cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Replies are disabled for this topic. Start a new one or visit our Help Center.

Speakers groups intermittent

Cyclone
Community Member

Hi,
Individually my speakers all work fine, but very few of my groups work well.  I've just created a new one as an experiment, including only 3 speakers, and playing from desktop spotify the music is cutting in and out for seconds at a time.

I thought it might be specific to my original google home, but I've removed it and the group is still stuttering.

The group in question now contains a MuSo Qb, chromecast audio and a JBL playlist.  But problems are not restricted to this group.

The only group that seems to work reliably is just 2 speakers, chromecast audio + Mu-so Qb.

 

Any ideas?

18 REPLIES 18

dancerj
Community Member

I have this issue as well. For the last couple weeks.

Jeran
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey there,

I apologize about the late response, thank you for being patient! Were you able to fix that speaker group issue? If not, I'd be happy to help out, let me just ask you some questions about what's happening:

  • When did this issue start happening?
  • What version of Google Home are you running?
  • Does this issue only happen with the desktop version of Spotify?
  • What troubleshooting steps have you already tried?

I look forward to your response, and if you have any other questions or concerns for me, please let me know!

Best regards,
Jeran
 

dancerj
Community Member
It started happening about a month ago for me.
Version 2.43.111
I only use the speakers via voice command not via the app. It happens with Pandora, Google Play Music and NPR.
Rebooting them.

Cyclone
Community Member

Hi,
It's still happening, and it seems to happen the most when I use a group with my original google home (the gen 1 tall version) in the group.
It's been happening for a while, months, I can't say for exactly how long, sorry.

Version of google home on my phone?  Not sure how to check, but also not sure why it would matter, the problem occurs using voice command, spotify, or however I do the stream.

The gen 1 google home is running

Firmware 264660

Cast firmware 1.56.264660

It happens with all sources of audio, this can be "hey google play guns and roses to downstairs", spotify on my phone, spotify on my desktop...  I don't think I have any more sources than that to try.

Troubleshooting

Rebooting all routers and all google devices (I've had an electrician doing work, so the entire house was powered off).

Different smaller groups - these seem to work best when I don't include that gen 1 device.

That's it I think...

dancerj
Community Member
It started happening about a month ago for me.
Version 2.43.111
I only use the speakers via voice command not via the app. It happens with Pandora, Google Play Music and NPR.
Rebooting them.

Jeran
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Thank you for the response! Let me get some more details about your issue, I'm taking this response from a previous thread on a similar issue:
 

  • How far is your Google Home device from the router?
  • How many devices are in the group?
  • Is it happening to the same device all the time?
  • What is the firmware version of the device having this issue?

Here are the things that you can do that may help you fix the issue.

  • Make sure that your devices are receiving enough signal from your network. The recommended distance is within 15-20 ft. away.
  • If you are using a dual-band router, try to connect the devices on other networks - like if you are connected to 5.0 GHz, you can switch it to 2.4 GHz to check for better signal. Remember: 2.4 GHz band provides coverage at a longer range but transmits data at slower speeds. The 5.0 GHz band provides less coverage but transmits data at faster speeds.
  • If you have multiple Google Home and Chromecast devices, try to create a group for 2 devices only and check if you have the same issue. This will help us eliminate the network issue.

I hope that helps you out, I look forward to your response! If you had any other questions or concerns, please let me know.

 

Thank you,

Jeran

Cyclone
Community Member

The gen 1 device is about 12 feet from the router, in a spot with excellent coverage, I have a mesh and I know that there are no devices that don't have a strong signal.

Any group of 3 or over seems to suffer the problem, but worst with the gen 1 device in them.

It's fairly consistent, you might get a group to work maybe 1 time in 10, or for a few seconds, but you couldn't listen to music like that.

You can't specify that all devices sit within a 5ft wide slice 15 to 20 feet from the router, not unless you imagine that houses are circular with the router sat in the exact centre...  The devices are where the devices need to be, the signal is good in these locations.

2 devices seems to work a lot better, the larger the group the worse it is!

