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Alexa mutes speakers

  • 7 October 2017
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43 replies

Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Hmmm. I'm not getting any "ducking" on Sonos in any room, never mind all at once. Music is playing on Sonos, I say "Alexa..." and the music stays constant volume. Alexa on the dot responds normally. Any thoughts?
What is the source of the music on Sonos when this happens, and how was it started? Do you have the same experience when it's started from Alexa vs from the Sonos app or another app entirely?
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C
Hmmm. I'm not getting any "ducking" on Sonos in any room, never mind all at once. Music is playing on Sonos, I say "Alexa..." and the music stays constant volume. Alexa on the dot responds normally. Any thoughts?
U
To me it's more of a Amazon issue that needs to be addressed so companies like Sonos can provide certain benefits. Until the API can use "spaces" to bundle things by room, localized ducking and other features cant be done. The Alexa would need to know which Sonos is nearby to duck even if it's playing music on a different room Sonos. Sonos did mention that the "...in the (sonos device name)" (saying the name of the room) is temporary and will improve. So maybe there is already something in the works from Amazon or Sonos.

I agree. It is impossible to provide the best possible user experience if the API you are working with is missing key features (Control4 can tell you just how frustrating that can be.) I think the good news in this case is that Amazon needs the ability to associate Echoes with other devices in a given room to improve things within their own ecosystem. Mainly for easier control of lights in the same room that you are speaking in. I think this will get pushed out pretty quickly on the Amazon side but even when available in the API there will have to be some work by Sonos to utilize it in the next firmware release. Maybe we could see room specific ducking and/or Alexa voice responses from an associated Sonos speaker by the end of the year?
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dave77
Userlevel 6
Badge +11
What a ducking disappointment :D

... Sonos Skill - delete 😛
Chris
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Ducking can't be disabled currently. I think they at some point want to have Sonos units associated with closest Alexa unit so only that unit ducks. Personally I think they should have disabled the ducking until that can be done as I have same issue with Alexa's and Sonos all over the house.
Respect the Queue (1)Move (2)Beam (1)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1)Connect:Amp (3)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings
J
Userlevel 2
It may be an Amazon issue that you can't associate an echo with a room, but sonos could provide a feature switch to turn this off for the entire system. Previous betas didn't do this.
A
To me it's more of a Amazon issue that needs to be addressed so companies like Sonos can provide certain benefits. Until the API can use "spaces" to bundle things by room, localized ducking and other features cant be done. The Alexa would need to know which Sonos is nearby to duck even if it's playing music on a different room Sonos. Sonos did mention that the "...in the (sonos device name)" (saying the name of the room) is temporary and will improve. So maybe there is already something in the works from Amazon or Sonos.
dave77
Userlevel 6
Badge +11
As MikeV said, the volume "ducking" will happen on all players across your system, grouped or not grouped. The only ones which shouldn't duck are those playing TV audio. That said, we're doing some more work on the ducking feature and will continue to improve the entire integration over time. You can expect to see the Alexa skill continue to adapt and move quickly. Thanks for the feedback guys!

Eek! That's my Sonos One order cancelled then. Did you guys not consider this scenario? Can't we have a setting on Dot's at least to turn off 'ducking'?
Stuart_W
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
On my setup the volume on the TV does dim when I do Alexa commands in the kitchen. My TV is connected to a Sonos Connect Amp.

The Playbar/Playbase does NOT duck. ALL other Sonos components will as per MikeV's and Ryan S's confirmation.

We know that Sonos are aware that the ducking feature needs some work - For me (as I live on my own) ducking of other speakers not in the same room as I am is not an issue but I do find that it ducks for too long after I complete the command.
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A
On my setup the volume on the TV does dim when I do Alexa commands in the kitchen. My TV is connected to a Sonos Connect Amp.
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
As MikeV said, the volume "ducking" will happen on all players across your system, grouped or not grouped. The only ones which shouldn't duck are those playing TV audio. That said, we're doing some more work on the ducking feature and will continue to improve the entire integration over time. You can expect to see the Alexa skill continue to adapt and move quickly. Thanks for the feedback guys!
Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
MikeV
Userlevel 7
Badge +21
TV sources on Playbar and Playbase should not be affected by the volume "ducking" that Alexa does. However, any other Sonos speakers (or if the Playbar/Playbase are playing music instead of TV audio) will have their volume reduced.

There's not any option at this time to adjust how the volume reduction occurs. That's something that Amazon would likely need to implement, not Sonos.
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J
Userlevel 2
Why don't you ungroup the speaker from the kitchen one?

It is not grouped with the kitchen. I can have every speaker in the house playing something completely different and if I ask any Alexa something they all dim.

We using Alexa so much that this is making sonos almost unusable.
A
I have the same issue. Have the Echo Dot in the kitchen with two play 3's. When using Alexa to control the kitchen speakers, other zones in the house are dimmed. This is annoying, is there a setting I am missing to stop this happening? Other Sonos speakers are not grouped when this happens, so they are each playing their own thing. Thanks, Andrew
M
Userlevel 1
There seems to be no rhyme or reason to how this works right now for me. If I say “Alexa” in one specific room, that same room’s Sonos mutes (really just lowers volume). If I do the same thing in other rooms, whether Sonos speakers are grouped with the first one or not, the Sonos does not mute. Personally, I think the muting of the Sonos when directing commands to Alexa is a great feature (that I wasn’t really expecting) but there should be a way to link a Sonos room/speaker to and echo room/device so the mute function can be limited to the room listening to the command.
J
Userlevel 5
Badge +9
Why don't you ungroup the speaker from the kitchen one?
KenS
Userlevel 3
Badge +2
I'm noticing the same thing, which is particularly annoying when using my Sonos 5.1 setup watching TV.
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