Dialog vs. Airport

[angenet]

My home network is dual band 5GHz & 2.4GHz.  I can see in Spark when the Phantoms are connected via a 5GHz connection, and you're right - 5Ghz works better.  In fact, when they drop back to 2.4GHz, as they sometimes do, they're basically unlistenable due to dropouts.

I think you may have misread my original assertion, though...  if I'm reading those Devialet pages correctly:  The Dialog's networks (5 / 2.4GHz) are used for all communication Dialog->Phantoms.  Any "external" network is solely for downloading updates, communication Dialog->Spark, and streaming music to the Dialog.  That is, when there's a Dialog involved, and no wired connection to the speakers, all communication to the speakers goes over the Dialog's dedicated network - the speakers are not connected to any other wifi network.

My audio is all going direct via optical cable, no wireless streaming, and I don't use Spark for anything except resetting the system (which happens far too often for my taste).  So if my theory is correct, I should be able to shut down my home wireless network completely, and the system will still work.  I'll try that when I get home.

But if there's a way of forcing the Phantoms to use a non-Dialog ("external") wifi network for communication, and still play in stereo, I'd love to know what it is.  I'm convinced that the audio dropouts are due to the poor quality of the communication going over the Dialog's dedicated network.  But I don't think there's a way of bypassing the Dialog network in a stereo config.

Hi
You may have tried this already..
Have you checked the location of the Dialog and phantoms...
Are you able to change the room just for testing? Move the speakers and dialog in another room and test if the dropout still occurs...
Thx