New to Sonos or Alexa? How to set up

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199 replies

P
Hei,

I plan on getting a connect amp with Alexa. I want to use my TV on the Line In port.
Would it still be possible to turn on the whole system via voice command or does Alexa need more than just a wifi connection?

Sorry for the clueless question. 😞
J
Can you please add 2 features that will make Alexa with Sonos perfect?

1. The ability to add songs to play next on Queue.

2. I have Sonos play bar and it would be great if i could have Alexa switch back the audio to tv when done listening to music in the living room without having to pick up my phone open the app and switch it there.

Any update on if this is in the works or not would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Signed a loyal Sonos Customer.
M
I received my Echo yesterday excited about this Sonos-Alexa integration... I actually had a Google Home which I sold since it doesn't integrate natively with Sonos (yes, I know the Google Audiocast workaround).

Anyway, I went to set it up and low and behold the Sonos skill is not available in Canada!?!?!? Seriously?

Is there a planned release date for the Sonos skill for Alexa in Canada?
J
Userlevel 2
You are not alone. I want to voice control MY music collection not the streaming stuff. Very disappointed.
C
Badge +1
I must say that personally I’m really disappointed that this doesn’t allow me to select and play from my own music library. I don’t use streaming or hosted services as music I like isn’t typically available on them. The ability to select music from a known library on a local drive already in the Sonos ecosystem must be possible. It’s interesting that this use case wasn’t prioritised; but I’m perhaps in a minority here....

I am astonished that the much-touted voice control only works with streaming services. When I bought my first Sonos device (I have 12 now) you pointed it at your server or the music directory on your hard disc and it played that. Its primary function was to play locally-stored music. Streaming services were added later, but I don't use them because of the cost (why pay to listen to music I aready own) and the quality.

I have all my music stored as FLACs and I enjoy the sound immensely. In the early days I simply ripped my CDs to mp3/m4a and used the system that way, but I found that over hours of listening I found the sound fatiguing. I listened to the CD version of an album and compared them and they were very close, but I could listen to the CD version all day without fatigue (ie different albums throughout the day in CD format, not the same CD all day!). I have a good ear for music quality but wouldn't call myself one of the 'golden ear' brigade (the ones who claim to be able to hear difference between a standard and gold-plated mains lead...) so I was suprised by this finding.

So out came all the CDs again (and a bigger hard disc) and I ripped them all again, this time to FLAC and can now listen all day without fatigue. I find the same with low bitrate music stations, although the 320k streams are bearable for an hour or two.

Streaming services may be convenient for most people who are used to mp3-level sound quality, but for me I want to be able to listen to my own music (which I've already bought) at the quality level of the original CD, ie FLAC and not compressed.

As an aside, I may be in the minority of people who buy CDs and rip them to a server, but I'd be equally happy to pay for the music and download it in FLAC format and not have to store the CDs in the loft. I know some CDs are available in this way, and of course the model exists if you don't mind a compressed format, but as yet I've not seen it available in a mainstream way for uncompressed formats.
K

The command would be "Alexa, set volume __ in ____." For the Sonos One, you can drop the room name. The same 1-10 applies and relates to the percentage of max volume in 10s.

Exactly as I hoped would be the case. Thanks.
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
I can command it to directly play at any volume level between 1 and 10 by my saying the number. Is there an equivalent voice command for Sonos volume control? If yes, what is it.
The command would be "Alexa, set volume __ in ____." For the Sonos One, you can drop the room name. The same 1-10 applies and relates to the percentage of max volume in 10s. More fine control isn't available right now.

I don't believe there's a single command right now that starts playing and sets the volume at the same time. I've tried out "Alexa, play ____ in ____ at volume ___." But it didn't apply the volume level. I'll let you know if there's a different command that will or should work, but I don't believe there is.
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K
Another question for a hoped for future. When I use Echo/Dot today in stand alone mode, I can command it to directly play at any volume level between 1 and 10 by my saying the number. Is there an equivalent voice command for Sonos volume control? If yes, what is it.

Apologies if this is already answered somewhere.
K
Ryan, thank you, and I look forward to any further insights you may obtain. I suppose one could register the devices in this manner, and when Sonos Skills are finally made available (!!!), see how Sonos control works. If it does not work well or at all, depending upon what is more important one Amazon device could be factory reset and reregistered to have just one Amazon account for all of them and meet the one ring to rule them all thing. At the expense of not having the ability to play more than one Amazon Prime stream at the same time.
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
A question: if two Dots are registered in one home to two Amazon accounts and Prime subscriptions, to get two streams from Prime to play at the same time, will both devices be able to control/command one Sonos system installed across the home?
I'm looking into this one a bit more in depth for you, Kumar. But in short, it's not intended as the integration is designed for one Amazon account per each Sonos account. However, it looks like this does work, assuming you have both Prime accounts added to your Sonos system. This isn't an intended use, so I can't speak to if it'll work flawlessly or how long it might function.

Good question!
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K
A question: if two Dots are registered in one home to two Amazon accounts and Prime subscriptions, to get two streams from Prime to play at the same time, will both devices be able to control/command one Sonos system installed across the home?
K
I have also taken up the Sonos invitation to email direct to senior management including the CEO; can't go higher than that! Hopefully this will get addressed, sooner rather than later.
K
Ryan, it would be more useful to know when the Skill will be available and even more for it to be made available asap. I don't recall Sonos saying at any time in the last 12 months that there would be cases like this - where Echo/Alexa is available in countries via official Amazon release, but integration with Sonos would still be missing.

