I recently bought a sonos beam 2.
Hdmi to tv and have been streaming amazon music via airplay. I have also loaded amazon music onto the sonos app but typically i have opted for airplay
Often I get a message saying it cant find the device and I have to reconnect. It’s irritating.
Anyone else have this problem?
Is wired Ethernet an option for you? Wireless connections are always a bit rubbish when streaming, which requires continuous, uninterrupted, data.
All devices on a wireless network share the same channel, and any can interrupt the stream. We’ve just changed the wireless Fire TV stick connected to our old plasma telly to a Fire TV Cube, connected by Ethernet cable. Despite only being about 10 feet from the router, we regularly had drop-outs when watching Prime video. After a drop-out, lip sync would go awry and we’d have to switch the whole lot off and on again to restore sync.
The incoming connection from the road to our the house is 120Mb/s, and the WiFi is capable of 100+ but it shared – equally – between half a dozen phones, a couple of laptops, half a dozen tablets, and everything else in the house with WiFi capability. The wired Ethernet connections are all Gigabit, so 10 times as fast as the WiFi.
Thanks Steve , was hoping to avoid across rug cables as we re in smaller digs.
Not sure how I could accomodate an ethernet connection to my home tablet or Macbook.
I should add that these dropouts todaywere when I was the only one home.
I find the WiFi speed often drops, even when we’re the only ones home and we’re both watching the same telly.
It could be phones or laptops doing updates, or interference from the neighbours’ WiFi (there are not many channels and we have houses on three sides), or a motorbike going past outside, or cosmic radiation (man!)
Early in Lockdown #1, we only had a 60Mb/s internet connection to the house. With all four of us at home and on Teams, we’d have been using perhaps 10Mb/s. The 100Mb WiFi still kept dropping out.
Wireless interference could be the problem. Also congestion on the available wireless channels due to near neighbours using them.
Cordless landline phones and similar wireless things unrelated to your network can sometimes cause interference. Also microwave ovens.
It might just be that your router isn’t working properly, in which case no amount of wireless boosters etc. will improve things.
Ethernet is the best option of all for steaming, if you can do it without the wires being too obtrusive.
We use one of those plugs that goes into a 13amp socket and I run one ethernet cable from that to a splitter and then cables from that to my Sky Q box, Firestick, Bluesound streamer, BluRay player etc. My home router is plugged into another 13amp socket upstairs, so the whole LAN is via the mains network. Not cheap, but trouble free.
Those PowerLAN things can put out *a lot* of interference. Mains wiring is not screened or really designed to carry high-speed data, so they use very high signal levels* to get over the lossess in the cabling. And they only really work with devices powered on the same ring main circuit.
If you, or your neighbours, have an AM or FM radio, or turntable and phono amp, you can often have problems wih “Morse code” interference.
(*) Unlike every other household communication system, there’s little in the way of legislation, so device manufacturers are free to chuck whatever crap they want down the mains.
I just had me a tiny nerdgasm.
Whenever Mrs F says “Speak dull to me”, she falls asleep.
Or a techulation
Junes, this has to be up there with your signature “email subject heading too long” and “can’t see comment box” pieces! Mr. Steve once again sets a high bar for replies!
Oh – and – no.
My role is to amuse you HP.Sonos supposed to be the dogs bollocks – it just works.
Well, it’s not.
I stream Amazon Music to my Beam from my phone and most of the time it works perfectly. Occasionally it stops halfway through an album. I then say “Alexa, old girl, would you mind awfully starting up from whence you left off?”
“Certainly, Master. Apologies for the inconvenience. Would you like me to massage your back?”
Maybe it is the Aussie accent but I have trouble making myself understood.
Have you tried saying, “Alexa, stop being such a snooty bastard”?
Moose, that would compound the problem you galah.
What’s that?
Oh about half-past three.
https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/blog/article/728/
Sonos Beam Streaming Drop Out. Wasn’t that the b-side of an early Adam and the Ants single?
