Ducking with Alexa on Sonos One lasts much longer than it takes for the request to be filled

  • 2 April 2018
  • 7 replies
  • 441 views
S
I noticed about a month ago that my Sonos One, my bathroom started ducking (lowering volume for a command), much longer than was necessary. There are two main scenarios that I use Alexa with the Sonos One. In the first, I am just asking for weather or some short snippet of information. In this case, even if the Sonos One is in "listening" mode, it doesn't matter because I already received the weather report and and I've walked away. However, the second use case is much more annoying. If I ask Alexa to play a podcast or music, it starts playing immediately, but the volume is very reduced because the Sonos One is still waiting for a command. This lasts about 10 seconds, which means I miss the first part of my song or podcast.

I know there are a lot of discussions about whole house ducking which I hadn't even thought about and doesn't currently bother me since we are rarely listening to whole house music. I am more upset about the experience on the Sonos One I am using.
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7 replies

UKMedia
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
Sonos have committed to improving the ducking experience but haven't committed to a time scale.
Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
Master T
Userlevel 6
Badge +9
@sygyzy - Do you have Follow-Up mode enabled on the Sonos One? Try disabling that via the settings in the Alexa app. That will prevent the Sonos One from waiting for a second command and reduce the ducking time.
Ken_Griffiths
@sygyzy - Do you have Follow-Up mode enabled on the Sonos One? Try disabling that via the settings in the Alexa app. That will prevent the Sonos One from waiting for a second command and reduce the ducking time.

Where is that setting, precisely in the Alexa App? I don’t see it. Unless it’s not available here in the UK.
Master T
Userlevel 6
Badge +9
Choose settings, then the name of the Sonos One device. There are two device listing for the Sonos One, so be sure to choose the Alexa device, not the speaker. In the android app here in the U.S., it's directly under the Device Time Zone section.

Someone else mentioned that the option wasn't available in their version of the app either but they found it when they logged into alexa.amazon.com, so perhaps try that.
Ken_Griffiths
Master T.

Thanks for that, I found and watched this YouTube video ....

https://youtu.be/CBCmJ81qmio

And I can say the feature is not currently on my iPhone iOS App here in the U.K. and I have the latest version installed, but I will go try the online version at alexa.amazon.com like you kindly suggest.

Thanks again for your help and quick reply.
Ken_Griffiths
Master T.

Just to confirm I double checked that I accessed the 'settings' of my actual Sonos One device and not just the 'Room' name that also appears in the device list.

I went to alexa.amazon.com and logged into view the online version of my Alexa settings but that site redirects me to to alexa.amazon.co.uk which is our online version of the Alexa App settings and the follow-up mode feature is not in there at the moment for UK users ... We usually get these type of features later and behind the US development so I guess we will just have to sit and wait patiently for that improvement.

Anyhow I hope that clarifies a few things for others here who may not be able to see the follow-up mode option in their app.
UKMedia
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
You're correct Ken, this is only available in the US currently. 😞
Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
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