 

Thanks

Steve

Jeran
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey Steve,

 

Go ahead and give these steps a try and let me know if that helps the issue:

  • Make sure the mobile device is connected to the same Wi-Fi or linked to the same account as the Chromecast device.

  • Cast music to the group that plays out of sync.
  • Stand between the out-of-sync speakers (or as close to in between as you can) and adjust their volume levels, so you hear them both play at about the same level.
  • Open the Google Home app.
  • On the home screen, tap the Chromecast Audio device where you want to correct group playback delay.
  • Under Device features, tap Audio > Group delay correction.
  • Move the slider to the left or right until the audio sound is in sync. 

A speaker’s group delay correction setting applies to all the groups that the speaker is a part of. If you connect your Chromecast Audio to another speaker, the previous group delay correction setting might be incorrect. Make sure to reset it to 0 delay again and listen to check if additional correction is required.

 

This is usually done for correcting speaker delays, but it may also help in this scenario, let me know if this helps out!

 

Best regards,

Jeran

Cyclone
Community Member

Sorry, it's not that devices are playing with a delay.
Typically the groups that don't work, play intermittently or just don't play at all.

Adjusting the audio delay isn't going to help me at all 😞

Jeran
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey there Cyclone,

 

I'm real sorry about the late response on this, but I talked with the engineering department about your issue and this is what they told me. It seems like this is an issue with interference since the issue is intermittent. Grouping your Chromecast Audio with another speaker means that this is not specific with your Chromecast Audio but rather with the network. I'd suggest checking the Wi-Fi signals in your vicinity. If there are too many devices emitting on a specific channel, changing the channels which your network uses may solve the issue.

 

Let me know if that helps out!

 

Best regards,

Jeran

Cyclone
Community Member

Honestly it doesn't seem likely to be a wifi issue.
The original google home is about 12 feet from the router, the signal is strong and consistent.
Chromecast audio's much further away work without problem when not grouped.

Jeran
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

I doubled-checked with a higher tier of support and we do believe that the Wi-Fi channels is still likely the culprit. Since we're working with multiple Bluetooth devices and Bluetooth uses the 2.4 GHz band, so it might cause interference.  We still suggest checking the Wi-Fi signals to see if there are too many devices emitting on a specific channel and changing the channels which your network uses.

 

However, if you'd prefer, you can always directly contact Google via phone if you'd like to talk with someone about this issue, since I know this back-and-forth via the community forum is pretty slow.

 

Best regards,

Jeran

Cyclone
Community Member

Now I'm very confused, what has bluetooth got to do with it?  We're not talking about any devices actively using bluetooth??? 
My wifi is already tuned, I've made sure to choose the most uncongested channel, and it's pretty good, I'm a fair distance from my neighbours so I don't suffer a lot of wifi congestion.

 

Thanks for the effort, but I feel like the focus on the wifi is a real mistake, the problems seem to be centred on the 1st gen google home device, groups without that specific device work much more reliably.

Jeran
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

I'm sorry for the confusion on this, I've been going back and forth with a higher tier of support on this issue.

 

At this point, you may need a replacement if it keeps dropping on only this specific functionality, since you have already narrowed down the issue only occurs if the speaker group contains your Gen 1 Google Home speaker. I'd highly recommend that you contact support with the link I provided above for this particular issue.

 

Best regards,

Jeran

Jeran
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey there,

Did you have any more questions or need any additional help? If not, I'll go ahead and lock up this thread in 24 hours.

Just checking up,
Jeran
 

Cyclone
Community Member

Sorry, email notifications were going into spam, only just spotted them.  Let me review.

Jeran
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey there,

Did you have any more questions or need any additional help? If not, I'll go ahead and lock up this thread in 24 hours.

Just checking up,
Jeran
 

Jeran
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey there!

We haven't heard back from Cyclone, and it's been a few days, so I'm locking the thread. As always, feel free to make a new thread if you have any more questions or concerns.

Have a good one!

Best regards,
Jeran