I'm frustrated and annoyed with two Sonos Ones. I operate holiday lets in Devon and have recently set up three luxury Shepherds Huts in an orchard on a hill overlooking our local river valley. In two of the huts I put Sonos One - in the third I put an Echo Plus because it supports Bluetooth and I've also put a small Audio-Technica Bluetooth turntable and a headphone amp and nice headphones; the turntable can stream to the Echo Plus but Sonos don't support Bluetooth.
I liked the idea of smart speakers for all sorts of reasons, including easy access to music, but also because I could set up Amazon blueprints and give my guests a personalised guide: 'where's the best pub in the area', 'where's the nearest supermarket', 'how do I light the fire' and so on.
The Echo Plus has worked faultlessly but the Sonos 1's have been very frustrating and I'm on the verge of sending them back and replacing them with two Echo Pluses despite the slightly lower sound quality.
The latest confusion is the 'sorry that device is offline' surprise all of a sudden. Is this a recent issue with the latest software? I've registered and deregistered and linked and unlinked using the apps and it fixes the problem and then next day it's back again.
Each hut has its own SSID although they all share the same broadband connection. I use the same iPhone - mine - to configure the two speakers in each hut individually. I now find that, if I fix the problem in one hut, the other one goes offline i.e. can't access Amazon Music. If I (sigh) go to that hut and fix it, the first one goes offline.
The stability of these systems is very poor; I don't have confidence that a speaker working today will still be working when my guests arrive.
Is this a problem that will be fixed - soon - in a software update so I can count on them being stable once fixed?
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Nothing to fix, its how you have it configured...
You either need two controllers (phones) one dedicated to each Hut or connect both Sonos devices to the same SSID.
You either need two controllers (phones) one dedicated to each Hut or connect both Sonos devices to the same SSID.
Really? Thats even more annoying as, alas, I need isolation between huts. I don't want (for example) a user in hut #1 asking for music in hut #2 at 2am in the morning.
Surely there is a better way of having multiple Sonos 1 speakers other than having them all on the same network and visible to each other?
I was also (for example) thinking of having a few in my house, which is 500m away and has two SSIDs due to the size, plus another for an annexe we also rent out which is a 3rd SSID. Do I need a 3rd, 4th & 5th controller i.e. iPhone or iPad or similar - just to manage those?
Whereas I have no such difficulty with the Echo Plus, at least not as far as I can see.
Surely there is a better way of having multiple Sonos 1 speakers other than having them all on the same network and visible to each other?
I was also (for example) thinking of having a few in my house, which is 500m away and has two SSIDs due to the size, plus another for an annexe we also rent out which is a 3rd SSID. Do I need a 3rd, 4th & 5th controller i.e. iPhone or iPad or similar - just to manage those?
Whereas I have no such difficulty with the Echo Plus, at least not as far as I can see.
You could but a couple of cheap Kindle Fires, one for each hut and set them up as seperate households.
Depending on your home SSID’s it’s possible to make it work across networks if savvy / the hardware will let you.
Depending on your home SSID’s it’s possible to make it work across networks if savvy / the hardware will let you.
Currently, you can't have multiple separate Sonos 'households' (i.e., separate Sonos systems under the same account) associated with the Sonos Alexa skill at the same time. I have the same problem with my Sonos systems in two separate houses: enabling the Alexa skill for the system in one house will disable it in the other. Normal voice services in the 'disabled' household (e.g., 'Alexa, what's the weather today?') work OK, but controlling music playback does not.
I believe this is an Alexa limitation, in not recognising a 'household' concept in its data models. The rather clumsy workaround for the time being is to set up separate Sonos accounts and separate Alexa accounts.
Also... not sure how Amazon would work, might throw you off the other household each time you use it,
It's best to consider a Sonos account as network subnet/SSID specific rather than individual focused, although as has been pointed out by @Belly M and @pwt, it is possible to have multiple devices in different locations as long as you have a dedicated controlling device for each location. Also, the only reliable method of linking Sonos to Alexa currently is to have a 1:1 relationship between accounts - the US does have additional Family Account functionality which means you can swap between accounts but this is not probably something you would want your guests to do.
Is it your intention that guests will control the Sonos One via voice only? (There is always the risk that a Sonos user will rent, having the Sonos App installed on their mobile device, and so will try to access the Sonos One via the App!)
As @pwt has stated, the best way to address this would be to create a separate Sonos, Alexa, and streaming accounts per Shepard Hut.
Is it your intention that guests will control the Sonos One via voice only? (There is always the risk that a Sonos user will rent, having the Sonos App installed on their mobile device, and so will try to access the Sonos One via the App!)
As @pwt has stated, the best way to address this would be to create a separate Sonos, Alexa, and streaming accounts per Shepard Hut.
Peter,
Aside from your controller issue, once you sort that out, I would bet my house that you will still have problems with Alexa seemingly randomly failing to work. I can only imagine how frustrating this will be for your guests and yourself!
To minimise the risk:
1. Ensure that each system has one sonos speaker connected directly to the router (or set up a bridge, connect etc)
2. Set up a sonos web for each system
3. Ensure that each speaker has a reserved IP in router DHCP settings
I havent had a single issue with my system since I implemented the above.
Cheers,
Ian
Aside from your controller issue, once you sort that out, I would bet my house that you will still have problems with Alexa seemingly randomly failing to work. I can only imagine how frustrating this will be for your guests and yourself!
To minimise the risk:
1. Ensure that each system has one sonos speaker connected directly to the router (or set up a bridge, connect etc)
2. Set up a sonos web for each system
3. Ensure that each speaker has a reserved IP in router DHCP settings
I havent had a single issue with my system since I implemented the above.
Cheers,
Ian
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