Question

Controlling In Ceiling and Wall Speakers with Alexa

A
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Hi,

I have a large Kitchen / Diner / Sitting Room.

In the sitting room area I’m thinking about getting in wall and in ceiling speakers to 2 amps for a 5.1 (plus sub and phantom centre) for movies.

I would also like to use them for stereo music and control them using Alexa. I have 2 Sonos One above the kitchen cabinets grouped.
 

Could I control the in wall and ceiling speakers by simply telling Alexa in the Sonos One. “Alexa, play radio in sitting room” or would they have to be part of the same group? The 2 x Sonos One are in the ‘Kitchen Group’ and the 5.1 would be in the ‘Sitting Room’ group.

thanks

Adam 

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15 replies

J

Making Sonos speakers (or Amps) preferred speakers in Alexa groups makes them the default if you don't specify the 'room'. But you can control all your Sonos rooms by telling Alexa where you want the music played.

So in your example,  provided 'sitting room' is a Sonos room that will work. 

jgatie

You could put a Dot in the sitting room,and make the sitting room the default for the Dot.

A
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You could put a Dot in the sitting room,and make the sitting room the default for the Dot.

I presume based upon your reply a wireless Sonos device with built in Alexa on the same WiFI network won’t control the speakers set to the AMPs?

A
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Making Sonos speakers (or Amps) preferred speakers in Alexa groups makes them the default if you don't specify the 'room'. But you can control all your Sonos rooms by telling Alexa where you want the music played.

So in your example,  provided 'sitting room' is a Sonos room that will work. 

Thanks John.

apologies I’m a Sonos novice.

would one of my Sonos Ones with Alexa built in have to be in the same ‘Sonos room’?

jgatie

I presume based upon your reply a wireless Sonos device with built in Alexa on the same WiFI network won’t control the speakers set to the AMPs?

 

Sure it will.  You would just have to specify the room.  Say you have the Dot set up with the Amp 4.1 “Sitting Room” room as the preferred speaker.   You can then say to the Dot “Alexa, Play smooth jazz” and smooth jazz plays in the Sitting Room on the Amp 4.0 speakers.  You then go into the Kitchen and tell the Ones “Alexa, play rockabilly in the Sitting Room”, and rockabilly plays in the Sitting Room, replacing the smooth jazz.  

A
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I presume based upon your reply a wireless Sonos device with built in Alexa on the same WiFI network won’t control the speakers set to the AMPs?

 

Sure it will.  You would just have to specify the room.  Say you have the Dot set up with the Amp 4.1 “Sitting Room” room as the preferred speaker.   You can then say to the Dot “Alexa, Play smooth jazz” and smooth jazz plays in the Sitting Room on the Amp 4.0 speakers.  You then go into the Kitchen and tell the Ones “Alexa, play rockabilly in the Sitting Room”, and rockabilly plays in the Sitting Room, replacing the smooth jazz.  

Thanks so much for the swift reply.

How does this affect multi-room music on the Sonos app? 
 

thanks again 

J

Making Sonos speakers (or Amps) preferred speakers in Alexa groups makes them the default if you don't specify the 'room'. But you can control all your Sonos rooms by telling Alexa where you want the music played.

So in your example,  provided 'sitting room' is a Sonos room that will work. 

Thanks John.

apologies I’m a Sonos novice.

would one of my Sonos Ones with Alexa built in have to be in the same ‘Sonos room’?

One of your Sonos Ones would BE a Sonos room. 'Room ' is just a label in Sonos for a speaker or allowable combination of speakers,  such as a stereo pair. You can use Alexa to control all the rooms in your Sonos system. It doesn't matter if Alexa hears you through a built in Alexa or an Amazon Echo device. 

A
Badge

Making Sonos speakers (or Amps) preferred speakers in Alexa groups makes them the default if you don't specify the 'room'. But you can control all your Sonos rooms by telling Alexa where you want the music played.

So in your example,  provided 'sitting room' is a Sonos room that will work. 

Thanks John.

apologies I’m a Sonos novice.

would one of my Sonos Ones with Alexa built in have to be in the same ‘Sonos room’?

One of your Sonos Ones would BE a Sonos room. 'Room ' is just a label in Sonos for a speaker or allowable combination of speakers,  such as a stereo pair. You can use Alexa to control all the rooms in your Sonos system. It doesn't matter if Alexa hears you through a built in Alexa or an Amazon Echo device. 

Final question than (thanks for help).

 

if I have 2 x AMPs how do I assign an Amazon Dot to both for Stereo? Do I have to pick one and the other piggy backs onto it, is it hardwired or wireless? 
 

thanks 

J

Regarding multiroom... if you ask Alexa to play in the Sitting Room, and Sitting Room is already grouped with Kitchen, then the music plays in both.

You can also use Alexa groups to group your Sonos speakers, by specifying more than one 'preferred speaker' in an Alexa group.

For example, in my (physical) living room I have two Sonos 'rooms', a Playbar and a stereo pair of Play:5s, both rooms being 'preferred speakers'. And I have an Echo Dot. The Dot controls an Alexa group which includes the Playbar and P:5s. If I say 'Alexa, play X', without specifying a room, the two Sonos rooms will group and play the music in sync.

J

Making Sonos speakers (or Amps) preferred speakers in Alexa groups makes them the default if you don't specify the 'room'. But you can control all your Sonos rooms by telling Alexa where you want the music played.

So in your example,  provided 'sitting room' is a Sonos room that will work. 

