question would be... CAN more than one boost be used??
Perhaps an important sub-question would be... CAN more than one boost be used??

Yes. They can be wired or unwired. Both setups will act as repeaters for the mesh network.
Perhaps an important sub-question would be... CAN more than one boost be used??

Yes. They can be wired or unwired. Both setups will act as repeaters for the mesh network.


And do you think more than one is necessary for a 10,000 sqft warehouse??


And do you think more than one is necessary for a 10,000 sqft warehouse??


Can't say. Depends on interference, what is stored there, distance between each unit, etc. Kind of a "add another till it works" thing.

You may want to look at this thread:

https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/network-matrix-25587

It goes over how to get a matrix view of your Sonos devices, showing you which connections are strong and which need some help.


And do you think more than one is necessary for a 10,000 sqft warehouse??


Can't say. Depends on interference, what is stored there, distance between each unit, etc. Kind of a "add another till it works" thing.

You may want to look at this thread:

https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/network-matrix-25587

It goes over how to get a matrix view of your Sonos devices, showing you which connections are strong and which need some help.


Perfect, thank you.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
If your network matrix looks iffy I'd say wire a few more of your existing speakers if you can do that. They will help spread the network connection to any unwired speakers almost as well as a Boost.

If you need something additional it is tempting is to not get a Boost but instead get a Play 1. The networking is almost as good as a Boost, it only costs a bit more and you get another speaker instead of just a network box. You are seeing some of that from your Play 3.

If your space is airly open at the level of your units and is 100x100 you really should be able to get by with just one centrally located Boost, or other network connected Sonos speaker. If it is more 200x50 then a second Boost or wired speaker might be needed.
So... Played with this a little bit, my matrix look bad (all red), I tried wiring in two of my speakers to some of my Eero satellites and it broke everything. Got my network back up, but now I'm scratching my head even more. I'm still gonna try a boost hooked into my gateway early next week...

Userlevel 7
Badge +22
I've seen posts here discussing Eero and issues with the STP Spanning Tree Protocol when using them. That might explain the breakage.

This is some help I got with my network matrix a while back, it is a good place to start.

https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/signal-strengths-with-a-boost-seem-low-any-suggestions-6786933#post16121323

"The colour of the left column gives an indication of ambient conditions. It's based on the noise floor and the active noise rejection -- OFDM ANI for newer devices, or OFDM Weak signal level for older ones. ANI goes from 0 (good) to 9. Weak signal level used to go from 5 (good) downwards, but recently larger values have started appearing for some reason. Also devices which have no obvious nearby interferer will often show 3 (orange)."

So it looks like you have a noisy RF environment there with the full collection of red cells. Even with that the Sewing system is the only Orange link and for a lot of folks Orange isn't a problem.

I'd send Sonos a diagnostic and post the number here to get their expert opinion.
Here is another useful link too that may help explain a few things seen on the sonos matrix grid and at what points things change colour ... but @Ratty here in the community knows more about these things than most.

Anyhow I found this was useful, and helped to clear some of the mist...

https://freetime.mikeconnelly.com/archives/6050
First of all, if the players are grouped it will always make sense to start with 'Common Room' and add other rooms to that. This will minimise the total wireless bandwidth demand.

As for the matrix, all the nodes are having to deal with a lot of ambient noise. Look for non-WiFi sources; in a warehouse there could potentially be all kinds of equipment pushing out RF.

Adding unwired Boosts would be a waste of time. They'll be bypassed.
Submitted diagnostics 91222184, I bought two Boosts, but haven't had a chance to install them yet...