Soundbar+ with Sub+: why do I see a Bluesound WiFi access point in my network?
Answered
I've had the system for several days, and I'm very happy with it so far. I have infrequent sub-one-second dropouts. While investigating signal strength and possible interference, I discovered there is now a node advertising the SSID "2370 - DO NOT CONNECT", which has a MAC address belonging to Lenbrook (aka Bluesound). In fact, it's the address sequentially following the MAC of the soundbar.
It's identified as an access point by my WiFi sniffer. I would have thought all the Bluesound devices were clients of my network. Why is an access point needed? Since it broadcasts into the same band as my private network, can it cause interference? Are there security issues I should be aware of? The SSID shows up clearly in my laptop's scan list, and I'm sure it shows up to my neighbors as well.
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Official comment
Hi Gary, If you have a HT group (sub and / or rears) then this is to be expected
WiFi Direct Connect - PULSE SOUNDBAR+ has a dedicated secondary WiFi module to automatically connect with PULSE SUB+ (pairing) and compatible rear channels (creating a Home Theater Group) without using the local home network. WiFi Direct Connect provides a complete low-latency wireless, surround sound experience even in a noisy network.
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Same here, and experiencing the same audio dropouts. Dealing with it for 11 months now and no fix. Welcome to Bluesound.
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Thank you for the info, Sepi. This was how I originally thought it was supposed to work, but an "expert" who demo'ed for me at one of the stores I visited convinced me the subwoofer is Bluetooth-connected. The use of the word "pairing" muddies the water, since it's strongly associated with Bluetooth, and the advertising merely claims Sub+ is "wireless", which could mean BT.
That said, I haven't been able to find a single document in the knowledge base that makes it clear. I'm not even sure which WiFI standard is supported. I assume WiFi 5 (802.11 ac), but I can't find that in the knowledge base. It would be nice to have a short white paper on the network architecture.
Meanwhile, I still experience the dropouts Bodi mentions. My WiFi signal strength varies between -58 and -61 dBm, which is probably too low. I plan to boost that. I've removed the only obvious possible source of interference, a DECT phone using 1.9 GHz. Dropouts happen both over EARC from the TV and when the Soundbar+ is streaming on its own. Ethernet wiring is not an option, I don't want to drill holes and pull CAT6 in a two-story house. Powerlline might work, but I seriously doubt it.
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Hey Bluesound support, now that an increasing number of people are experiencing this audio dropout over earc issue (which you can replicate and promised to fix in a future release) why don't you start fixing it? Or do you really want customers to buy Powerlines (which can be completely unreliable too) ??? In the meantime I'll add Powerlines to my BS Bingo card.
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I don't know that my problem is EARC. I've gotten dropouts with the TV off, but the EARC cable still connected. I'll try a few hours of listening with the cable detached, just to see.
I do believe my WiFi signal strength is lower than it should be. Bluesound app classifies it as (barely) good, but for highest-quality streaming the knowledge base says I need -45 dBm (for 24/192).
If you have coax in your house, another wired option is MoCA. If you don't use the coax for TV or internet, and the cables are in good shape, the most recent standard supports up to a nominal 2.5 Gbps. That's probably not realistic, but anything reliable in the 1 Gbps neighborhood would be great. Coax is shielded, so not noisy like powerline. If you do use coax for TV/internet, or even if you don't, you may need to use splitters to set it all up. There are splitters and joiners that pass the very high frequencies involved with low loss, but it sounds a bit tricky. Still researching this.
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