I have recently purchased a Netgear Orbi system in order to give better wireless coverage in the house and, on the whole, it appears to be working well.
I have the main router + 2 satellites. When I connect wirelessly to my Nova, it doesn’t always choose what I consider to be the best option of the 3 access points, with dropouts in the sound when it does this. So my question is, can I tell my Nova to connect to a specific satellite via IP address during the wireless setup so that it doesn’t make the wrong choice or randomly change during wireless network fluctuations that happen from time to time?
Is it an option to cable from the Nova to a satellite?
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No… IP addresses are not relevant here, you need to instead use network addresses also known as MAC addresses. However most consumer access point don’t allow MAC address white listing on specific access points.
So your solution would be set an audio SSID only on the access point you want the Naim to connect to… and make sure the Naim doesn’t have the credentials for the other access points using your other SSID.
You would simply let your access points bridge together into your subnet.
Devices you want to be able to roam between all your access points will need both SSIDs stored.
Generally you want to keep the number of SSIDs to a minimum, but two or three should have minimum impact.
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It is, but it would have to be via a Devolo mains extender and I wonder what downsides there would be with sound quality if I went that route.
I have to ask why not use one of the satellites to wire into? This is just about the precise reason I own an Orbi, to create LAN points close to my AV. Have my Star and Roon Core wired into the same satellite and have not had a day of connectivity troubles.
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The Orbi satellites come up after the main hub boots, so the Naim may be locking onto the first one up. If you turn the mains off to the Naim after all the Orbi are up and working then it should choose the one with the best signal.
I have an Orbi setup. Fortunately wired to the satellites. My system is close, so also wired cat8. I hope you don’t mind me adding a question on the back. Wondering if vlan is of any use for streaming. Noisy synology NAS really should be in the loft but is sitting in my office on a switch. Welcome any thoughts.
I hadn’t thought about that as an option. I might purchase another satellite and use it exclusively for my Nova. Good idea.
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I have just switched off daisy-chaining, which I think was part of the problem.
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Oh do it! It works like a dream.
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I too have an Orbi (with one satellite). While I had some difficulty during installation of my Mu-So QB2 due, I suspect, to the Orbi’s “feature” of combining both its 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz channels within the same SSID, I have not had any since. (Hope I got the terminology right.) This has been discussed in another thread.
However, I am aware that the problem might recur, especially if I move things around. I am curious as to what you mean by an audio SSID on an access point. Can you explain further? Also (in response to a post by adeypoos, what is daisy-chaining in this context?
In a MESH system like the Orbi the satellites can either connect to the router for the back-haul communication (non-daisy chain) or they can daisy chain from one to the other to get back to the router. It is better to position the main hub (router) at the centre of your home so each satellite can connect directly to the router rather than going via another satellite.
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Since I only have one router and one satellite, I guess the question is moot.
It was simply to set up an SID for only your audio devices and nothing else to connect to.
Do you have a setting to disable roaming for specific devices?
On my TP-Link Deco system I can disable mesh for individual devices which stops it from moving. I’ve done this for my Muso QB’s and they stay connected to the preferred access point.
Still confused. How do I set up more than one SSID on the Orbi? As I mentioned, both the 2.4 and 5.0 GHz channels are part of the same network. I suppose I could use the guest network for that purpose.
Also, it’s my understanding that my iPhone with the Naim App must use the same SSID. I need my iPhone for more than just the Mu-So.
I should note that my setup problem was that the Mu-So was on the 2.4 GHz channel (through an internal choice, not mine) and the iPhone was on 5.0. Even though the Orbi treats them as a single network, the Mu-So does not. Somehow, the Mu-So decided to switch to the 5.0 and all has been fine since.
I have just switched off the daisy-chain option in the Orbi router software. I had to go to the advanced settings on my Mac to do this. This will ensure that my satellites will work as I intended, in a triangulation setup, and given my Nova is nearest the router than either of the satellites, it shouldn’t connect to the farthest satellite by mistake and it hasn’t so far. If push comes to shove, I can connect using a mains extender from Devolo, but I wanted to avoid the interference/ noise downsides to connecting that way, albeit at the expense of guaranteeing connection to the device I want. Guess I’ll have to wait and see if I get any dropouts over the next week or so down to the mesh system, as opposed to internet downage.
I am not familiar with the Orbi… but some consumer access points allow you to set up different SSIDs.
My Star and Qb (first gen) are happy with the single SSID for both bands provided by my Orbi.
Note that Netgear Orbi mesh does not support IGMP snooping.
So I end up with 2 wifi networks in my home, and I only use the Netgear Orbi on some laptops for speed, and my iPad/iPhone on the slower wifi network for my Linn streamer for discovery.
Regarding the OP’s question, I would move the satellite physically close to the Nova, and connect to it directly via an Ethernet cable.
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