Thanks John.

apologies I’m a Sonos novice.

would one of my Sonos Ones with Alexa built in have to be in the same ‘Sonos room’?

One of your Sonos Ones would BE a Sonos room. 'Room ' is just a label in Sonos for a speaker or allowable combination of speakers,  such as a stereo pair. You can use Alexa to control all the rooms in your Sonos system. It doesn't matter if Alexa hears you through a built in Alexa or an Amazon Echo device. 

Final question than (thanks for help).

 

if I have 2 x AMPs how do I assign an Amazon Dot to both for Stereo? Do I have to pick one and the other piggy backs onto it, is it hardwired or wireless? 
 

thanks 

You only need one Amp for stereo, so not sure what your question means here.

A
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Regarding multiroom... if you ask Alexa to play in the Sitting Room, and Sitting Room is already grouped with Kitchen, then the music plays in both.

You can also use Alexa groups to group your Sonos speakers, by specifying more than one 'preferred speaker' in an Alexa group.

For example, in my (physical) living room I have two Sonos 'rooms', a Playbar and a stereo pair of Play:5s, both rooms being 'preferred speakers'. And I have an Echo Dot. The Dot controls an Alexa group which includes the Playbar and P:5s. If I say 'Alexa, play X', without specifying a room, the two Sonos rooms will group and play the music in sync.

Thanks John. Goodness me it’s confusing, but I’m sure it should all work.

is your Echo Dot plugged into anything or does it just cast what you want it to play to the Sonos speakers?

i think my final head scratcher is how a non built in Alexa speaker wirelessly plays exactly what you’ve asked an echo dot to play. 
 

if “it’s just magic” is the answer, I’m happy with that as long as it works! 

J

Ah. Just reread your first post. Your two Amps and Sub are a single Sonos room as one of the Amps is for rear speakers, so you need only one Dot. The Dot doesn't have to be wired to anything.

J

Regarding multiroom... if you ask Alexa to play in the Sitting Room, and Sitting Room is already grouped with Kitchen, then the music plays in both.

You can also use Alexa groups to group your Sonos speakers, by specifying more than one 'preferred speaker' in an Alexa group.

For example, in my (physical) living room I have two Sonos 'rooms', a Playbar and a stereo pair of Play:5s, both rooms being 'preferred speakers'. And I have an Echo Dot. The Dot controls an Alexa group which includes the Playbar and P:5s. If I say 'Alexa, play X', without specifying a room, the two Sonos rooms will group and play the music in sync.

Thanks John. Goodness me it’s confusing, but I’m sure it should all work.

is your Echo Dot plugged into anything or does it just cast what you want it to play to the Sonos speakers?

i think my final head scratcher is how a non built in Alexa speaker wirelessly plays exactly what you’ve asked an echo dot to play. 
 

if “it’s just magic” is the answer, I’m happy with that as long as it works! 

No not magic. About 2 years of development work to integrate Sonos and Alexa!

A
Badge

Regarding multiroom... if you ask Alexa to play in the Sitting Room, and Sitting Room is already grouped with Kitchen, then the music plays in both.

You can also use Alexa groups to group your Sonos speakers, by specifying more than one 'preferred speaker' in an Alexa group.

For example, in my (physical) living room I have two Sonos 'rooms', a Playbar and a stereo pair of Play:5s, both rooms being 'preferred speakers'. And I have an Echo Dot. The Dot controls an Alexa group which includes the Playbar and P:5s. If I say 'Alexa, play X', without specifying a room, the two Sonos rooms will group and play the music in sync.

Thanks John. Goodness me it’s confusing, but I’m sure it should all work.

is your Echo Dot plugged into anything or does it just cast what you want it to play to the Sonos speakers?

i think my final head scratcher is how a non built in Alexa speaker wirelessly plays exactly what you’ve asked an echo dot to play. 
 

if “it’s just magic” is the answer, I’m happy with that as long as it works! 

No not magic. About 2 years of development work to integrate Sonos and Alexa!

Thanks John.

when I’m pulling my hair out and myself and Alexa are filing for divorce I’ll give you a shout!

 

 

J

Regarding multiroom... if you ask Alexa to play in the Sitting Room, and Sitting Room is already grouped with Kitchen, then the music plays in both.

You can also use Alexa groups to group your Sonos speakers, by specifying more than one 'preferred speaker' in an Alexa group.

For example, in my (physical) living room I have two Sonos 'rooms', a Playbar and a stereo pair of Play:5s, both rooms being 'preferred speakers'. And I have an Echo Dot. The Dot controls an Alexa group which includes the Playbar and P:5s. If I say 'Alexa, play X', without specifying a room, the two Sonos rooms will group and play the music in sync.

Thanks John. Goodness me it’s confusing, but I’m sure it should all work.

is your Echo Dot plugged into anything or does it just cast what you want it to play to the Sonos speakers?

i think my final head scratcher is how a non built in Alexa speaker wirelessly plays exactly what you’ve asked an echo dot to play. 
 

if “it’s just magic” is the answer, I’m happy with that as long as it works! 

No not magic. About 2 years of development work to integrate Sonos and Alexa!

Thanks John.

when I’m pulling my hair out and myself and Alexa are filing for divorce I’ll give you a shout!

 

 

Haha. It may or may not be me, but there is always someone on here happy to help. 

The set up instructions on the Sonos website are good. It seems more complex when it's hypothetical than it is in practice.

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