Help with Sonos

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Powerkiter

Original Poster:

207 posts

223 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
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My girlfriend has a Sonos system in her house. There is a zone bridge (model BR100) connected via an ethernet cable to the BT router. Then in the kitchen there are speakers in the ceiling, which are connected to an amp. In the various other rooms throughout the house there are standalone speakers.

The whole system has stopped working. The App says it cannot detect a Sonos system. I think it might be the zone bridge that has stopped working. I cannot see whether there are any lights on it. There are two small LEDs where the ethernet cable plugs in but neither of these are on/ flashing. I've tried changing the power cable to the zone bridge but still nothing. The only thing I think it can be is that the zone bridge has packed up.

Any advice ?

Can you still by the BR100 zone bridge, Amazon only have second hand ones now.

hyphen

26,262 posts

89 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
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You can now connect without a bridge if I remember correctly, So remove the bridge and do a wireless only setup to see if the Bridge was the issue?

Byff

4,427 posts

260 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
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Just checked my bridge - you should have a dull white light on the top under the Sonos badge, next to the sync button.

VEX

5,256 posts

245 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
quotequote all
I bought up some of the last Sonos Bridges in the uk, because I dont like the idea of not fitting them to a system, then they brought out the boost.

Sonos will connect without the need for anything hardwired to the router, but, it will then use the houses existing WiFi signals rather than setting up its own mesh network.

I dont like this idea because it brings the potential to clog up your standard network. The Bridge/Boost is designed to create its own mesh wifi network on which the sonos sits and the only comms with the house network is through the wired bridge/boost.

The Boost is also 5GHz/2.4Ghz as aposed to the Bridge is only 2.4Ghz, some of the later sonos devices are dual as well.

HTH

V.

Powerkiter

Original Poster:

207 posts

223 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
quotequote all
Thanks for the comments, I just need to check that it is not the power cable that is faulty but I think it is more likely the bridge itself.

The Sonos signal is very poor in her house and constantly dropping out, so upgrading to a Boost may improve things.

Rick101

6,959 posts

149 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
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Had similar problems this morning after an update.

Also changed ISP recently which could well have confused things and now got both 2.5 and 5 Ghz

Took a few attempts but the old switch off and on one by one did the trick.

troc

3,740 posts

174 months

Thursday 30th March 2017
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My phone sometimes can't see any of our Sonos devices when it's connected via 5GHz wifi - as soon as I switch the phone to the 2.4GHz band, it will see the Sonos stuff happily. Sonos only uses the 2.4 GHz band and only wants to talk to things on the same wifi network. Maybe something similar going on with your setup?

VEX

5,256 posts

245 months

Thursday 30th March 2017
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troc said:
My phone sometimes can't see any of our Sonos devices when it's connected via 5GHz wifi - as soon as I switch the phone to the 2.4GHz band, it will see the Sonos stuff happily. Sonos only uses the 2.4 GHz band and only wants to talk to things on the same wifi network. Maybe something similar going on with your setup?
Only depending on how you set it up, if you are Wifi only then you are correct, but with a wired device it shouldnt matter what network you are on as long as the is a physical connection from your network to sonos.

V.

menguin

3,762 posts

220 months

Thursday 30th March 2017
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The boost will definitely help. I had problems linking my Sonos speakers to create an extension to my bedroom at the back of an old Maltese townhouse (distance from router to bedroom ~50m through 4 thick walls) - I could just about get it to work but every now and then I'd lose one of the speakers and have to reconnect everything. Boost added and the system hasn't missed a beat. Can even connect my Android phone to the network in my bedroom and stream HD videos!

kingston12

5,473 posts

156 months

Thursday 30th March 2017
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VEX said:


The Boost is also 5GHz/2.4Ghz as aposed to the Bridge is only 2.4Ghz, some of the later sonos devices are dual as well.
Is that the case? I wish I had known that before getting rid of all of my Sonos kit because it wouldn't work on 2.4ghz!

At the time, the only way Sonos kit seemed to work with 5ghz was if you were using it in home cinema mode rather than music. I guess things have moved on.

VEX

5,256 posts

245 months

Thursday 30th March 2017
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It started of at 2.4ghz and then I think from Play:1 onwards they were 2.4 and 5. (from memory of what Sonos told me)

Anything from Play1 onwards or even 3 is dual band.

V.

troc

3,740 posts

174 months

Thursday 30th March 2017
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If Sonos is completely wireless then it uses your 2.4ghz wifi to communicate. If you have one device wired and are in 'boost' mode then you can connect however you like as it's making its own Sonos net.

kingston12

5,473 posts

156 months

Friday 31st March 2017
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troc said:
If Sonos is completely wireless then it uses your 2.4ghz wifi to communicate. If you have one device wired and are in 'boost' mode then you can connect however you like as it's making its own Sonos net.
Thanks. It wouldn't have worked for me anyway in that case. I tried it wireless, with the bridge and with the Boost and none of the configurations worked for me.

Strange, as I had always blamed it on the fact it was 2.4ghz. My replacement Chromecast Audios have been rock solid on 5ghz, but perhaps it was something else amiss.

Nickbrapp

5,277 posts

129 months

Sunday 2nd April 2017
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Sorry to hijack, but is a bridge a way of getting a smart tv to connect to a play 3?

I've been trying to connect my lg smart tv to my play 3 for a while, some say it's possible some say you need a network switch. Has anyone managed it?

I did ask before but I got no replies

VEX

5,256 posts

245 months

Monday 3rd April 2017
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Nickbrapp said:
Sorry to hijack, but is a bridge a way of getting a smart tv to connect to a play 3?

I've been trying to connect my lg smart tv to my play 3 for a while, some say it's possible some say you need a network switch. Has anyone managed it?

I did ask before but I got no replies
Can you describe more about what you are trying to do?

It isnt clear especially when you mention a network switch.

V.

Nickbrapp

5,277 posts

129 months

Monday 3rd April 2017
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VEX said:
Nickbrapp said:
Sorry to hijack, but is a bridge a way of getting a smart tv to connect to a play 3?

I've been trying to connect my lg smart tv to my play 3 for a while, some say it's possible some say you need a network switch. Has anyone managed it?

I did ask before but I got no replies
Can you describe more about what you are trying to do?

It isnt clear especially when you mention a network switch.

V.
Sorry about that.

I have a wifi enabled LG smart tv and would like to use my sonos play 3 to play sound from the tv. I know it's not possible with a direct link as there's no direct aux input on the play 3, however, I have seen online that people have managed to connect the play 3 to their smart TVs in other ways. It's this I would like to be able to do.

Some have managed to do it over wifi but I'm a novice with networking etc.

gizlaroc

17,251 posts

223 months

Monday 3rd April 2017
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The problem you have with Sonos is there is a 70ms delay with the Audio so it can sync music in different rooms.
So sound will be out of sync with the picture.

You can turn off compression in the advanced settings which improves it slightly, but this may only be on devices with an aux input, I'm not sure I only have connects and a play 5.