I've created the Speaker Groups Alexa skill (https://skills-store.amazon.com/deeplink/dp/B07HGQGT6P?deviceType=app&share&refSuffix=ss_copy) that allows you to group your Sonos speakers together through Alexa! Let me know if you run into any issues with it.
Some example interactions
Change Groups
"Alexa, ask speaker groups to play the living room in the master"
"Alexa, ask speaker groups to stop the master bedroom"
Create Scenes of Speakers
"Alexa, ask speaker groups to create a master group"
"Alexa, ask speaker groups to add the Master Bedroom to the master group"
"Alexa, ask speaker groups to add the Master Bathroom to the master group"
"Alexa, ask speaker groups to group the master speakers" or "Alexa, ask speaker groups to play in the master"
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Userlevel 7
+20
I have an ongoing issue at the moment whereby my Sonos One's, Echo Dot and Echo Show 5 use the preferred speaker setting but my Echo Show doesn't. I wonder if this is related? I'm awaiting some feedback, I'll post the result on this thread when I receive it.
The TV (Samsung Series 😎 is turned off and the Beam speaker on the "Rooms" page of the Sonos app shows no activity.
Userlevel 7
+20
I must admit that I've got in to the habit of stopping music in a sub group before making a request that will enlarge the Group - not ideal I accept. I don't have my Beam connected at present as packing for a house move 😞 but if music is not playing, my preferred speaker settings will add missing players to a reduced Group to create the required Superset.
Do you have TV outputting on the Beam at the time of the request?
I have, but Alexa's grouping ability via "preferred speakers" doesn't do the job for us. I can't get the grouping to occur unless all the speakers in the "preferred" list are currently stopped. If anything is playing on any of them, no grouping occurs. Moreover, making a request on the silent, ungrouped Beam causes music to change in the other rooms while leaving the Beam still silent. And it's not unique to the Beam -- the same thing happens if you manually ungroup a different speaker and then make an Alexa "play" request on it. This behavior might well be intentional, so that one person's request doesn't inadvertently "steal" speakers from another family member's active group. But it's not useful for what we want.
Userlevel 7
+20
Have you set the preferred speaker within your Alexa Group for the Beam?
Thanks for the skill. I just replaced our older Samsung soundbar with a Beam, and this skill is a decent (if wordy) workaround for the Beam's lack of automatic regrouping after turning off the TV. I just wish that Sonos would step up their game and remove the need for extra skills on top of the official Sonos/Alexa integration.
Userlevel 2
Works really well most of the time. In many cases it is not hearing the name of the groups or speakers correctly which only seems to happen on the sonos one.
One thing that I’m missing is to be able to use this in an Alexa routine. I want to group two sonos speakers every morning for my wake up alarm. was super surprised sonos don’t support this in their alarm settings and Alexa can’t seem to help with it either.
One thing that I’m missing is to be able to use this in an Alexa routine. I want to group two sonos speakers every morning for my wake up alarm. was super surprised sonos don’t support this in their alarm settings and Alexa can’t seem to help with it either.
Would love this to be in French also.
Let me know if I can help with some translations :)
I second this for German (and to work in France).
Alexa groups aren't really a good option because Alexa can't play the music stored on NAS, which is still 90% of want I want to play. (Or can I just use Alexa to group the Sonoses without having to start to play something from Spotify?)
Neither Google or Alexa allow the playing of locally stored music currently, so Sonos can't either via voice control.
That's not 100% true because you can use the IFTT integration to trigger some of your Sonos favorites via Alexa, and those can include locally stored music. There are quite a few drawbacks, however. It doesn't work for playlists, just favorites that are names of local folders. And you need to define a separate IFTT trigger for each one.
But it's not useless. Our particular default Sonos use case is to shuffle our home library for all-day background music and we can get that via "Alexa, trigger 'Our Music'". We can also use triggers to activate pre-defined volume levels by name; i.e."Alexa, trigger nighttime volume".
+1
Actually you can, though only US users currently. My "My Speaker" skill gives you voice control over your locally stored Sonos music, and is current in testing in other English-speaking locales. Hope to release it for non-US accounts in about three weeks.
Sounds good. Same offer as above - if you would be willing to go non-English (German/French) I'd be willing to help.
Userlevel 7
+23
Actually you can, though only US users currently. My "My Speaker" skill gives you voice control over your locally stored Sonos music, and is current in testing in other English-speaking locales. Hope to release it for non-US accounts in about three weeks.
+1
Neither Google or Alexa allow the playing of locally stored music currently, so Sonos can't either via voice control.
Exactly, which is why we need something like SpeakerGroups. I generally have a long playlist that I like to take with me from room to room, so grouping and ungrouping per voice command would be great.
Userlevel 7
+20
Would love this to be in French also.
Let me know if I can help with some translations :)
I second this for German (and to work in France).
Alexa groups aren't really a good option because Alexa can't play the music stored on NAS, which is still 90% of want I want to play. (Or can I just use Alexa to group the Sonoses without having to start to play something from Spotify?)
