Question

Multi-room TV audio dropping out

  • 21 October 2020
  • 4 replies
  • 445 views
M
Userlevel 3
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I just moved home and had to re-setup my Sonos in the new place.  It was pretty much flawless in the old house, but now we’re set up in the new place we’re getting very strange dropouts when running multi-room audio. 

 

One thing we like to do is watch TV while cooking - the 5.1 system is in the same large room as the kitchen (i.e. combined kitchen/family room) but the stove is at the other end and is difficult to hear the TV from there.  I have a Sonos One for kitchen music and so will pipe TV audio to that speaker so we can hear the TV even better.  I don’t recall any major issues with this at the old house, but at the new house it drops out constantly.  It’s a large room but definitely not bigger than the old house. 

 

I talked with Sonos support (case 02208995), they advised me changing my 2.4ghz channel to 1 would solve it but it is still happening.

 

I use a Netgear Orbi for networking.  Not sure how Sonos does multiroom audio but my wi-fi is plenty strong/fast enough, but the satellite isn’t _too_ close to the Beam or other speakers.  The only thing nearby that could cause interference is an iPad a few feet away from the Beam. 

 

I ran a diagnostic test in case the Sonos folks on here can talk a look - 103401632.

 

I looked at other advice on the forum - have ensured IP addresses are pre-assigned now, tried restarting everything multiple times and in certain orders.  I can’t wire up the Beam to the satellite directly.

 

Any advice / help would be hugely appreciated, thanks!

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4 replies

M
Userlevel 3
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Do Sonos staff help out on this forum or no?  I read some horror stories about how long it takes to get through on the phone and I’m working when the phone lines are open.  I did chat the other day but it was awful.  Surprised and disappointed there’s no email option (apart from emailing the CEO!).

 

I’d seen some people dropping in on other threads, wondering if that’s a thing / how to get their attention.

Rowena B.
Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @milesch, thank you for reaching out to the Sonos community. I appreciate your detailed post describing the issue as well as the steps that you did and for providing the diagnostic report. Let me help you with this.

Upon checking, there’s a network-related issue in your Sonos system. This usually caused by network communication, either between Sonos devices and your router or between Sonos and the internet.  Also, your Sonos speakers are connecting to your WiFi extender and different WiFi channel.

Let me suggest the following steps to see if this would work for you. I know that you have performed some of the troubleshooting below when you contacted our chat support team, this is to isolate the issue.

1. Disconnect WiFi extenders from the power to ensure that your Sonos will connect to your main router.
2. Change the SSID or WiFi name of the extender. Sonos will only connect to the recognized network. If your main router and WiFi extenders have the same SSID, Sonos will connect to it.
3. If you want to extend your home WiFi to use Sonos in a wireless setup, we recommend using a WiFi mesh router to do so.
4. Wire one of your speakers to your router via ethernet cable. SonosNet is recommended to broadcast the same wireless signal to your other speakers.
5. If you have access to your router settings, below are the settings that need to be verified. You can contact your Interner Service Provider or router manufacturer for assistance.

- The auto channel must be set to Off
- Choose the best non-overlapping channel (1,6,11)
- Set channel bandwidth to 20MHz
- Both 2.4GHz and 5GHz should be enabled
- UPnP should be enabled
- 802.11 bands should be set to b/g/n
- Airtime Fairness should be disabled (if applicable)

After performing the steps above and you're still experiencing the same problem, you may continue working with us over the phone. You can contact our Sonos Customer Care support with your full network setup including the make and model of each device and for more in-depth troubleshooting steps to provide you the best option.

Please feel free to reach out in the future if you have any other questions.

You're always welcome here.
 

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M
Userlevel 3
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Hi @Rowena B.

 

Thanks for trying to troubleshoot, but unfortunately it seems like we’re not quite on the same page.  I’ll address your suggestions:

 

  1. Why do I need it to connect to the main router when the satellites should work exactly the same as the main router does? At any rate I actually had to move the main router today and it is right next to the Sonos, the issue still persists.
  2. I don’t use an extender, I use a mesh network and it has to be all the same SSID name. I can see in the router’s settings that the two Sonos speaker sets I’m trying to output together are all on the same router and are connected to the correct one (the main router, located closest to them).
  3. That is what I’m using.
  4. I said I can’t wire that, and tbh, I shouldn’t have to to make this work.
  5. I verified in my original post - I’m on channel 1 and it’s forced to that output.  I’ve verified this using a 3rd party app, Wi-Fi explorer.  I’ve followed all the other steps you mentioned - everything is set up correctly.

 

At the end of your post it sounds like I’m on my own for connecting to support via the phone, which I’ll try but I really I wish I could troubleshoot this correctly over chat or here.  What kind of “network related issue” are you seeing?  What does “Also, your Sonos speakers are connecting to your WiFi extender and different WiFi channel.” mean? 

 

Thank you,

Miles

Rowena B.
Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @milesch, thank you for your response. We appreciate you for answering all the questions and for providing your feedback. 

When I checked the diagnostic that you sent us, there's interference in your wireless network that may be caused by wireless congestion or low wireless range; an audio dropout was detected in your kitchen room due to sync error, and the other one is dropped room in your dining room which may cause the player not showing on the rooms menu for few seconds and comes back. These network-related issues caused the audio stops and skips in your Sonos system when playing music in a single room or in a group.

Thank you for clarifying that you're using a WiFi mesh network. I understand that you can't hardwire your speaker to your router, but after the troubleshooting that you have performed the issue was not resolved. In this case, we recommend the SonosNet setup. As per the Sonos systems requirements, if you're using a  WiFi mesh network, Sonos products must be wired to the primary mesh node in using a wired setup. 

We referred you to contact our Sonos Customer Care support to perform in-depth troubleshooting and understand your full network setup. It would be great if you can provide the make and model of your network devices (modem, router, network switches, i.e.) Our phone support has the tools to check what's going on in your system and to remotely access your device to address the issue. 

If you need help with any other information, please feel free to reach out. The Sonos community is always here to help.

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