Question

Help please - Upgrading Connect:Amps

D
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Hi

 

i have three old connect amps - one connected to in-ceiling speakers in the kitchen, one connected to in-ceiling speakers in the dining room and the third connected to outdoor speakers on my back deck. 
 

I am thinking that the best solution for the indoor zones is just to replace the connect amps and speakers with a couple of Ones or OneSLs. It doesn’t seem to me that I would be missing anything that I currently have, except that I would need to keep the speakers somewhere they could be plugged into power outlets.  Does this sound correct?

 

my bigger question is with the outdoor speakers. Ideally I would like to keep the speakers I have. I am not sure if I need the port or the Amp to do this.  Can anyone advise?

 

thanks

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16 replies

Dave
Userlevel 6
Badge +16

Hi @Dusty262 

Welcome to the sonos community, I hope I can help

The Connect Amp is now replaced with the Sonos Amp which is an updated version of what you have, so wiring would be easy as just replacing with newer version. If you go for Ones and want stereo then you need 4 Ones for indoors and Sonos Amp for outdoor speakers - personally I would just replace all three connect amps.

Sonos are doing an upgrade option so it might be worth you looking at this before you buy, see https://www.sonos.com/en-gb/tradeup

 

Dave

Sonos Boost - PlayBar with Surround Sound Play 1's (Living Room) - Stereo Pair Play 1's (Dining Room) - Stereo Pair Play 1's (Kitchen) - Amp with two Canton 845 ceiling speakers (Bathroom) - Sonos Move - HomePod Mini x1
106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

Which leaves the question why you would want to replace devices that are still working. Doe this have anything to do with the confuison about legacy devices? If so, my this wil clarify things: https://support.sonos.com/s/article/4786?language=en_US&utm_source=ENsonoscommunity

D
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Thanks so much Dave for the response.  It sounds like the Amp is what I need to continue to use my existing speakers. I’m have been having some problems with one set of indoor speakers anyway so was leaning towards replacing that connect amp with a set of ones as that would give me the added bonus of being able to move them to a different room if I wanted (at least that is my understanding). 
 

thanks also for the response 106rallye. In fact my current connect amps are not working, but that’s my own fault. I recently switched  my home internet to Fibe, which means that I no longer have wired internet  connections. They will install some if you specifically  ask for them, but I wasn’t thinking about the Sonos when I had the installation done. It was only after I tried to use the Sonos and couldn’t get it to work that I realized that one had always been connected to the modem. So now I have to either upgrade my connects or to pay my internet company to come back and install a wired connection. I’m assuming that I will have to upgrade at some point, so maybe I am better off doing it now - unless there is a way of connecting over wifi?  The app can’t connect to my connects at all....

Airgetlam

You could move one of the connect amps temporarily (if possible) and wire it to your router, without connecting the speakers to it. That would give you access to all of them in order to change the Wi-Fi signal they are looking for. Or, you could get a a BOOST, or a Sonos One that would serve the same purpose. 

Bruce
D
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Bruce,

 

it doesn’t appear that I can wire one of then into my router. However, are you saying that if I get a Sonos One I might be able to connect it to my wifi and then use my existing connect amps?  I hadn’t thought of that, but if it works that would be great!  Since I was considering getting a One anyway, if I got that first I could at least try.  Thanks so much for the suggestion!  I assume that a One SL would do the same thing?

Airgetlam

Sure would. Pretty much every Sonos product creates the SonosNet signal when wired to the router with an Ethernet cable.

The Sonos One, in all its guises, is a great speaker, too ;)

Bruce
D
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Oh, wait. Would I have to wire the one tomy router with an Ethernet cable? 

Airgetlam

In order to use SonosNet, yes. I’m confused now about what you’re trying to do, as your initial post is about upgrading, and we seem to have ended up talking about how your system connects to your LAN. 

Bruce
J

@Dusty262. Like Bruce, I am confused, and I think you may be too. Switching to fibre internet should have no impact on how your Sonos works. What do you mean by 'wired internet connections'? Do you mean Ethernet cables run internally in your house? If so, those are not needed for Sonos.

I fear that you are misunderstanding some fundamentals and are therefore at risk of making some expensive mistakes. 

D
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I’m sorry- I’m being confusing. I really appreciate your help!  
 

This post was initially about upgrading because I can not get my existing Sonos connects to work, and i  thought to fix it would require an expensive service call to my internet provider, and if that is the case I would rather spend that money on upgrading old equipment vs getting the old equipment working. 
 

I think my problem is that I no can no longer physically wire anything into my internet. My wifi works fine, but I can’t plug Ethernet cable into it. I thought the new Sonos  equipment could connect over wifi, but now I’m not sure. If it can connect over wifi, I’m wondering if I can connect my old Sonos connects through a new One, if that makes any sense

J

You can connect your Connect:Amps to your WiFi. It's late here and I'm off to bed. I'll respond in the morning but I expect someone will have got you on the right path before then.