Neither Google or Alexa allow the playing of locally stored music currently, so Sonos can't either via voice control.
+1
Would love this to be in French also.
Let me know if I can help with some translations :)
I second this for German (and to work in France).
Alexa groups aren't really a good option because Alexa can't play the music stored on NAS, which is still 90% of want I want to play. (Or can I just use Alexa to group the Sonoses without having to start to play something from Spotify?)
Userlevel 7
+20
One other thing to try, my Group support stopped working the other day and I had to Disable then Enable the Sonos skill in the Alexa App to get it working again.
You're quite right, but following the same setup routine I still only have playback on the Play:1, with the One remaining on whatever it played last. I have a spare Play:1 somewhere, so will add that to the group and test the behaviour then.
Userlevel 7
+20
I'm using Alexa on Android and I'm not forced to select a controlling Device as long as I include a device within the group. So in your Example Create a Group 'Home' and don't select an Alexa Device but Scroll Down and select your Play:1. Then click Save. Then Edit the Group and Add the Play:1 and Sonos One as Preferred Speakers and Save. Allow 10-15 seconds for everything to Sync and then ask 'Alexa, Play Soft Jazz on Home'
OK that makes sense - if I select say a Play:1 as the controlling device I can then disable it (which I can't with an Alexa-enabled One). But if I then add the One back in as a preferred speaker into this group (called "Home") if I ask Alexa to play something on "Home" it only plays on the Play:1
Userlevel 7
+20
I can create an Alexa Group and as long as I select either a Controlling Device or another Device to be included within the Group, I can save it. I can then Edit it to change the Preferred Speakers.
As per my post here: https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/an-overview-and-explanation-of-the-new-support-for-alexa-grouping-6817788/index1.html#post16298346
Sorry but I still don't get this - if I create a group in the Alexa app the commands will not control all of the speakers in that group. Also there appears to be no way to "don't add a controlling device" as the Alexa app will not allow the group to be saved unless a device is selected.
Thanks a lot @UKMedia
Userlevel 7
+20
Ahh, you don't need to add it to the group just in the Preferred Speaker setting. So in one Group, the Sonos One is the Controlling Device and the Sonos One and Playbase + Play:1's are set as the Preferred Speakers. In the other (Everywhere) don't add a controlling device, just select all your Sonos devices within the Preferred Speaker setting. Then when you give the Alexa command include the group name. i.e. 'Alexa, Play Piano Chill Playlist on Everywhere'
I've got one Sonos One in the Kitchen and a playbase + 2 play 1s as surround speakers in the living room
As I get the food ready, I'm travelling from the kitchen to the living room and back then I want my music to come from both the sonos rooms.
When I'm cleaning up the house, I want my music to play everywhere.
As my kitchen's sonos one is already in a group, I can't add it to a new group called "everywhere"
As I get the food ready, I'm travelling from the kitchen to the living room and back then I want my music to come from both the sonos rooms.
When I'm cleaning up the house, I want my music to play everywhere.
As my kitchen's sonos one is already in a group, I can't add it to a new group called "everywhere"
Userlevel 7
+20
Can you explain what you want to achieve?
The principle is simple. Sorry if I confused you, that's my fault. :)
Say you have a Sonos One and two Play:1's in your house. You need to create an Alexa Group in the Alexa App. You'll be asked to select a Controlling Device, please select your Sonos One. Then if you want to reduce the volume on any other device in addition to your Sonos One, you add that Sonos Speaker to the group. Next, at the bottom of the Group page, you should see 'Preferred Speaker'. Select this and then add the two Play:1's. Save the Group.
Now when you ask 'Alexa, Play Piano Chill Playlist' it will automatically group the Sonos One and both Play:1's together in the Sonos App and play the Piano Chill Playlist on all three speakers.
Please let me know if you get stuck at any point in creating the Group and I'll talk you through it.
All right, thanks.
I get it but since my sonos one can only be in one group, I can't do exactly what I'd like, I'll wait for an update.
Userlevel 7
+20
This is supported by the native Sonos skill now, please see: https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/an-overview-and-explanation-of-the-new-support-for-alexa-grouping-6817788
Thanks for letting me know but the post seems quite complicated to me and I can't manage to set that up right
The principle is simple. Sorry if I confused you, that's my fault. :)
Say you have a Sonos One and two Play:1's in your house. You need to create an Alexa Group in the Alexa App. You'll be asked to select a Controlling Device, please select your Sonos One. Then if you want to reduce the volume on any other device in addition to your Sonos One, you add that Sonos Speaker to the group. Next, at the bottom of the Group page, you should see 'Preferred Speaker'. Select this and then add the two Play:1's. Save the Group.
Now when you ask 'Alexa, Play Piano Chill Playlist' it will automatically group the Sonos One and both Play:1's together in the Sonos App and play the Piano Chill Playlist on all three speakers.
Please let me know if you get stuck at any point in creating the Group and I'll talk you through it.
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