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New Amp only operates on 5 Ghz frequency? Connections issues with my Subwoofer

  • 21 February 2020
  • 5 replies
  • 423 views
R

I had a Sonos system made up of 9 connect amps in a central rack powering ceiling speakers in different rooms. 3 of those rooms also have subwoofers. Everything worked flawlessly for 5 years and then I stupidly made the decision to upgrade 4 of those Connect Amps to the new Amp……

3 of those “Amp upgrades” were in rooms which has a subwoofer. Unfortunately now 2 of the subwoofers no longer work as no sound comes out of them. They show up on my system but when I play something there is no sound and the room status in the Settings>System menu switches from showing Living Room (+Sub) to Living Room (+?). 

I have been on the phone to Sonos Support for nearly an hour. In a nutshell the subwoofers no longer work as they are too far away from the Amps in the rack. The new Sonos Amp only operates at 5Ghz frequency and hence its range to connect to the subwoofer is much more limited than the old Connect Amp that operated at 2.4Ghz.

The Sonos support professional was pleasant enough but the only solutions he could offer were:

  1. Move the subwoofers closer to the rack where the Amps are - not feasible as I will be moving them out of the rooms they are supposed to be in
  2. Hard wire the subwoofer directly in the Amp or try to hard wire into my internet router - again not feasible for me and would involve considerable damage running a cable along the length of the house. 

So I guess a word of warning to anyone considering upgrading to the new amps. Connection distance to other devices is much reduced. A bit silly given these are intended to be rack installed. 

Im frankly staggered that my upgrade has actually taken away much of my listening pleasure. Sonos please get this corrected pr provide another solution. 

My case number if 015636636. 

Thank you. 

 

 

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Best answer by ratty 21 February 2020, 14:41

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5 replies

ratty

An interesting problem. As a Home Theatre player the Amp will be trying to use 5GHz to its bonded satellites, of which the Sub is one.

As they’re rack mounted presumably the Amps are wired. If you disable the radio (confusingly labelled “WiFi”) via the controller the Amp’s 5GHz will also be suppressed. Its remote Sub would then try to connect via other means, and should hopefully find a 2.4GHz connection. Whether it will be sufficiently stable will depend on local conditions. Worth a try.

Out of interest, was there any reason for choosing to use 3 of the Amps on rooms that have a Sub, as opposed to the 6 rooms which don’t?

R

Hi Ratty - i’ll try that and see if it works and revert. But I was told it wont work as the new Amp does not have the hardware capability to operate at 2.4Ghz…..seems like a huge miss if that is the case. 

The rooms with the subwoofers are either the largest room in the house (living room) or the rooms which are used the most. So i decided to upgrade those first. 

ratty

The Amp has a dual-band radio. However it will want to use 5GHz to its satellites, as it expects them to be local.

In the absence of a 5GHz connection I’m pretty sure the Sub will latch onto the best 2.4GHz SonosNet connection it can find. It might be one of the Connect:Amps. How well this performs will be a case of YMMV, as the connection to the Amp won’t follow the optimal direct route.

Z

Same problem. I purchased 12 Sonos Amps and 12 Sonos Subs. Amps were installed in media closet with wired in-ceiling speakers throughout home. Unfortunately subs must be within 20 feet  of the amp itself. With means subs will only work within 20ft of the media closet. This renders almost all sub useless. Verified with Sonos Support that there is no work around. I am so.... disappointed!  Besides that, the system was amazing.  Would work great for single room application. Hopefully, Sonos builds a booster SONOSnet 5Ghz.

M
Userlevel 3
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While not an immediate solution, I posted a Feature Request that would allow a Sub to be standalone and not require bonding to the Amp.  If this would help you, please like and respond to this post:

 

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