Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Sooloos and Netgear Orbi issues

If you have are considering a Netgear Orbi please check this out. They work really well but you might need to work around some issues.

You may have seen in other thread that I have been having issues getting Sooloos to keep running after I moved from a Apple wireless network to a newer faster Netgear Orbi set-up.

I won't into too much detail but I would be glad to answer any questions I might leave on the table.

I use Roon in my 2-channel room and Sooloos via MC200 and a MS200 o send music to my whole house system. I was happy with the set-up then for some reason I lost the ability find either endpoint on my system. I also lost the ability to get Control:Mac running on a older laptop using OSX Sierra (as we know the newer versions of OSX will not be supported ).

I assumed if I purchased a Windows PC I could get things back on track. Initially I could not even get Control:PC to find the core. So I started problem solving.

Getting Netgear Orbi support (which I had to contract for since I owned the units for over 90 days) has been a issue; Even though I came up with a solution it doesn't make sense and I am waiting on a call back from second level support.

Here is how I was set-up:

Cable Modem ---> Orbi Wireless Router ----> TrendNet switch --- sonicTransporter i5 and dCS Upsampler

Orbi Router ----> Satellite 1 --->> MC200
Orbi Router ----> Satellite 2 ---> MS200 and other devices

The Orbi router and satellites all have 4 ethernet ports on the back which I need in a couple of locations to hardwire some devices including the MC200 and MS200.

When I first installed the Orbi set-up I was having significant drop out issues with Roon in my 2-channel room. A suggestion from Andrew at Small Green Computer was to inset the TrendNet switch between my Orbi Router and the sonicTransporter. It worked immediately. Why I had dropouts connecting directly to the router is still a mystery but that is also what in the end resolved my Sooloos issue.

When I first attempted to run Control:PC on the new Windows laptop all I got was a spinning wheel. Frustrating.

I then moved the MC200 from Satellite 1 and connected it to the TrendNet switch connected to the main router. Voila, Control:PC connected and was working. I checked Control:Mac on my older laptop and it was running again. Thing were looking better.

Now I didn't have a connection at Satellite 1 to get music to the whole house set-up so I disconnected the MS200 from Satellite 2 hoping it would be found. No luck.

This is where my hour long calls to Orbi support started. You could see the IP address of the both the MC200 and MS200 when they were attached to the Satellite but Sooloos (nor Roon) would see them as endpoints.

I moved the Satellite and connected it hardwired to Router and connected the MS200 to the satellite. Now Sooloos could see both the core and the MS200. As soon as I removed the ethernet connection between the two devices the MS200 disappeared. This is where I was getting frustrated with Orbi support.

So I grabbed another switch and left satellite 1 connected wirelessly to the main router and plugged the MS200 into the switch and the switch into the back of the satellite. [censored] the MS200 was now available in Sooloos as an endpoint.

So I moved the Satellite back next to the whole house gear and rebooted it and connected the switch between the satellite and MS200. It took a couple of reboots but now I see both the MC200 and MS200 available as endpoints in both Sooloos and Roon and I tried both and they work.

Bottom line. I could not connect these devices directly into the ethernet ports in the back of the Netgear product. I had to insert a unmanaged switch between the routers and devices. It makes no sense and I am not sure If I will ever get Orbi to answer why,

With the switches in place:

I can again use Control:Mac (with Sierra)
I can see both the MC200 and the MS200 as Sooloos devices.
I can see both devices as Roon endpoints.

I sent the PC back. If I have future problems I think I will sell the MC200 and get a all in one Roon endpoint to support my whole home needs. Maybe the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge coming soon.