There is a world outside US/UK/Germany.
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Hey Kumar, since the Sonos skill isn't available in India I wouldn't really expect it to show up, but I'll check in and share what you're seeing with the right teams to see if there's some behavior that isn't expected. Thanks for sharing!
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K
Amazon has just released the Alexa app and Echo devices in India and right off the bat there is a problem: Sonos Skills aren't in the list of skills.

The strange thing though is that in Music & Books in the Alexa app, tapping that shows the available music services under Music, Sonos under Speakers and Kindle under Books. The problem is that then tapping on Sonos - present in the correct font, so it is Sonos for sure - opens that All Skills page, where the search window does not return any skills for Sonos.

Probably a starting bug, but in any case, something to talk to Amazon about?
M
Absolutely shocking setup. The Sonos username/ password screen keeps reloading whilst inputting, it took me over 50 tries before I could submit. I hope iits going to be worth it....already disappointed that my music library isn't accessible to Alexandra- change request please
L
This is a heads up post: I installed the new Sonos one yesterday but was unable to get the voice control working. I had previously used my phone to link the Sonos and Alexa accounts and was able to play music using voice control on my echo. When I got the Sonos One working I could not figure out how to get voice control working. I was using the Sonos app on my laptop because it's easier than the phone. I searched and read but was getting more and more frustrated when I noticed that every web page of instructions showed a phone. So I turned on the Sonos app on my phone and there were two red menu items: one for linking music and one for voice controls. In about 30 seconds Alex spoke from the Sonos One and I was able to use voice control.

Please tell me if I missed something in the Windows app or did Sonos just make a major screw up by not specifying that YOU MUST USE YOUR PHONE to activate voice controls. If the Windows app doesn't contain the requisite menu items it should be clearly indicated.
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
When will Apple Music be supported? It's one of the largest music sites and libraries available. Also, how can you play from personal music library (fed by my iTunes library on Sonos)
You can already use Alexa to control what's playing on Sonos from any source, the only thing that can't be done with the non-Alexa services is starting playback. We'll add your request for Apple Music to the team, but there isn't a timeline or roadmap on that one. Thanks for asking!
Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
C
When will Apple Music be supported? It's one of the largest music sites and libraries available. Also, how can you play from personal music library (fed by my iTunes library on Sonos)
jgatie
What about Line-In sources, and if so, what would the command be? Anything I can think of would sound very confusing and I am not too confident that it is supported at this time. If not, I am reconsidering my order of a dot echo as Spotify and Line-In (TV audio and turntable) are the majority of my listening.

There is no control of the line-in via Alexa, which stands to reason because Alexa would need to control the device hooked up to the line-in. There is also no way to switch to the line-in via Alexa, but that could be accomplished via Autoplay.

Alexa support for Spotify is coming soon, the Sonos Facebook account says it will arrive "by the holidays". However, even at this time you can initialize play from the Sonos app and control pause, play, skip, previous, volume, etc. via Alexa.
T
What about Line-In sources, and if so, what would the command be? Anything I can think of would sound very confusing and I am not too confident that it is supported at this time. If not, I am reconsidering my order of a dot echo as Spotify and Line-In (TV audio and turntable) are the majority of my listening.
D
Userlevel 1
Badge
Amazon dot will not turn down or turn up volume. Did I do something wrong? Does the volume control work? I’m constantly getting the “Sonos isn’t responding” or “kitchen isn’t responding” anything I can do?
No other smart devices are connected besides 2 sonos speakers the soundbar "living room" and a play 5 "kitchen" using the command "Alexa, turn up volume in (room xxxx)." or any variation does not work and results in "xxxxx isn’t responding”

"Alexa increase volume in Dining Room"

"Alexa lower volume in Dining Room"

I guess if you change Dining room to your Zone name, it should work.

Works with SONOS Play 5 gen 1 and Dot amazon Music Paid.
(UK)

The volume increase / decrease is quite a lot though. Maybe they will look at this.
hope this helps
5zero9
Badge
Amazon dot will not turn down or turn up volume. Did I do something wrong? Does the volume control work? I’m constantly getting the “Sonos isn’t responding” or “kitchen isn’t responding” anything I can do?
No other smart devices are connected besides 2 sonos speakers the soundbar "living room" and a play 5 "kitchen" using the command "Alexa, turn up volume in (room xxxx)." or any variation does not work and results in "xxxxx isn’t responding”
S
Userlevel 5
Badge +11
I'm having a few teething issues as i have to speak the commands a few times before they take effect and often there is a big lag

That's surprising. I normally only see long lags or ignored commands if all my bandwidth is being eaten up by something else.

Alexa does support Spotify. What isn't currently support is requesting Spotify music services to play on Sonos speakers through Alexa voice commands.
So many qualifiers to get that point clear, good job 😉
melvimbe
Alexa does support Spotify. What isn't currently support is requesting Spotify music services to play on Sonos speakers through Alexa voice commands.
Danny
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