Sonos S1

[Takemeaway]

Almost unusable these days in spite of an up to date iPhone and fast WiFi.

Can rarely connect to it and when I do, it spools and then fails to connect again.

Is there any way to rescue it?

I’ve a play 5, a sub and several other play 1s and a 3 dotted around the house.

When it does work, I still enjoy the way it sounds.

[wombleh]

Could try factory reset on it, think power on whole holding play until lights flash, then re-add it via the app. I’ve a couple of the original play 1 and they still work, only issue is lack of support for SMBv2 but the rest still behaves.

[rdjohn]

You have hit my ultimate exposed nerve. In my home in Spain I have a Play 5, Gen 1 on the roof, its a really good speaker, I am unable to dump stuff just because something newer is available.

Downstairs, I have an Arc and Play-1 on Sonos 2 and guess what. Every time I want to play something on the roof Sonos 1 asks If I want to upgrade to S2. A line of code would fix this issue, but no, Sonos refuse to do it.

I am moving home in the UK and will buy a new system there. It will not be a Sonos system! I doubt that my iPad could differentiate between the two similar S2 systems in different locations, anyway.

Like the OP I cannot switch between Radio 2 and Apple Music without ages spent watching it search with a common result being “sonos cannot connect” So I have to start again by closing the app.

What started as a superb bit of kit is now a great waste of my time and patience.

Yes, I have reinstalled the Apps, many times. No, it seems to make little, or no difference. I have spent hours chatting with their staff, I know bits of their manual more than they do, I have sent them diagnostics etc. etc.

But they will not accept that there is an easy fix by writing a line of code to the effect of -
If hardware is not compatible with S2, then do not offer upgrade.

Finally, I would add that while the Arc is pretty good, it really needs a base unit and rear speakers, so why bother a 5.1 system is as good, or probably better.

Edited by rdjohn on Sunday 18th February 09:11

[Takemeaway]

rdjohn said:

You have hit my ultimate exposed nerve. In my home in Spain I have a Play 5, Gen 1 on the roof, its a really good speaker, I am unable to dump stuff just because something newer is available.

Downstairs, I have an Arc and Play-1 on Sonos 2 and guess what. Every time I want to play something on the roof Sonos 1 asks If I want to upgrade to S2. A line of code would fix this issue, but no, Sonos refuse to do it.

I am moving home in the UK and will buy a new system there. It will not be a Sonos system! I doubt that my iPad could differentiate between the two similar S2 systems in different locations, anyway.

Like the OP I cannot switch between Radio 2 and Apple Music without ages spent watching it search with a common result being “sonos cannot connect” So I have to start again by closing the app.

What started as a superb bit of kit is now a great waste of my time and patience.

Yes, I have reinstalled the Apps, many times. No, it seems to make little, or no difference. I have spent hours chatting with their staff, I know bits of their manual more than they do, I have sent them diagnostics etc. etc.

But they will not accept that there is an easy fix by writing a line of code to the effect of -
If hardware is not compatible with S2, then do not offer upgrade.

Finally, I would add that while the Arc is pretty good, it really needs a base unit and rear speakers, so why bother a 5.1 system is as good, or probably better.

Edited by rdjohn on Sunday 18th February 09:11

The frustration for me is the inconsistency.

Sometimes it works and other times it just refuses to find any speakers in spite of rebooting the app and also the phone. And then shortly after it will work again whithout rhyme or reason.

Does it contain cookies? Will a reboot / reinstall work or am I just wasting my time

[dapprman]

I've had this happen once and had to go for the factory reset route on everything, was a right PITA. I do occasionally have a play back device, normally the ZP120 in my bedroom, drop from one app but not from another, which is a right PITA. Sometimes it just takes time to see it once more (never an app stop/restart), sometimes I have to start playing something on it then do an app stop/start.

[gifdy]

I have the same issue. I think it's to do with different bands on my router. My phone connects to 5GHz when close to the router, the Sonos is on 2.4GHz so is not always recognised.

If I walk away from the router, it forces my phone onto 2.4Ghz and all is good.

[juggsy]

I’ve very recently switched over to S2 after selling my last S1 device (Gen 1 Play 5). I miss S1, for some reason S2 is more unstable for me, getting delays between adjusting a track or volume and a speaker responding, or tracks not playing. S1 in comparison worked flawlessly.

[poppopbangbang]

rdjohn said:

What started as a superb bit of kit is now a great waste of my time and patience.

Absolutely agree, which is why all my S1 Sonus stuff went in the skip when it was due replacement (in reality most of it still "worked" but the software situation made in no longer viable) and there is now no Sonus stuff in the house, office or workshop. What started as something incredibly slick which just worked now needs an account and a constant level of messing about with.

I'm sure many will say it works great for them and it's not a problem, but what I have now works like Sonos used to!

