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Can the Sonos Beam be added to Alexa's "Multi-Room Speakers" Group?

  • May 11, 2019
  • 4 replies
  • 7497 views
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Can the Sonos Beam be added to Alexa's "Multi-Room Speakers" Group?

Yes, a Beam can be added to a "Group" via the Alexa app. That is not what I am trying to do.
More specifically, I am looking to add the beam to my already existing "multi-room music group"
("groups" are not the same thing as "multi-room music groups")


Things I have already attempted / looked for:
• I see the Beam listed under all devices in the Alexa app, and it is showing that it is online.
• All of my Alexa devices and Beam are on the same Wi-Fi network.
• I have the Sonos skill enabled on my Alexa app.
• I have the Sonos app downloaded on iOS and I am signed in.
• "Have you tried turning it off and back on again?" 😛 - Yes, I've closed the Alexa app, restarted my phone, tried adding from the existing multi-room group, deleted that same existing group and tried to add by starting from scratch. Nothing.
• I use Spotify as my music service. It is enabled on Alexa app and added on Sonos app.
• I can play music from any of these devices separately.
• I called Customer Service for both Sonos and Amazon. Both representatives were extremely helpful and knowledgeable about the products- walked me through other options and ideas and were just as stumped as me.

The goal was to add my Beam soundbar to my existing Alexa devices in the multi-room music group so that I could play music throughout multiple rooms. I can already do this with all of my Alexa devices but was just trying to add the Beam.

It is very possible, that this is not supported at this time - BUT there is not a definitive "no" out there and thought I would ask.

Best answer by The Generalist

Unfortunately there is no way to combine/sync Amazon Echos and Sonos together for multi-room music playback. I had the latest Sonos One and the latest Amazon Echo Plus (and Dot) and unfortunately I ended up returning the Sonos One because I had too much already invested in the Echos. There is no way to do what you want because Amazon and Sonos haven't made a bridge to sync audio playback. You either have to have all Sonos or All Echos to have synced audio played via multi-room music group. Sonos is much better sound quality but when I already had so much money in Amazon it didn't make sense to replace all of that with expensive Sonos speakers.
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    4 replies

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    • The Generalist
    • Contributor I
    • Answer
    • May 30, 2019
    Unfortunately there is no way to combine/sync Amazon Echos and Sonos together for multi-room music playback. I had the latest Sonos One and the latest Amazon Echo Plus (and Dot) and unfortunately I ended up returning the Sonos One because I had too much already invested in the Echos. There is no way to do what you want because Amazon and Sonos haven't made a bridge to sync audio playback. You either have to have all Sonos or All Echos to have synced audio played via multi-room music group. Sonos is much better sound quality but when I already had so much money in Amazon it didn't make sense to replace all of that with expensive Sonos speakers.
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    • LibraSun
    • Contributor I
    • February 6, 2020

    It’s a bummer to hear that this simple feature is not possible, mostly because all the literature I’ve read online concerning Sonos and Alexa products would have buyers believe that “Yes, you can!” Even some online reviews suggest that adding a One or Beam to the “Multi-Room Music Group” is trivially simple to do.

    Nope, it’s not, and that leaves a bunch of us unwitting users in the lurch. And it’s extra unfortunate because there is no technical reason for these devices not to act in unison, as one might imagine. The impasse arises solely from lack of implementation and will on the part of either Sonos and/or Amazon.

    Sad.

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    • Arthurmcn
    • Lyricist I
    • February 6, 2020

    I’ve found a solution, the fire stick 4K can be added to a multi room group with echos devices. It only works with a 4K stick not the basic one. The TV must remain on but it works. Maybe with an HDMI split the fire stick can directly be connected to the beam so the TV can remain off...

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    • RomanTheCube
    • Lyricist I
    • March 28, 2020

    It’s a bummer to hear that this simple feature is not possible, mostly because all the literature I’ve read online concerning Sonos and Alexa products would have buyers believe that “Yes, you can!” Even some online reviews suggest that adding a One or Beam to the “Multi-Room Music Group” is trivially simple to do.

    Nope, it’s not, and that leaves a bunch of us unwitting users in the lurch. And it’s extra unfortunate because there is no technical reason for these devices not to act in unison, as one might imagine. The impasse arises solely from lack of implementation and will on the part of either Sonos and/or Amazon.

    Sad.

    Massive bummer! I am one of those people unfortunately that was fooled. I am fairly careful when looking at specs and reviews for these types of things and I specifically purchased the Sonos Beam for my TV so that I could extend the reach of my Echo speakers across different rooms of my apartment, so I could play music on ALL my Sonos+Echo devices. The product blurbs and reviews all seemed to indicate that this was possible, so I was very disappointed to find these posts telling me that it isn’t possible.

    I have not used the Beam for Alexa/echo functions since the day I bought it and found out that it didn’t sync. It was the main reason I purchased the beam in the first place! :( Perhaps Sonos/Amazon will work on a Sync solution…. fingers crossed

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