Its been over 7 months where people have been asking for a fix. How about not ducking sonos players that arent in the same room as the alexa being asked? Is it really that hard that you guys can't do an IF THEN code in the software? The solution of telling people to disable the skill is the same thing as saying yeah go buy a different speaker other than sonos.
PLEASE FIX THIS!
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It's not a Sonos function, it's an Alexa function. Nothing Sonos can do until Amazon releases their new SDK for assigning an Echo to a 3rd party speaker group. You are wasting your breath complaining anywhere except Amazon.
I'm sorry do you work for Sonos? Sonos engineers can let Amazon engineers know directly that this is a problem and get it fixed immediately. It was the same problem with Ecobee, they didn't have ESP+ on their devices and they would answer the same time Alexa. Enough people complained and said don't buy it because of this problem, within a month it was immediately fixed. So for you to tell me there is NOTHING that Sonos can do is rubbish.
So how exactly do you know that Sonos has not done that already?
And no, I do not work for Sonos. Sonos employees are duly marked.
And no, I do not work for Sonos. Sonos employees are duly marked.
Userlevel 7
+22
Amazon had to put more code into place for Sonos to be able to solve the ducking issue. Personally I would have just left off ducking until it was fixed (more trouble then worth). But I would expect we will see fix soon...just this week Sonos started rolling out more Alexa upgrades. I personally would expect we will see a lot of Alexa improvements (remember it is still considered beta) by June time frame.
Thanks Chris, for your helpful reply. I've written a few Alexa Skills myself so I know how this works. I wish Sonos would read these forums more often and remove the ducking feature until they get it sorted out. I have a feeling it's not removed because the skill is associated with the PlayOne, in order for their mic to hear Alexa commands it needs to lower the volume. Here's a suggestion, if its not a Sonos PlayOne then don't duck the volume.
Userlevel 7
+22
No thank you!
Without the ducking Alexa can\t hear my command most of the time. For me if you on't like the ducking mute Alexa or disable the skill
Stuart, when you say Alexa cant hear you, do you mean on an Echo Dot? On as Sonos PlayOne? On an Ecobee Thermostat? Which? I have a Sonos speaker(s) in every room of my house and some sort of Alexa, Google, or Siri device, yes very redundant.
Music could be blasting and Google seems to hear me NO PROBLEM, I don't even have to yell. I have no problem's controlling my Sonos thru Google, and it doesn't duck so it would be nice if SONOS would have a solution to this problem with Alexa.
Music could be blasting and Google seems to hear me NO PROBLEM, I don't even have to yell. I have no problem's controlling my Sonos thru Google, and it doesn't duck so it would be nice if SONOS would have a solution to this problem with Alexa.
Userlevel 7
+22
I have a couple of Echo Dot's. I'm not saying that it wouldn't be good if the Alexa/Sonos integration worked so it only ducked the nearest speaker, it would be.
I'm just pointing out that the ducking feature was designed to ensure that Alexa actually hears the voice command - during extensive testing Sonos found that it was required (not necessarily on every Sonos speaker obviously but at the moment they have to duck them all which is down to Amazon). Your solution to disable ducking would mean that Alexa would have a very high error rate.
I'm just pointing out that the ducking feature was designed to ensure that Alexa actually hears the voice command - during extensive testing Sonos found that it was required (not necessarily on every Sonos speaker obviously but at the moment they have to duck them all which is down to Amazon). Your solution to disable ducking would mean that Alexa would have a very high error rate.
We have a Soundbar/Sub/Play:1 Setup in the living room, and 6x Play:1's in different rooms (kids, hobby, sleeping, bathroom..).
While I understand why the ducking feature makes sense, and it might be an API or whatever Amazon would have to open up to be able to asign a certain Echo Dot to a particular speaker/room, Sonos should put a lots of effort into communicating this as a core feature to be able to successfully implement Alexa into everything else but Sonos 1...
I am solely happy to participate in Beta's, but with this "feature" at its best you can call it an Alpha. Having the whole household literally shut down each time a kid asks sth to Alexa, or you ask her sth in the kitchen just makes the skill solely unusable, period. Particularly for the TV-connected living room setup... Kid plays a game in its room, living room goes down, a no-go.
