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Alexa voice volume too loud

  • 11 January 2018
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72 replies

D
"We're doing a lot of work with the Alexa team on the Sonos One," Sonos said six months ago. "So you'll keep on seeing new features and the experience improving," Sonos said six months ago.
B
This is so annoying! Completely agree. The Sonos One is great apart from Alexa being far too loud. I’m so surprised that there’s no option to lower the volume. It makes me jump every time I ask Alexa something!

Is this going to be resolved soon?
S
Same issue here. Alexa is too loud compared to the speaker volume. The relativity should be adjustable.
P
I've ended up selling my Sonos One last week, mostly because of this. One year after release, and no sign of Sonos making any changes - and therefore impossible for me to use Alexa in the bedroom at night without annoying my neighbours. Ended up with a 3rd Generation Echo Dot for quiet bedroom listening instead (yeah, I know, not exactly a like-for-like comparison sound-wise but it does the job I need it to do and handles this volume issue perfectly)
R
Userlevel 1
Badge +3
It's quite disappointing I seem to just be finding faults with my new Beam. First I found I couldn't disable the Alexa 'beep', for which has been requested for well over a year, and now I find on a similar path I cannot adjust Alex's voice sufficiently.

I use the Beam in a bedroom, and at times need voice control during middle of night or at least when others are asleep. The beep and voice are so overbearing (I have music on at 1 and it's fine), that it wakes people up.

I use the Beam at volume 1 sometimes to fall asleep, but if I decide to extend the play time, or just turn it off, I get a jolt from the voice.

I just tried to work around this by setting a routine, with 'good night' setting volume to 0.5% but I got told by Alexa that volume in routines is not supported, such a shame as I love this, but it's just not liveable and nothing seems to ever get fixed.
H
I have just set my Sonos one up and this is the first thing I have noticed is that the Alexa voice is far too loud and I had to search straight away for a solution.
I have tried the above suggestions but the voice is still far too loud and i will be unable to use Alexa voice in the later evenings and early mornings.
Really disappointed with my first Sonos speaker as the sound quality is fantastic but the Alexa voice is just too loud.
N
Totally agree on this issue. Sonos SHOULD have separate control on volume control for Alexa and music. In my case, Alexa is too loud when music is at a appropriate level.
S
Just wondering, has the Alexa volume problem been fixed/improved yet? It is 10/24/18. I'm thinking about purchasing the Sonos One again but not if this problem is still present.
Ken_Griffiths
It would be great if there was a separate Volume just for the Alexa voice on the Sonos unit—-separate from the music volume. I could see the Sonos volume being fixed for Alexa, and regular volume control for the speaker content. I would think I would want my Alexa voice volume fixed.
I would like to keep my Alexa volume, related (relative) to the main speaker volume, but have a slider control in the 'room settings' that can adjusts its relative volume 'up or down' by a user-selected percentage level. I think that would then help provide an average overall volume that is acceptable to the majority, no matter if they choose to play their music, or audio output, quietly, or loud.
P
Badge
It would be great if there was a separate Volume just for the Alexa voice on the Sonos unit—-separate from the music volume. I could see the Sonos volume being fixed for Alexa, and regular volume control for the speaker content. I would think I would want my Alexa voice volume fixed.
Ken_Griffiths
Same issue here: I live in an older building with fairly thin walls. It is slightly ridiculous that my neighbors don't really hear me watching movies but can almost follow Alexa's every word. Even with the volume set to 1 Alexa is way too loud. As a last resort, I was hoping the UK or German voice would be more soothing or somehow quieter but they're basically all the same. It's actually so loud that it's awkward at times when other people are around. Until this gets fixed, I'd rather not use the feature.
Perhaps I’m going a little deaf in my old age. I have a Sonos Beam in the family Dining Room, which is 20 ft x 15 ft. I sit about 10 feet away from the device itself and I often have Alexa set to volume 3, occasionally number 2.

Volume 1 is just too quiet for the room.

It makes me wonder if the Sonos Beam Alexa devices vary their volume, depending on the type of TV and remote they are setup with ?

I used to have a small Amazon echo dot in the same dining room, set to a volume level of approx. 6 to 8, just as a comparison.

Not sure if that information is of any use here at all.
G
Same issue here: I live in an older building with fairly thin walls. It is slightly ridiculous that my neighbors don't really hear me watching movies but can almost follow Alexa's every word. Even with the volume set to 1 Alexa is way too loud. As a last resort, I was hoping the UK or German voice would be more soothing or somehow quieter but they're basically all the same. It's actually so loud that it's awkward at times when other people are around. Until this gets fixed, I'd rather not use the feature.
P
Just tried both the above methods with my Sonos One. Both lowered the volume of my music only, with Alexa volume remaining the same (i.e. loud). Has anyone else had success with these methods? Thanks.
Forgetting the music side of things for one minute. Try this...

