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Alexa volume issue since 12.1

D
Userlevel 3

Hi folks,

I’m experiencing issues related to the volume of Alexa since the Sonos update to 12.1. I’m using a surround setup with one Sonos Beam and two Sonos Play:1 in my living room. Since a few years, the Alexa response volume was just static and not related to the music volume set by Sonos. This was a good thing because you could listen to music in very low volume while you could talk to Alexa and get a normal, relatively loud response.

Since 12.1, the Alexa volume seems to be related to the overall speaker volume. Now when the volume is set maybe between 1-20%, it is just impossible for me to communicate with Alexa because her responses are extremely quiet. I can only start to understand her again when the volume slider is maybe at 25-30% or higher, but then of course the music is also proportional louder, which is not good.

Is there any way to set the Alexa volume independent of the music volume?

Thank you very much in advance.

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Best answer by nabheet 28 December 2020, 04:57

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127 replies

D

Sonos needs to fix this ASAP. I don’t get how the news haven’t picked it up yet. 

P
Userlevel 1

Adding one more to the “please fix it calls”. Had Beam since Christmas and find inaudible Alexa responses really irritating, having to resort to going into Kitchen to get a proper response from the Kitchen Echo.

Time that Alexa drops the TV sound for also too long before restoring volume. So you can’t hear a response and you get frustrated awaiting dialogue to return.

S
Userlevel 2

Also having the same issue as everyone else.

Alexa volume is incredibly quiet compared to TV audio / music. It seems that the Alexa volume is at the same volume as the lowered device audio that happens when you say the Wake Word.

 

Sonos REALLY needs to add a separate volume control for Alexa, on ALL of their devices. Although the Arc+One’s 5.1 setup is currently my only prominent issue right now - my single One’s seem fine.

 

SONOS - Sort your mess out! I’ve spent far too much money on all of this hardware for a barely functioning system!

M

I’ve been having the same problem. Another thing is that the beam has incredible hearing. It can hear me when I’m in the kitchen. This while  I’m standing right next to the Alexa dot in the kitchen. The inability of Sonos to correct this problem seems intentional. Why else would we all be having this problem after an update. I had a similar problem with a Apple product after an update. The update made the iPad defective. Apple replaced the iPad after checking it out and found they couldn’t fix the problem. 

W

Add another name. In my defense, I’ve been saying this for a LONG time. I have had a playbar, 2 One’s, and a sub for about 2 years and mine has always been this way. Submitted feedback multiple times and nothing has ever changed. The only way to be able to hear Alexa on either of my One’s is to crank up the playbar volume (this is what controls the whole system). When Alexa is done, you get blasted by the stupid loud TV or music volume. If you ask Alexa anything on normal TV or music volume, you cannot hear Alexa. Period. End of story. Don’t care what support says anymore. This is the issue and it’s been this way for way, way too long.

S

Hi @dynAdZ.

Thanks for reaching out and bringing this up to us.

We appreciate all your feedback here in the community, and changing the voice assistant volume separately can be a very useful feature for sure, but this is not yet available at this time. We don't have any specific details that I can share around if this can come to Sonos, or when it might, but I'll make sure to log this as request and pass it along with the team. We work closely with the Amazon team too, but it's always best to let both sides know if there's a feature you're looking for.

Please let us know if you have additional concerns we’d be happy to send them up for you.

Hi, any news about this issue? 

Thanks

J

I am yet another person experiencing the low volume problem with Alexis in our living room where we have a Playbar, Sub, One, and One SL.  Originally Alexa was fine, but after an update became inaudible.  I was amazed that there was no option to adjust Alexa’s volume (Other than telling her to speak louder, which only seems to be a temporary adjustment).

We have a Beam in our bedroom and in there Alexa seems to be ok.

This is incredibly annoying— please fix!!!

P
Userlevel 2

Huge issue and given that it was introduced by a software upgrade it is shameful that sonos is not taking responsibility and working diligently to resolve it.  Definitely will be recommending that friends and family avoid purchasing sonos if this is the type of support we can expect.…

 

F
Badge

Just to add a plus one here - exactly the same issue, used to be fine, very frustrating.

