Multi-room audio and your Wi-Fi

Speakers that have to find each other, not just the internet.

What this kit needs from a network

Dual-band Wi-Fi client that must stay on the same subnet as your phone and every other Sonos device.

Bands: Both bands, though older units in the same system can hold the whole system back.
How it's found on the network: Heavy. Grouping, control and playback all depend on speakers finding each other continuously.
Background discovery traffic: Critical. This is the single biggest cause of speakers disappearing.
Guest networks: Unsupported. Speakers on a guest network cannot be grouped or controlled.
Separate IoT network (VLAN): Splitting speakers from phones needs discovery traffic forwarded between the two networks. Most home routers cannot do it.

• Everything must be on one network name — main network, not guest.
• Add speakers one at a time and check each appears before moving on.
• Stand next to your router while you set it up, then move the gadget to where it lives.
• Put your phone on the 2.4 GHz network name for the setup, or use one name for both bands so the phone can follow.
• If your router splits bands into two names, turn the 5 GHz one off for five minutes rather than fighting it.
• Turn mobile data off on your phone during setup — some apps quietly use it and never find the gadget.

• Wired backhaul between mesh boxes helps enormously.
• A speaker that is fixed in place can cling to a distant mesh box — power-cycle it once the mesh is settled.

Sonos Arc 82/100
Excellent sound, but it leans heavily on the background chatter that keeps speakers grouped together.
Most common complaint: Speakers disappear from the app, especially after a new router or mesh system arrives.
Sonos Era 100 83/100
Newer Sonos radio, so it copes better with modern routers — but it still has to find the rest of the system.
Most common complaint: One speaker vanishes from the app in the evening, then comes back on its own.
Sonos Beam (Gen 2) 81/100
Sits under the TV, so it can usually be wired — and wiring it steadies the whole Sonos system.
Most common complaint: Surrounds or a sub drop out mid-film, or the room disappears while grouped.
Sonos Move 2 80/100
The portable one, so it crosses in and out of Wi-Fi range all day — which looks like a fault but isn't.
Most common complaint: Drops out of a group when carried to the garden, then won't rejoin indoors.

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