I think it was a line from Rutger Hauer’s final speech in Blade Runner..
*restrained fingertip applause*
Sound more like a Bill Nelson b-side…
My son has a couple of Sonos Play in his room which are connected via wifi. Even though we have very good wifi across the house, he did have the occasional dropouts. We got a Sonos Boost unit and connected that to the router via ethernet and since then it’s been perfect – even though the Boost is sat right next to the router in another room and his Play are still via wifi in his room.
And just to add to this whole ethernet vs wifi thing, I have an Apple TV unit that is close by to the main router. It is more stable if I connect it via wifi than it I plug it in directly via ethernet. Still never figured out why.
We have the opposite experience…
We also have a Boost and have zero issues with Sonos (over too many speakers) but at £99 it seems an expensive way to solve an Airplay streaming issue.
I presume you’re in the same room when it says it can’t find the Beam?
Best way first might be to submit a diagnostic to Sonos next time it happens (do it within 10 mins and you can do it in the Sonos app) and then get them online for a Chat (you can do that later once you’ve sent the diagnostic). Even their first level support people clearly know what they are taking about and can look at exactly what’s happening when it drops out.
I’ve found that AirPlay can be a bit flaky – if I were you I’d use the Sonos app which is generally pretty reliable.
I’ve had Sonos forget my phone once or twice for no apparent reason.
Airplay, Apple, Crap
That’s a bit like saying my Bentley’s complete crap because the cup holder doesn’t work.
I had a Bentley Continental. Two-tone olive green and white. Jewelled headlights. INDEPENDENT front suspension and fingertip steering! And that’s not all – the boot opened to reveal a suitcase, and inside that (it opened like a real suitcase) was another tiny suitcase! Quite the best thing I’ve ever owned.
I agree my generalisation was uncalled for and unwarranted. My only defence is that whenever I use Airplay on my wife’s Apple devices, it’s crap.
Ah yes, my ‘a bit flaky’ is your ‘complete crap’…
Might be something to do with my irrational but impassioned hatred of everything Apple where irrational = why do so many people pay so much when virtually all the competition is miles cheaper and, most of the time, just as good? End of rant.
Because that is an opinion often not backed up by facts. You’re ignoring software often and not giving the quality of components fair due (which is reasonable if you don’t value the quality difference). It’s the same argument someone would make at someone who insists on buying cds still or having a separate Fiio when they have a phone. It’s not wrong. It’s just how people roll.
Not sure I understand what you are saying. Of course people, people what can afford it, can buy whatever they like. What I object to is thanks to amazing marketing (and being first in the marketplace with iPhone/ iPod devices) Apple has managed to persuade Ordinary Joes that if they want the “best” and be hip they have to pay extortionate amounts of money. There will always be people who actually need Apple Technology but most of us simply don’t.
An example – my wife, Royal College of Art and all that, was brought up on Macs. She loves them. She formerly used very expensive cameras but for the past few years almost exclusively relies on her iPhone. The camera is amazing as are her photographs. Me, like almost everybody I know, continue to take blurred photies, cutting off feet, focusing wrongly etc no matter what quality camera we use. We don’t need a £1000 phone to do that yet so many feel they have to. I have a Redmi phone which apart from giving all my secrets (?) to China is brilliant. I can take crap photies, talk to my grandson on WhatsApp, download my COVID certificates like I know what I’m doing. It cost €89.
I really didn’t mean to kick off an Apple argument…I’ve only just read your post, Lodes, because you were too thin on my phone. But I’m curious: obviously your phone does all you need it to, but I don’t really buy this ‘I’m a Luddite me, my photos are all shit’ stuff. Anybody can can avoid cutting people’s feet off it they put their mind to it. Doesn’t your wife’s experience (she is clearly a Lodestone of Rightness) make you just a little bit interested to see how it would be if you had a phone that cost more than 89 Euros? Have you tried hers? My iPhone 13 Pro (sheep alert) takes absolutely brilliant photos almost without any intervention from me.
