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Amazon Alexa and Sonos with two systems

  • 5 October 2017
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Is there anything I will have to do to be able to use Alexa with my Sonos systems in two separate homes? I have Echos in both.
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Best answer by MikeV 8 October 2017, 02:09

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20 replies

Since they're both on separate wifi networks, I don't think you'd have an issue.
At least, no more so that you do with your controller app. Do you have issues with that?
No, that works fine and I don't remember having to do anything to set it up.
Then I think your fine. You'll be talking to a Alexa system on a particular network, that will communicate to the Sonos devices on the same network.
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I have a similar issue. The help site says that you must use separate Amazon accounts for each. When you enable the skill Alexa asks which network you wish to control.

It is a pity that it isn't configured the way the controller works - the controller automatically sees the different networks. I can confirm from my personal experience that the Alexa integration does not work that way.
Mine doesn't work in second house either. Disappointed.
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You would need two Amazon accounts, so each Amazon account can be associated with a different Sonos household and the appropriate Echo Dot device in that household.

Alexa is more than just a Dot in a house. The system is entirely cloud-based... you could even send commands through the Amazon app while you're not at home and it would still work. Since the brains of Alexa aren't on your home network, it doesn't know where it is. It just knows it's on the internet.
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I find it very disappointing that it doesn’t control 2 systems. The Alexa integration with Hue lightening allows control of multiple systems at multiple locations without having 2 different amazon accounts. I don’t see why sonos cannot do it.
Adding my +1 for this feature... having 2 amazon accounts defeats the purpose, all the "smart" devices in both locations are mine, and Alexa has no issues with a multi location setup - I have 2 dots at home, and one in my office, it knows the difference. I also have Hue lights in both, without issue. The PITA is that I have to deregister and reregister every time I want to use Sonos as I can only connect one at a time. Each Sonos player has a unique ID and name in the system, so it would be really nice to have the feature to connect multiple systems.
I have this same issue - why can’t I give permission to alexa to control both my systems? As long as I have different room names I can’t see what the problem is - one Sonos account linked to one amazon account
+1 on not requiring two accounts. The Alexa -> Sonos integration is cloud based. So if I want an Alexa device on network 1 to send a request to Alexa cloud which is forwarded to Sonos cloud which is sent down to sonos device on network 2, I should be able to do that so long as devices on network 1 and network 2 are uniquely addressable.
+1 on not requiring 2 accounts. About to send all 3 dots back and switch to google home. This is very frustrating and makes no sense why they would not address this. Is there a way to find out if this is on the roadmap?:(
This is troubling for me to because I use Amazon Prime music and to have two Amazon accounts complicates my simple login to have Amazon Music remember me, etc... Any advice? I want to have my Sonos One system at home, and another at my office. Thanks!
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You can have your home and office Sonos be the same household ID and therefore Sonos would not know if they were in one location or the other.

If you setup 2 sonos units at home and just take one to second location they will both have the same household IDs. That is what people always did prior to the Sonos controller being able to remember multiple households.
Okay so I have two separate rooms at home. I just take a third Sonos One and set it up at home as a third device/location. but then take it to my office and it should work all with the same Amazon account? Isn’t there an issue of there is different WiFi at my work with a different name and login?
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No that shouldn't matter at all. When you get to work you would need to hook the Sonos One to your router there and then go to settings...advanced....wifi setup to input the new credentials into that speaker.
So then I can go from 1 location to another and it will work out with different WiFi credentials? Why is everyone saying one needs tow Amazon accounts?
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The wifi credentials are remembered by the speakers not the controller. So at some point changing one system and not the other shouldn't matter at all.

I'm not sure why would need two amazon accounts since they both have same home id this way.

From a cloud perspective being both speakers say they are the same home id - if you issued a command Alexa shouldn't have any idea which location you are at.
Will try, thanks! So, it will still think I am at the other location so can I have separate locations re weather, traffic? I could not set up a voice profile in traffic in case another voice at home wants their own. That's another problem.
I’m trying to get two Sonos 1 units working in two locations, one at my home, an one at a vacation home.

The first Sonos unit was purchased and set up at my home. Everything works fine with Alexa controlling the unit. I purchased the second unit and set it up while I was at home (to make sure it worked) and then set it up again when I reached my vacation home.

The first one is in “Kitchen” and the second one is in “Living Room.”

The second Sonos unit worked fine with Alexa for one day, then started cutting out and finally is giving me an error of “I don’t understand you, please try later”.

I only have one Amazon account and want to use that single account for both as I’ve signed up for Amazon Music Unlimited.

I’ve tried resetting the second unit to factory settings, re-setting up all voice and music services, re-attaching it to my vacation wifi network, and nothing seems to work.

My diagnostic confirmation number is 1812030302. I’m using either the Mac Sonos controller or IOS controller. No difference.

I assume that resetting to factory settings would have given me a new household ID, allowing me to differentiate the two units by location. Should I set up both units from home so they have the SAME household ID? Then move the second unit to my vacation home? They’ll be on different wifi networks.

I don’t care about local weather at the second location, only accessing my playlists and playing music.

What am I doing wrong? Or more importantly how to I get to this state:

* Sonos One #1 working at home using Alexa to provide music and local information.
* Sonos One #2 working at my vacation home using Alexa on the same Amazon Prime Music Unlimited account to provide music.