OS 10.14.4/MacMini 2012 i7x16GB/RoonServer 1.6 build 416 x 64 bit
Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)
Router=Apple TimeCapsule 3TB ME182LL/A/All endpoint devices are hard-wired
Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)
Audio Devices=
3 x Airport Express 2nd gen A1264 (Ethernet)
Apple TV (Ethernet)
Sonore Sonicorbiter SE (Ethernet)
Oppo UDP-205 (USB connected to Core Mini)
Description Of Issue
The three AEs were spread around the house and I used them to listen to music in various rooms and occasionally grouped them for parties. Recently one of them quit functioning which caused me to relocate the other two. To keep track of which one is where, I renamed them in Airport Utility. The new names are not showing up in the list of audio Zones in Roon. The old Zone names are there but I can’t stream to them because, of course, they no longer exist.
Question: How do I delete the old Zones and connect to the new ones?
I tried Roon>Settings>Setup>Configure Roon OS Devices>Configure but it hangs on “Searching for Devices” for hours, as in overnight. I tried looking in the User Manual and Knowledge Base for instructions about “Configure Roon OS Devices” and came up with zilch, so it’s a mystery as to what that function is supposed to do.
Any help would be appreciated.
For the record, I am a lifetime member since June, 2015 and an unapologetic Roon fanboy.
Thanks for reaching out to us here. Configure Roon OS devices is meant to be used for ROCK or Nucleus Core’s, so your old Apple TV’s won’t show up in that menu, but rather in Roon Settings -> Audio Tab. Let’s do the following:
Can you please share a screenshot of your Roon Settings -> Audio tab that displays all of your Apple TVs? You can upload screenshots to this site by using these instructions (<-Clickable link)
Let’s try rebooting everything. Start off with the Network -> Core -> Apple TVs and see if that helps.
Can you confirm that the Apple TVs have a valid IP address that is in the same range as the Core? E.g. If the Core is (192.168.1.XXX) the Apple TVs should be in the same range except for the last 3 numbers.
Reinstalling the Roon app is a good idea to try, if you do want to go down this route you should use the following instructions to set the old database aside:
Okay, that sorta worked. The two AEs still show up in Roon with the wrong names and IP addresses, but at least I can stream to them.
Is there not a way to delete (not disable, but delete) or rename audio devices? Clearly Roon has remembered the old names even though the rest of the LAN recognizes the new names.
I’ve attached a screenshot. Notice the phantom 169.254 IP addresses. The actual IP addresses are 192.168.1.xx
Do you recommend I restore the Roon Library from backup or let Roon Server rescan my music folder, located on a NAS? I have about 10k tracks in storage. I was using Tidal to test the new install.
You can use either method you prefer, if you have edits saved in the backup you can restore it or if you want to start fresh you can use the fresh import.
I have another question for you here – do you by any chance have your iPhone connected to the Core when this behavior occurs? If so can you try disconnecting it to see if it has any change?
To answer your question, no iPhone or anything is ever connected to the headless MacMini Core computer. It is dedicated almost exclusively to Roon. The only exceptions are ClamAV and ChronoSync for weekly backups of the music NAS to another NAS.
I do use an iPhone and iPad to control Roon, but I don’t think that is what you mean.
New Information: A similar thing is happening with other apps like AirFoil and iTunes/AirPlay. So it isn’t limited to Roon. Must be some kind of DNS related thing.
In hindsight I guess I shouldn’t have renamed the network devices, but who knew?
Okay I figured this out, and it kinda makes sense. I’m posting in case someone else might have a similar problem and can benefit from my experience.
In Airport Utility, in addition to changing the name of the Base Station you must also change the name of the AirPlay speaker. D’oh.
When I tried to do this through a wireless connection I got an error message. I had to do it through an hard-wired Ethernet connection. Strange but true.
Even after rebooting everythjing: Core computer, router, each endpoint, and RoonServer, the IP addresses of the endpoints still show up incorrectly in Roon (169.), But maybe that will resolve with time and it doesn’t affect usability so I am ignoring it.
At this point, everything looks and sounds good, and I can now navigate to each endpoint in an easily intuitive way, which was the original objective.
Can you please expand further on where exactly you changed the name of the Airplay speaker, maybe with a few screenshots so we can document this type of name changes in our Knowledge Base?
If the Apple TVs are working as expected I would not worry about this too much, it might be related to the Apple TVs themselves reporting this address.
To change the name of the AirPlay speaker (aka Airport Express):
From AirPort Utility click on the base station in the flowchart, click Edit and enter the password if prompted.
Click the AirPlay tab and enter the new AirPlay Speaker Name
Click Update and the unit will restart.
Note that it is possible for the AirPlay Speaker name to be different from the Base Station name, although it’s unclear to me why that would be necessary or desirable. Roon understands only the AirPlay Speaker name, not the other one, which led to some confusion on my part.
You may or may not need to reboot Roon Core for it to show up. I just did that reflexively without waiting to see if the new name would propagate.
In Roon, click Settings>Audio and scroll down to Networked Devices to see the new name.
Or click the audio device in the lower left corner and the new name will appear in the list of Zones for selection.
The perfectionist in me finds it mildly troubling that Roon is reporting an incorrect IP address for the renamed endpoint, but everything functions correctly so far so I am trying to get over it.
Hopefully this will save someone a few hours of frustration that I experienced when I decided to change the names. Everything worked flawlessly for months/years prior to my tinkering. Of course now that Apple has discontinued the Airport Express this all may be obsolete. That is unfortunate because the AEs work seamlessly with Roon and make a really great low-maintenance, inexpensive multi-room grouped zone solution as long as you are okay with Redbook sound quality, which is all I ask for in the garage and kitchen. As a bonus, because I have them hardwired, they have the advantage of doubling as a whole-house WiFi mesh with no effect on SQ.
Thank you for sharing those instructions, it will be useful for anyone having similar issues in the future. I’m going to go ahead and close this thread out since the issue is resolved for you, but thanks again for contacting us here and I hope you have a continued enjoyable Roon experience!