[Miserablegit]

My s1 kit was ring-fenced when Sonos starting disabling controllers. It still works fine with the Sonos controllers but with some limitations but I can still access Apple Music/tidal/Amazon music using an iPad and the old Sonos software.

I, too, moved away from sonos when expanding the system I had.

[rdjohn]

juggsy said:

I’ve very recently switched over to S2 after selling my last S1 device (Gen 1 Play 5). I miss S1, for some reason S2 is more unstable for me, getting delays between adjusting a track or volume and a speaker responding, or tracks not playing. S1 in comparison worked flawlessly.

I presume every action has to be routed through their server rather than directly across the room.

With the Arc, I much prefer to use the Apple or BBC Sounds Apps and bluetooth, its much quicker.

The Apps are much more versatile as well, with Apple Music, you cannot create a Station from a track in your library, in Sounds, you cant easily rewind in a live broadcast.

gifdy - you need to block 5G on your phone. There is only one way and that is the Sonos way

poppopbangbang - what have you moved to?

[NDA]

I was trying to help a mate last week who recently changed his router and broadband - from BT to Sky.

His Sonos system is refusing to work... I can get the onboarding bit working, but it fails to ultimately connect.

I suspect hardwiring one of the components temporarily might solve it, otherwise a full reset.

[bigandclever]

NDA said:

I was trying to help a mate last week who recently changed his router and broadband - from BT to Sky.

His Sonos system is refusing to work... I can get the onboarding bit working, but it fails to ultimately connect.

I suspect hardwiring one of the components temporarily might solve it, otherwise a full reset.

(Assumptions on my part) If it's S1 kit and there's more than one speaker you have to wire at least one of them to the new router.

I feel everybody's pain having a mix of S1 and S2 kit.

[NDA]

bigandclever said:

(Assumptions on my part) If it's S1 kit and there's more than one speaker you have to wire at least one of them to the new router.

I feel everybody's pain having a mix of S1 and S2 kit.

Yes, I think you're right... just wired for the set up though?

[bigandclever]

NDA said:

Yes, I think you're right... just wired for the set up though?

I reckon, along with a million reboots..

https://support.sonos.com/en-gb/article/connect-so...

[wombleh]

Or change the wifi SSID + passphrase to be the same as the old one.

[NDA]

wombleh said:

Or change the wifi SSID + passphrase to be the same as the old one.

Ah! I hadn't thought of that.... I will pass that on. Thanks.

[Griffith4ever]

poppopbangbang said:

rdjohn said:

What started as a superb bit of kit is now a great waste of my time and patience.

Absolutely agree, which is why all my S1 Sonus stuff went in the skip when it was due replacement (in reality most of it still "worked" but the software situation made in no longer viable) and there is now no Sonus stuff in the house, office or workshop. What started as something incredibly slick which just worked now needs an account and a constant level of messing about with.

I'm sure many will say it works great for them and it's not a problem, but what I have now works like Sonos used to!

You are not alone. What went from a system that you could hand the well-designed controller round at a BBQ where people added songs to the queue (via browsing, NOT searching), it changed to one where people log on with their phones and take over. Sonos wars. That and the S2 thing. I just have S1 kit and its all LAN cabled apart from one unit. They just get used as amps now TBH - I don't stream from my library any more. They lost me when they forced the S2 move.

Edited by Griffith4ever on Monday 19th February 12:40

[Mars]

I'm on S2 but I'm deeply suspicious of Sonos as a company now. I have quite a few products which are certainly not from their most-recent offerings which makes me nervous that my kit will be next for the chop. I just won't buy any more now I can see what they do once they force an upgrade on people.

I would have thought that the way they bricked products originally is illegal in Europe.

The S1 app was far better to navigate than S2, and the fact that guests on my WiFi can just force their music on the house is terrible. There should be account holder/guest privileges.

[NDA]

Mars said:

I would have thought that the way they bricked products originally is illegal in Europe.

I would never buy another Sonos product or recommend them* ever again because of how they threatened to brick people's systems a while back. I have Sonos generation one products in my kitchen and dining room - they work 90% of the time and when they stop working I'll buy something else. I have 3 zone amps (whatever they're called) that I no longer use gathering dust. I was heavily invested in Sonos when they first appeared and was genuinely disgusted at their treatment of their customers. Awful company.

• I did suggest Sonos on another thread last week to someone who wanted a compact streaming speaker for their kitchen.

[MrCheese]

Once the whole S1 to S2 thing kicked off and made my huge investment complicated and partially functional I sold the whole lot and started buying used Apple HomePod minis. Yes, the sound quality isn't as good but it isn't bad and they can be powered over ethernet...the cost is so low that I can bin the lot in future and it won't be painful. Sonos just marked themselves out as a company that charges a huge premium and will force you to upgrade perfectly serviceable hardware at a time of their choosing...