Airgetlam

I’m here every couple of hours, for at least 6 more hours or so, it’s still early is in Texas 🙂 pretty sure John B is in the UK somewhere. I suppose I could actually click on his handle and confirm.…

So, let’s break this down, and John or you can jump in and gently correct me if I mess it completely up.

  1. the only issue you have right now is that your current CONNECT:AMPs are not connecting to your Wi-Fi. 
     
  2. you were going to upgrade to the Sonos Amps under the assumption that they would connect to your Wi-Fi.

If that’s the case, first, don’t….no need to upgrade those CONNECT:AMPs, unless you’re really wanting to spend some money. I’m sure the Sonos guys are groaning about the lost revenue ;) There is no reason why we can’t your current equipment reconnected to your Wi-Fi. On the other hand, the new Amps look better, and have more power….but we’re still going to need to fix the connection problem either way.

The question I have is you say you can’t plug an Ethernet cable in to your router. Can you explain this a bit more? Are you just out of open ports, or does the router itself not have any ports on it? What make and model is your router? If you’re out of open ports, do you have a device that can be disconnected for half an hour, like a printer? In order to get your current system to reconnect , we need to be able to have the Sonos system to be seen on your network. Once that happens, we can make some adjustments, then disconnect them so that they just connect to your Wi-Fi, and you can plug back in whatever device you temporarily disconnected.

And attacking this from another perspective, did your Sonos used to connect to your Wi-Fi signal? If so, you could conceivably just change the SSID and password from the new version that was set up to the old ones, and assuming your Wi-Fi is still sending about a 2.4Ghz channel, the Sonos would just reconnect, because that’s the Wi-Fi name and password that they’re currently still trying to connect to.

Let us up know which way you’d prefer to go….even if it’s none of the options I’ve presented. There’s a lot of intelligent folks who frequent this forum, and most of them are smarter than me. Someone will step in and this issue can be resolved. Hang tough ;)

Bruce
J

I would echo everything Bruce has said - in particular the fact that the AMP and the Sonos One have the same connection options as the Connect:Amp.  The problem is not at all what you think it is.

It looks very likely that you just haven’t gone through the process needed for Sonos following any change of router.  So please would do the following, starting with all three C:As disconnected from power. If you think that any of the steps suggested is impossible for your setup, please post back before you start.  One specific question - why do you say you can no longer connect your C:As to the router by Ethernet?  Is the new router in a different location?  Does it not have Ethernet ports?

  1. On one of the C:As, disconnect the speaker wires from the terminals so that you can mover that C:A. (Best to use the one with dodgy speakers.)
  2. Take the C:A and place if 2-3 feet from your router and connect it by Ethernet to an Ethernet port on your router. 
  3. Power on the C:A.  Open your Sonos app.  Hopefully the app wil find the system, but you will need to update both your controller app and the system.  If in doubt, go to Settings, System, System Updates and tap ‘Check for Updates’.  You should be able to see your C;A in the controller
  4. When the update has finished, power on your other C:As.  They should appear in the controller.  You will have to run the system update again.
  5. Now try to play music through one of the C:As that is still connected to its speakers.

Post back to let us know whether this has worked so far, so that we can explain next steps or do further troubleshooting. 

D
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First of all, thank you everyone for the help!  I truly do appreciate it, and sorry for being clueless!  
 

Thanks to you I think I am good (with just 1 dud connect, and not 3). When I said I could not connect directly to my router, it was because the router was mounted on the wall (by the installer) and I could not find any Ethernet ports.  I researched online and discovered that they are on the back, so not accessible sine it was mounted on the wall.  So I was able to remove the router from the wall and found the Ethernet ports.  Then I took the connect that had been connected to the dodgy speakers to the router and tried to go through the ‘new router’ process with no luck.  I then tried moving one of my other connects to the router and finally success.  I updated the system and the remaining two are now working perfectly. I then tried to add the third connect to the system but it won’t connect and I get an error code (1001).  It appears that there is something wrong with this one connect.  At least the other two are working, and it is possible (maybe even probable) that my previous problems were with the connect itself and not the speakers.  I plan on connecting one of the working connects to those speakers to see what happens.

 

thanks again everyone!

J

That's great. Well done for getting it sorted.

Airgetlam

Check the error codes here: error codes

You may be at the point where it makes sense to contact Sonos Support directly to discuss it.

I usually suggest the phone folks, they have more tools available because they're on the phone with you, but they are available Monday through Friday during business hours. The Twitter support folks are available 24/7. 

Bruce
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