Sonos Five Stereo Pair Only Detects Signal From Turntable First Time

J

Howdy,

Currently, I have an Audio Technica AT-LP40WN turntable (with integrated pre-amp) connected to a couple of Fives set up as a stereo pair (all up-to-date. 13.1, S2, Build 63289050). I’ve had them since November and until about a week ago, they were flawless. Now, when I try to play a record, it no longer autoplays. I have to either select the input in the app, unplug the line-in connection at the speaker and plug it back in, or turn the whole turntable off to get the audio to play.

Previously, I just had the needle drop and it started, regardless of whatever else I was streaming at the time. I have made no changes to the set up. I’m using the same connector cord, the turntable is set to line, I haven’t changed any hardware component, and the autoplay settings are the same (autoplay to the stereo pair only, no autoplay volume, source level 10, and low audio delay). 

Here’s a brief history of the issue:

  1. A couple weeks ago, again not correlated with any system changes because I had made none, I noticed that when I played a record, it would only come out of the right channel. I unplugged and replugged in the speakers and that solved the problem for a short bit. Autoplay worked each time at this point.
     
  2. The issue happened again so I thought maybe it was a cable issue. I replaced the cord, but the issue persisted. I tried unpairing and repairing the speakers, but that had mixed results. Sometimes it would fix the issue temporarily and then when I tried again, autoplay would stop working.
     
  3. Having no luck, I reset and set up the speakers again. Now autoplay won’t work at all unless I unplug things and then it will work one time. When the speakers are playing, I now reliably get both channels. 
     
  4. At this point I tried chat trouble shooting here on the support site, but they walked me through the basics and confirmed I’d need to call in (Case: 02922861)
     
  5. It seems issues are often driven by settings in the app being wrong, but I’ve confirmed many times they are the same as what I was using when it worked perfectly from November to May. I even reset the app, but that didn’t seem to have an effect. 
     
  6. To me, it’s starting to see like there’s an issue with the signal detection that triggers autoplay. Other posts have noted that external pre-amps have caused issues if they don’t turn off when not in use. I don’t think that would be an issue here as this exact turntable and built-in pre-amp were working perfectly fine with autoplay. 
     
  7. The only environmental variables that changed are having window unit air conditioner installed on one side of the room. It can be loud when turned on and working hard. This is the first time it’s been in the same room as this pair of Fives. Might it be possible that the needle is picking up background noise and Sonos is thinking there’s a constant signal? That would seem far fetched to me. Last summer I had the same set up with one Gen 2 Play:5 and never had any issues with the same A/C unit. I also changed the source level and testing on lower settings with no change to the issue. 

I’m at a loss. I’m not sure what other breakpoints there are in the signal detection. Could it be something wrong with the needle/tone arm/preamp in the table causing a persistent signal? The table is only a year old and when it does play it sounds a good as always. I also think maybe there was some change to the software that broke this feature, but I don’t know of any recent update that correlates with my issues.  

Not having autoplay functioning on the needle drop is a deal breaker for me so I’d either like to fix it or replace the system with something more reliable. I plan to call Sonos Support as soon as I can, but appreciate any help here, although looking at similar forum posts, it seems issues like this rarely have an easy fix. Most of them don’t have any solution if it’s not something obvious like a loose cable. 

If any official support folks are on, my most recent diagnostics are 1009096822 and 192581328.

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16 replies

G
Userlevel 7

Have you tried switching the position of the Fives and connecting the turntable to the line-in port of the other speaker?

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
J

Yes, I did. I forgot to mention that was one of the things the chat representative told me to do. It had no impact on the problem, unfortunately. 

All the more reason I feel this is a software problem and not a hardware problem. 

J

Update: After almost four hours on the phone with support, it’s having to be upgraded to the engineering team.

J

I think it is extremely unlikely to be a software fault. A hardware issue is rather more likely

I assume that the line in is using the speaker that is denoted asthe left speaker? When you swapped the speaker ro which the lone in connects did you swap which speaker was the left speaker?

What happens if you use a different device in the line in, such as a phone?

J

@John B It was originally connected to the right speaker as it was closer to the turntable and the cord was able to research. Again, it worked perfectly for 6 months in this set up. During support calls we switched to the left with no benefit. Even unpaired them and tried with each that way. Didn’t work. 

On the call today, something strange did happen: during one test, when I turned the motor on (e.g. turned the knob to select 33) it switched to the turntable in the app without the needle dropping. 

Another test, the needle was down and nothing was coming out and we turned autoplay from the room to “none” and back again and the audio faded in, faded out, was quiet for 10 seconds, and then played at full volume. 

All of these inconsistencies make it even more of a head scratcher. 