Say...
“Alexa, set your volume to 1” ... then ask Alexa the time.
then say ...
“Alexa, set your volume to 5” ... then ask Alexa the time again.

If the Alexa volume does not change, then there is a problem.

I would switch off the power to the device for 30 seconds and switch it back on and try it again.

Hmmm okay, I'll have to eat my words here! I've previously tried this with volumes at 2% and 15% (based on a suggestion of Ryan's earlier in this thread) and could've sworn there was little or no difference between the two. However I've just tried it at volume 50% and it's very very loud, probably annoying the neighbours in the process. So maybe my real issue is that Alexa at volume 1 is too high for my own tastes when compared to playing music at the same volume? In the meantime, Alexa is getting disabled again. Probably for good unless we ever get a way of controlling Alexa volume independently. Thanks for the suggestions though - it was worth a try.
Ken_Griffiths
It seems practical to me.
Yes, me too. It’s only a few users who don’t like it, presumably. Those who are happy of course don’t usually post anything here in the community.

I'm not too sure if pjn's issue above, is that his Alexa has got stuck on a particular volume level... but that’s maybe a 'glitch', so hopefully a switch off/on will resolve it, or it’s maybe a case of speaking to Sonos Support.

I assume others though, are just not happy with the levels Sonos have put in place... and want a little more control over the levels set.
G
It seems practical to me.
G
Ironically, I couldn’t hear Alexa on my new Beam. I used the direction above and asked Alexa to change volume. She did. I changed it a few times until it suited me. Works perfectly.
You will find though Gary that the volume of Alexa, does change in relation to the volume of either the TV, or Music .. but that’s how it is meant to be.

If you turn the TV up loud, Alexa gets louder... if you turn the TV volume down, she should get quieter ...and it’s the same with the music too. Which is how Sonos have designed it.

It works okay for me, but the 'relationship' between the Alexa volume and the audio output does not appear to please every single user.

As they say “You can’t please all the people, all the time”.
Ken_Griffiths
Ironically, I couldn’t hear Alexa on my new Beam. I used the direction above and asked Alexa to change volume. She did. I changed it a few times until it suited me. Works perfectly.
You will find though Gary that the volume of Alexa, does change in relation to the volume of either the TV, or Music .. but that’s how it is meant to be.

If you turn the TV up loud, Alexa gets louder... if you turn the TV volume down, she should get quieter ...and it’s the same with the music too. Which is how Sonos have designed it.

It works okay for me, but the 'relationship' between the Alexa volume and the audio output does not appear to please every single user.

As they say “You can’t please all the people, all the time”.
G
Ironically, I couldn’t hear Alexa on my new Beam. I used the direction above and asked Alexa to change volume. She did. I changed it a few times until it suited me. Works perfectly.
Ken_Griffiths
Just tried both the above methods with my Sonos One. Both lowered the volume of my music only, with Alexa volume remaining the same (i.e. loud). Has anyone else had success with these methods? Thanks.
Forgetting the music side of things for one minute. Try this...

Say...
“Alexa, set your volume to 1” ... then ask Alexa the time.
then say ...
“Alexa, set your volume to 5” ... then ask Alexa the time again.

If the Alexa volume does not change, then there is a problem.

I would switch off the power to the device for 30 seconds and switch it back on and try it again.
P
Just tried both the above methods with my Sonos One. Both lowered the volume of my music only, with Alexa volume remaining the same (i.e. loud). Has anyone else had success with these methods? Thanks.
Ken_Griffiths
Hey guys,

This was driving me absolutely bonkers with the sonos one.

Not sure, but I tried saying “Alexa, lower your speaking voice” and got the volume to go down, I did this multiple times and have used Lower and Increase to get to the volume I found acceptable.

Hope that helps!
You can also say...
“Alexa, set your volume to (integer)” where (integer) is a simple whole number value between 1 and 10.

10 is obviously Alexa's max volume.
T
Hey guys,

This was driving me absolutely bonkers with the sonos one.

Not sure, but I tried saying “Alexa, lower your speaking voice” and got the volume to go down, I did this multiple times and have used Lower and Increase to get to the volume I found acceptable.

Hope that helps!
J
Having same problem with my Beam, Alexa is way too loud. My 8 month old jumps every time Alexa talks and pretty sure all my neighbours can hear it too. Ruins the experience and now not using it in the evenings when my baby goes to sleep. I really wish this could be fixed. So frustrating.
L
Have to agree .. just got Sonos Beam to add to my system and Alexa is soooooooo loud. Cannot use at night with kids in bed
I
I just set up my Beam and instantly noticed this problem. Alexa voice is simply too loud to use in a quiet house at night. Please can the dev team sort this. Thanks.
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