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Alexa groups suddenly stopped using Sonos as default speaker

  • 2 November 2020
  • 10 replies
  • 213 views
T
Userlevel 1
Badge +2
  • tjt
  • Avid Contributor III
  • 15 replies

Hi

I have an Echo Dot 3rd Gen and Sonos Speaker in most rooms and I have Alexa groups setup to use Sonos as the default speaker.

I have used this with no problems for months with Spotify, Audible and Stitcher all playing by default through Sonos when started via voice control from the Echo Dot.

Now, as of a few days ago, only Spotify plays through the default speaker - Audible and Stitcher play on the Echo Dot. If I specifically ask Alexa to play Audible and Stitcher on a Sonos speaker, they do.

I have re-authorised Spotify, Audible and Stitcher in the Sonos App.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Tim

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Best answer by tjt 10 November 2020, 11:42

..and now, as if by magic, with no changes made by me, this problem has gone away. Times Radio, Stitcher and Audible (when started using an Alexa skill on an echo dot 3rd gen) play on the default Sonos speaker again

Last night it was still all broken, this morning it all works in every room.

Maybe my echo dots got a software update last night? I can see they are running the latest software (4621172036) but I cannot tell when that was installed and unfortunately I did not note the echo dot software version while the issue was present...so it may have nothing to do it.

Anyway, issue closed.

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10 replies

Rowena B.
Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @tjt, thank you for reaching out to the Sonos community.  I appreciate your detailed post describing the issue as well as the steps that you did. Let me help you with this.

Let me suggest the following steps to see if this would work for you. 

In the Sonos app

In Alexa Echo Dot

  1. Open the Alexa app.
  2. Open the menu in the top left and tap on Skills & Games > Your Skills > Sonos > Disable Skill.
  3. Deregister your Sonos speaker from Alexa by following the instructions on Amazon's website: Deregistering a device.
  4. Enable the Sonos skill again by going back to the Skills & Games > Your Skills > Sonos and tapping on Enable Skill.
  5. Once complete, try giving Alexa another command.

Observe your Sonos system performance. If you will encounter the same, please submit a diagnostic report from your Sonos system for us to check. Just include the confirmation number in your response so that we can look up the information.

Let us know how you get on with the advice above. We'll wait for your reply.

Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
T
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Hi Rowena

I tried what you suggested and also reset my network and I see the same behaviour.

I have submitted a diagnostic report ref 1544867911.

Thanks!

Rowena B.
Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @tjt, thank you for your response and for providing the diagnostic report. Let me help you out with this.

Based on the diagnostic, there's interference in your wireless network that may be caused by wireless congestion, an audio dropout was detected in your due to sync error and the audio feed is too slow causing the playback to stop. These network-related issues that may be causing the issue.

Let me suggest the next troubleshooting steps, to perform a sequential reboot of your network devices, all your Sonos products, and force close mobile controllers to refresh the connection. 

A sequential reboot means that we need to do this in order.
1. Unplug your network devices (modem, router, any wireless access points on the network) from the power and wait for 60 full seconds before you plug it back in.
2. Once the router is back online, unplug all your Sonos devices from the power. Please wait 15 seconds before you plug back them back in.
3. Force close the Sonos app from your iOS or Android device.
4. When the status light on your Sonos speakers are solid white, get back on the Sonos app and check if you're connected.

After performing the steps above, please test Alexa and your music services. If you experience the problem again, submit another diagnostic report from your Sonos system for us to check what's going. Kindly include the confirmation number in your response.

Let us know how you get on with the advice above. We'll wait for your reply.

Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
T
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Hi again Rowena

I did everything you requested plus I reset all my echo dots, and got the same result, i.e. Spotify uses the default speaker, other services do not. New ticket is 2002966360

Just to see what would happen I then disconnected the wired connection from my Sonos, and it now all runs over my domestic wireless (which is a powerful mesh network). I get the same behaviour. I created another support ticket with Sonos configured this way. 1063584170. I will leave it running over this network for now.

Let me know what you find. We use voice control 90% of the time with our Sonos so it is really inconvenient, I am starting to wonder if this is an issue with the Alexa integration/Alexa skill rather than Sonos. 

T
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Hi Rowena

I did some further testing using some Alexa skills I don’t use so often.

Services/skills that DO use the default speaker:

  • TuneIn
  • Global Player
  • Spotify 
  • Amazon Music

Services/skills that DO NOT use the default speaker, but used to:

  • Times Radio
  • Stitcher
  • Audible

Regards

 

Tim

J

I would add (see other threads on this) BBC Sounds (which we have to use for BBC radio via Alexa because the BBC withdrew from TuneIn and Alexa used to use TuneIn for BBC stations.

I think there are enough queries on this to suggest that there may be something more general going on here.  If this was the sort of thing that a reboot would fix, I would expect it to affect all services not just specific ones.  I would not yet say that was conclusive, and it would be helpful if anyone out there for whom this is still working could post here.

An example of a related thread is the last few posts here:

https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/bbc-radio-not-using-alexa-preferred-speakers-6830482

J

@tjt .  Thanks for doing some very useful troubleshooting.  One thing that is definitely not relevant is whether your system connects via SonosNet or WiFi - that really just affects the paths taken by data over your LAN.

T
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

..and now, as if by magic, with no changes made by me, this problem has gone away. Times Radio, Stitcher and Audible (when started using an Alexa skill on an echo dot 3rd gen) play on the default Sonos speaker again

Last night it was still all broken, this morning it all works in every room.

Maybe my echo dots got a software update last night? I can see they are running the latest software (4621172036) but I cannot tell when that was installed and unfortunately I did not note the echo dot software version while the issue was present...so it may have nothing to do it.

Anyway, issue closed.

J

And I can confirm that BBC Sounds is back to normal in this respect.  Well, if you can call it ‘normal’ when saying ‘Play BBC Radio 4’ causes it to play on the Echo but if you say ‘Play radio 4 from the BBC’ it plays on Sonos.  Let’s say ‘back to how it was’, and that’s acceptable.

S

And I can confirm that BBC Sounds is back to normal in this respect.

So it is!

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