P

Well just spent £1000’s putting Sonus into my new house… after having to move from S1 to S2…. I have chosen enough Alexa enabled devices to cover my house but this volume issue renders them unusable… first I find that the Drop in feature isn’t supported so I can’t use my system as an intercom and now I find that at low volumes I can’t hear Alexa replies at all ! This is happening on my Moves and Ones - Sonus please acknowledge the issue and schedule a fix please...

C

An update should be done, this is unacceptable. We should be able to set alexa volume independently. Also verry disappointed with the volume...

M

I have the same issue, I tend to listen to music very low around my apartment so it doesn’t bother my neighbors and now I can no longer reasonably hear Alexa’s responses. Makes the use of my 8 Sonos speakers not worth it! The volume issue needs to be fixed and better yet an independent control for Alexa volume vs. music volume is critical. I want music to be low so people can talk comfortably, but Alexa to be loud enough to hear from 5-10 feet away. This is not currently possible and makes my huge investment into Sonos pretty worthless. Not to mention that amount of Spotify syncing issues they’ve had for years and never been resolved. If this isn’t fixed before HomePods play Spotify through voice commands, I’m going to sell my Sonos and move over to Apple’s speaker ecosystem. I already have one HomePod mini to get a feel for using it and the microphones on it are much better than the Sonos One for across the room requests, and the voice vs. music volume isn’t an issue. 

W

I’ll also report that Alexa’s audio is way too low when using my Sonos Beam. The Beam is connected via HDMI to my television and if I raise the volume to hear Alexa’s replies, the TV volume becomes unbearably loud.

M

Same problem here in a pair of Sonos Moves. 

 

Volume of Alexa voice is so low that you cannot use it. 

The original Echo speaker that was replaced by the Sonos Move used to handle this issue perfectly. My upgrade to a Move is really a downgrade in functionality. 

 

This should be so simple to fix. 

(i own lots of Sonos equipment [21 items] and I own the stock. So I say as a big customer and owner of the company - fix it!!!) 

 

 

pcmike

Signed up to say that I’ve having the same issue. I  purchased an Amp a couple days ago and it works great for powering two floor standing klipsch speakers in my bedroom, so I figured I’d get two Ones to get some surround sound easily enough and be able to replace my google home and echo dot. I’ve been running into all sorts of issues… first google assistant only works on the left speaker (supposedly by design, no clue why), second google assistant cannot play Apple Music on Sonos (what? Why not, it works on every other google assistant speaker?), so… I switched to Alexa and I finally get Apple Music (podcasts is another issue) but just this evening when I go to watch TV at a reasonable level and happen to ask Alexa a question I can’t even hear the response. So basically BOTH voice assistants are unusable! I’m well within my return period and unfortunately I’d this is not rectified before that period is up… I’ll be returning these speakers. At such a premium price, basic functionality should be working!

C

I’m having the exact same issue I can barely hear Alexa since a recent update it’s basically unusable right now. 

S

I am using two Ones and Move. I prefer listening on low volumes and this issue is very annoying. Please add separate Alexa volume slider in the Sonos app.

C

Same problem here. TV has to beblaring loud to even hear the Alexa voice on my Arc. Very annoying that this is still an issue.

Lip sync is also awful and not correctable. Likely sell the junk and get something else.

 

Carl

M
Userlevel 2

6 months later, issue still present.

Well played SONOS...

A

Same issue here! Was very excited when I bought the Sonos, but after using it for a few days this is a really huge disadvantage!

please fix it asap!

T

Same here, I am glad I found this thread, I began to think I was going crazy because it was all good fait a long time and some months ago, it was all broken and alexa is way to low… now I know it was Sonos fault. Please fix!!!! Alexa is unusable, as simple as that.

B

I agree. Both using the same volume is ridiculous

Please get this fixed

R
Userlevel 1

I've the same issue going on 6 months. I have this issue on 4 speakers very frustrating with the lack of help from sonos. 

N

Same issue with my Beam. I guess Sonos doesn’t care about these complaints or fixing the issue.

H
Badge

Come on Sonos. I paid a lot of money for my Arc. I expect it to be working properly - including Alexa!

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