Alexa voice volume linked to Sonos volume? Need independent control

  • 24 October 2017
  • 61 replies
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Userlevel 3
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It seems the volume of the Alexa voice is linked directly to the volume of the Sonos One unit. That means if I'm playing quiet music in the background, and I activate Alexa, I can't really hear her voice at all.

That also means if I am playing loud music, after the "ducking" to mute the music the voice is really loud.

The volume should be independent or perhaps some proportional volume of the music.

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61 replies

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That is correct, but when the ones are added as surrounds the volume is disproportionately louder, than the main volume from the front playbar and Alexa voice responses are ridiculously loud (even worse, it lowers the volume on all the other speakers in the theatre group). It is necessary to have the ability to lower the volume of Alexa independently so she does not blow you ear drums when she activates/responds.

The echo does not have this feature, but it is no where near as bad (and in my opinion not necessary for the echo) as what happens with the Sonos Ones when in a home theatre setup.
Agreed. Way too loud. Startles the kids. Nothing like turning the lights on and off and having Alexa scream, “OK!”
Just to add my 2 cents worth... Alexa is way too loud in my Play one for me... Its embarassing: my neighbours can hear Alexa but not the music I’m playing. Don’t have this problem in an echo dot hooked up to a Bluetooth speaker. I appreciate it’s not a simple fix though... other people have said it’s too quiet. I DON’T think a totally independent voice volume will provide the best user experience...better to be able to adjust proportional volume.. ie still have voice adjust with master volume but provide a device setting (or account setting... not sure) that allows you to adjust voice volume as a proportion of master. It should be possible to make this simple to operate (eg Make voice louder/quieter) but in the background it would be adjusting the voice vs
Master proportional volume.
Agreed; Alexa is absurdly loud and we wind up just keeping the mic muted so she won't randomly come on and yell about things.
Hi there. First time posting to Sonos Community. Haven't ever had a technical problem with Sonos. We have this differential volume problem too. Using Echo Dot with line-in to Play:5 and Connect:Amp. Autoplay volume works fine for any streaming content, but Alexa's voice is always about 10% of that volume, so we can't hear her at all. If we turn the volume up to be able to hear her, then then the volume of streaming audio is so loud it's potentially lethal!

Any suggestions greatly appreciated. A separate volume setting for Alexa voice would work, as would a proportional volume setting.
I’m having the same problem. I’ve ended up turning off Alexa on the Sonos One and may go back to using an evho dot until Sonos fix the issue
The only way I’ve found to solve this problem is Echo Dot line-in to Sonos, disable the Sonos Alexa Skill entirely and just use the Sonos as a posh speaker for the Echo. Not a great solution but it does solve the volume issue.
It would be great to hear that they are working on this. Alexa’s voice volume is brutally loud, especially when turning off lights or something with her at the end of the night.
Independent Alexa and music volume a must. I find Alexa very loud. I want my music loud and Alexa low / medium. Please sort this, Sonos.
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Yeah, I don’t know if this is a sonos or Alexa issue but a separate volume slider or Alexa is a set percentage of the regular volume, like 70% or whatever, would be ideal.
Another plus one for this feature, it’s gteat that the volume dips to give a command, but the bong and responses can be deafening. By muting what is playing when the Alexa command is given, there really is no reason for it to be so loud. It can be done with sat nav instructions through car stereo, so I’m sue it’s something Sonos could implement easily enough.
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Using Ones as surround speakers with a playbase. Alexa integration is great, but she is often way too loud.
Yes, so annoying.

Seems there is no perfect Alexa solution. Bought an Echo Dot to use with my existing Bose speaker, but it doesn't work. Then bought a cheap speaker from Amazon to combine with the Dot, but the sound was terrible. Finally I bought a Sonos One. But the Alexa sound is ridiculously loud. Not sure I will keep it.
Same here. Volume is down and we can’t hear her !!! Can’t have music blaring all the time. Sonos sort it out !!!
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As a new One owner, I came here looking for the answer to this myself. Absolutely agree with the many other requests: an independent Alexa volume control is needed.

Specifically for myself, a nighttime mode of some kind would be especially helpful (and was also previously requested in this thread).

Any expectation or ETA on this update actually happening?
Any update on this from Sonos? It's brutally bad!
1 month ago Jim Ox asked if there had been any progress on the effort for separating Alexa voice volume in Sonos One from music volume. He never received a response. I just purchased the Sonos One. If there is no progress, I may end up returning it. Sonos development, please respond. Thanks.
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Sonos development, please respond. Thanks.

+1 I can’t hear Alexa at all when playing background music downstairs. People are asking for independent volume adjustment at the start of the Alexa implementation in Sonos and still no solution from development.
I've just invested in two Sonos Ones. I am happy with my purchase overall.

However, when enjoying some quiet music last night, I asked Alexa something and was shocked at the sheer loud volume of her voice!!! I have a 1 year old asleep in the next room, and I don't want to risk waking him with Alexa's bellowing volume. I googled how to turn her voice down, (assuming that this possibility was a given) - independently from the music - and was utterly astonished that this is NOT possible!!

My partner has now asked that I don't use Alexa once the baby is in bed, rendering her a pointless purchase once the baby is asleep.

As I understand it, all marketing today is lifestyle driven, and Sonos One's lack of functionality is affecting my being able to use it to full capacity. Sonos, please, please sort this out, and make a satisfied user, much much happier.
11 months since the last response from Sonos. Would be nice to know if this feature is being considered or worked on.
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Funny, people seem to found Alexa too loud when in fact I found it too low. ?

But overall we are all requesting the same thing, an independent volume like on Google Mini.
Thanks for the suggestion! I'll pass it up to the team for you. would love an update on this. The One is an amazing addition to my home system but the inability to set independant volumes is frustrating! 🙂
"Thanks for the suggestion! I'll pass it up to the team for you," Sonos said a year ago.
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I have 6 sonos devices and finally started buying a couple more newer sonos ones to add voice control and expand the system... please add this feature! Otherwise I may have just as well stuck with the echo dot controlling the speakers.
Agreed, independent control please! It's another step at the end of the day which I don't need - resetting Alexa's volume because we've turned up the tv to hear it through the beam, and Alexa's volume has also come up along with it. I realize this was a design decision, but I think it was the wrong one.