Getting very thin down here, isn’t it? Yup, tried the iPhone 13 for photos, it’s brilliant. My point should have been, however, that I don’t need photos to be brilliant, just a memory like eating fish and chips with Auntie Doris.
It’s more than worth Mrs W spending an extra €900 cos she’s a proper photographer. I suspect for most people, it’s not
Somewhat to my surprise, Samsung sold 20% more phones last year than Apple, market share 18.8% and 14.8% respectively. Your phone is in Other, which makes up 33% of the total. So you’re not alone.
Basically, Apple products can be great value if you need (want) the functionality that they provide. They typically have great processors, great screens and bundled software that is excellent. You can get all of these things on other manufacturers products but at a similar price. A top of the range Samsung phone is a similar price to a top of the range Apple phone. They are, typically, similarly specced.
Your point of view on Apple (I suspect informed the element of smugness that comes from the marketing and users) would be similar to saying there is no point in buying a car with features and functions that you like becasue a cheap and cheerful one will get you from a to b as well.
There is nothing wrong with buying a low cost phone. Personally, I value a decent camera, fast processor, battery life, wireless charging, plug and play in my car and good perfromance across a number of apps. These things do not come with a cheap phone sadly.
What is this “streaming” thing of which you speak?
It’s the hay fever, so it is.
I used to have lots of issues with wireless streaming (logitech media server, hardware being Squeezeboxes and Apple TV), since upgrading to faster internet speeds those have gone away, I also live in a townhouse which has many close neighbours so there is the possibility of interference. I was having more issues with ethernet but I think that is because I was using a old ethernet switch and having also upgraded that I have not noticed many issues.
Streaming drop out is not uncommon among chaps of a certain age.
👏👏👏
Diddley here displaying his strange genius for the quease.
If you can connect one of your Sonos devices to your router by Ethernet then the Sonos creates its own, super stable WiFi mesh just for Sonos devices. If not practical, then a Sonos Boost will do the same. It really is the only way and I haven’t had a drop out in over 5 years set up that way.
Router is upstairs, everything else downstairs. Video streaming is no problem on TV, but Sonos drops out every few days. I alternate between wireless and plugging in an Ethernet cable from one of the afore-mentioned mains thingies. All works well for a few days in each scenario, then I swap to the alternative until the next drop-out. I’m wondering whether to get a Boost? Broadband is a consistent 385 Mb/sec.
So far i have had better results streaming via the sonos app rather than airplay.
You need to plug it into the router not an extender. Otherwise it’s using the same WiFi network as everything else in your house.
Same with me , downstairs phone point is on kitchen bench. Impractical for power board modem and router and a cable across the kitchen floor.
It should work wirelessly, though? Not really practical to plug a speaker into the router, as all speakers are downstairs and router is upstairs (Virgin fibre).
It does work wirelessly. Bit of you want it to work on its own Sonos mesh network, you need to attach either a Boost or one of the speakers to the router to create the Sonos mesh.
@junior-wells, apart from the irritations, how are you liking the sound? You haven’t mentioned that.
Pretty good. Classical and jazz thrives.
Havent really cranked it being in a townhouse at the mo.
The other night i had it on not that loud, i thought, and Mrs Wells complained about the bass upstairs which surprised/impressed me. Perhaps due to the upward direction of some speakers?
Will assess better when I am healthy as hearing is worse than normal currently.
I’ve occasionally resorted to cans for the same reason – which kind of defeats the point of the Sonos, doesn’t it?
Well I have a set of floor standers when up and about or in the kitchen area to get proper stereo positioning. The beam when on the couch as its under the tv and cans for solo late at night.
In an act of great restraint I packed away those monitor audio bookshelf speakers i had in the pic i sent you.