I think you’re right that would lend itself to hardware more than software, I haven’t changed anything about the turntable or cables since it was originally set up.  

Airgetlam

The challenge will be in determining where the fault is. It could be anywhere from the Sonos, to the cable, to the pre-amp, to the turntable. That’s the frustrating part about these kind of issues, lots of things to test in the process.

I do like the idea John floated about testing with a different device, which could nail it down as an issue with the Sonos, or suggest that it is elsewhere. I’m a huge fan of reducing variables.  

Bruce
J

@Airgetlam I did the test with both my turntable lined in and my computer. Same behavior. Computer used a different cable (y to y instead of y to red/white) so that was another variable, but, yes, I think we’re at the stages where it comes down to changing one thing and checking. That’s made even harder because there isn’t an event correlated with the issue. If I had changed something and it started happening, then we’d at least know where to start. 

J

Well, trying the computer in the line in was instructive, although not in a good way. 

Do you still have the Play:5 gen 2? Can you try that as an experiment?

Does it make a difference if you have a different autoplay room set?  Does it make any difference if you have other rooms grouped?

As Bruce said, it's a case of eliminating possibilities,  although I think I am clutching at straws.

J

@John B That’s a good idea. I could connect the turntable to the old Play:5 and see if I have the same issue. If I don’t, it’s the speaker. If I do, might be more likely to be something about the turntable

J

@John B That’s a good idea. I could connect the turntable to the old Play:5 and see if I have the same issue. If I don’t, it’s the speaker. If I do, might be more likely to be something about the turntable

Except that you had the same behaviour with the computer....

J

@John B I was trying to be hopeful, but you are correct. 

I did some more testing tonight. I brought down my old Play:5 generation 2. I hooked it up to the turntable with two different cords and got the same results: when I plugged it in for the first time, the autoplay would kick in when I turned the knob on the record player to 33 or 45 to initiate the platter motor. After that first time, it wouldn't kick it, not when the knob was turned or when the needle dropped. 

Again, it does seem like something about the signal that triggers autoplay. Is it power? Or is it audio? It seems like it's power right now and not audio because I can get it to trigger the first time after unplugging. It should be audio - and I thought it was for the 6 months it worked - because technically the turntable is on all the time. 

The other complicating factor in this is that I got the same behavior with a computer lined in. So it seems like we've eliminated the cord, the lined in device, and the speaker hardware. To me, that suggests a software problem. Were there any recent updates that would affect this?

Airgetlam

The odd thing here is that you’re the only one pointing out this concern, rather than dozens upon dozens from folk who also use the line in for their turntables.

I’m certainly gainsaying your issue, but if it were endemic to the software, I’d think there’d be many more threads than just this one. It makes me scratch my head. At least your testing has reduced the variables. I’d be calling Sonos at this point, they’d have greater insight after looking at a submitted diagnostic than either John or I would, since we don’t have access to that data. 

Bruce
J

@Airgetlam Totally. It does not seem to be too widespread or a known issue, but there are plenty of hits for similar issues, some threads you’ve commented on in the past. This is just a quick list, not exhaustive:

 

Maybe not a systemic issue, but certainly one that crops up enough to warrant a larger investigation from Sonos. 

I was on the phone with Sonos for 4 hours and got “upgraded” to engineering which means that now I’m emailed them back and forth and they’re giving me the same advice that didn’t work over the phone. 

I appreciate all the help y’all have been and totally understand that this is beyond most of us so mostly just documenting here for the next person who goes googling when this happens to them. 

Airgetlam

Seems like you’re on the right track, then. Hopefully, your specific situation will reveal something significant, even if it appears at first blush to be a corner case. 

Bruce
B

@jl_weber I am experiencing something very similar.

I have an AT-LP3 turntable with builtin pre-amp and a single Sonos Five (SW: S2, 13.1, build 63288230. HW: 1.30.1.5-2.2). Until a couple of weeks ago it would trigger correctly whenever I started a record (source level 2). Now it doesn’t. I have to power cycle the turntable to get it to play.

My first assumption was a software upgrade to the Five as I have not changed any config. Your post is now another straw in the wind that I’m on the right track.

I’m actually holding off buying a second Five as with autoplay they are great but without it they are not much use.

If you have had any updates on the cause I’d love to know.

B

*** quick update ***

After playing around with the system for the past hour, one thing I tried was lowering the source level to 1 (low) in the app. It seems that for me this kicked things back into life again as records would play when queued. Interestingly I’ve returned the source level setting to 2 (A/V Component) and the system continues to trigger.

I’ll continue to monitor the situation and if it fails again I’ll try work out the circumstances.

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