Given the very long time the Skill is in this state, this indeed makes on think how real the efforts are tbh.
And no thanks, I will not throw out 8x Play:1s and swap for Sonos Ones 😉
While I understand why the ducking feature makes sense, and it might be an API or whatever Amazon would have to open up to be able to asign a certain Echo Dot to a particular speaker/room, Sonos should put a lots of effort into communicating this as a core feature to be able to successfully implement Alexa into everything else but Sonos 1...
I am solely happy to participate in Beta's, but with this "feature" at its best you can call it an Alpha. Having the whole household literally shut down each time a kid asks sth to Alexa, or you ask her sth in the kitchen just makes the skill solely unusable, period. Particularly for the TV-connected living room setup... Kid plays a game in its room, living room goes down, a no-go.
Given the very long time the Skill is in this state, this indeed makes on think how real the efforts are tbh.
And no thanks, I will not throw out 8x Play:1s and swap for Sonos Ones 😉
I'm just pointing out that the ducking feature was designed to ensure that Alexa actually hears the voice command - during extensive testing Sonos found that it was required (not necessarily on every Sonos speaker obviously but at the moment they have to duck them all which is down to Amazon). Your solution to disable ducking would mean that Alexa would have a very high error rate.
Yes I agree with Stuart here, at least in part, however I would like to see the audio 'ducking' take place in the room where the voice instruction is given (i.e. all nearby associated speakers) and also see it duck the audio in any other Sonos Room(s) that have been 'grouped' with that room via the App.
Userlevel 7
+22
I don’t think the ducking should suck in rooms grouped. Only the one associates to the alexa.
Chris,
So anyone who has two stereo 'pairs' in a lounge/living room will only be able to duck the one pair, whilst playing/listening to music on all four speakers? I’m not sure that will satisfy many users.
I think 'ducking' all four would be better, when they are grouped. So we may have to agree to disagree on that one, me thinks.
Userlevel 7
+22
They way be able to specify more than one speaker linked to alexa.
Yes, I’m happy with that Chris, as long as the end-user can have some method of controlling, what does and does-not get 'ducked' by Alexa and that the process is reasonably 'simple' and 'flexible' for a majority of end users.
If I have a Kitchen/Diner with two speakers in the Kitchen area and another two speakers in the adjoining Dining Room and I have an Echo Dot in both of those two adjoining rooms, then when I am playing music just in the Kitchen only area, I just want Alexa to duck the Audio just on my two Kitchen speakers.
But if I decide to open the Sonos App and group the Kitchen Speakers and Dining Room Speakers together, to fill the entire 'open-plan' room with music, then when I start talking to my Alexa echo Dot in my Kitchen, or in the Diner, I think they should each now duck the audio on all four 'grouped' speakers, just because I have chosen to group them.
Whichever way Sonos and Amazon decide to go about this, they need to think of the 'real world' situations in which people use their speakers and make the audio duck in a simple and effective way that will please the majority.
I think only ducking the audio in just one nearby room, for example, and not having any flexibility to include other user-chosen 'grouped' rooms would be a missed opportunity.
If I have a Kitchen/Diner with two speakers in the Kitchen area and another two speakers in the adjoining Dining Room and I have an Echo Dot in both of those two adjoining rooms, then when I am playing music just in the Kitchen only area, I just want Alexa to duck the Audio just on my two Kitchen speakers.
But if I decide to open the Sonos App and group the Kitchen Speakers and Dining Room Speakers together, to fill the entire 'open-plan' room with music, then when I start talking to my Alexa echo Dot in my Kitchen, or in the Diner, I think they should each now duck the audio on all four 'grouped' speakers, just because I have chosen to group them.
Whichever way Sonos and Amazon decide to go about this, they need to think of the 'real world' situations in which people use their speakers and make the audio duck in a simple and effective way that will please the majority.
I think only ducking the audio in just one nearby room, for example, and not having any flexibility to include other user-chosen 'grouped' rooms would be a missed opportunity.
As far as I can see no update for this, or am I missing something?
https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/an-overview-and-explanation-of-the-new-support-for-alexa-grouping-6817788/index1.html#post16299934
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