New to Sonos or Alexa? How to set up

So you have an Alexa device and Sonos players, where do you go next?

1. Make sure your Sonos and Alexa devices are all powered up and connected to the network.

If you're new to Sonos, this means Installing the Sonos app, and going through the steps for Setting up Sonos here.

If you're new to Alexa, install the Alexa app (currently only available in the US, UK, and Germany) and make sure your Alexa device(s) show up. They will be listed under Settings > Devices. Amazon has a setup guide for the Echo Dot here.

2. In the Alexa app, search for and add the Alexa Skill for Sonos.

3. Follow the on-screen prompts to authenticate your Amazon account, then your Sonos account.

4. Finally, inside your Alexa app, select discover devices under Smart Home or on the Sonos skill page.

You are now ready to try out some commands! There’s a great, comprehensive list here.

Wondering how it all works? Check out the How it works thread.

If you run into any trouble, please feel free to take a look here to start, or ask any question in the Amazon Alexa and Sonos forum.

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Mmakoto

No that would require the Sonos sound bar. But I can tell you the sound quality is amazing. Especially when paired with 2 ones and the base, for 5.1 surround sound.you can pair the sonos soundbar with the new One? i thought the One only works with another One for stereo and not the other Play:1, 3, 5, etc...

You know I am not 100% sure it’s kinda vague. From everything I have read you can’t pair the on a one and a play 1. You have to have to one’s but you should be able to use 2 ones for stereo. I use the echo dot for Alexa with mine.yeah, from what i've read the new One is not backwards compatible with any Play:1,3,5, but unsure of the sub and amp. they might release updated products w/ alexa built in to work with the One?

Two Sonos Ones can be bonded to the Playbar for use as surrounds, or paired together as a stereo pair, with or without a Sub. You simply cannot use one Sonos One with one Play:1 for these configurations, just as you cannot use a Play:5 and a Play:3 for these configurations. In all other ways the Sonos One is compatible with all other Sonos devices.

Sorry if this has been answered before.. I have 6 speakers, 2 downstairs and 4 upstairs with Alexa now near the front door. I hoped to be able to tell Alexa to pause ‘all’ or ‘upstairs’ or just ‘downstairs’. I can set up and name groups in the Alexa app but it doesn’t recognise or currently support this action. Are groups (either sonos groups or Amazon Groups) to be supported in the next round of updates. Look forward to hearing from you.

We haven't made any specific announcements on plans for that sort of zone or scene grouping coming to Sonos in the future, but I'll make sure to add your voice to the request, rmgiles.

How does one skip a song without asking alexa or the app? Any buttons to press on the device itself?

Double tap on the play/pause button for players with physical buttons. Swipe to the right for touch units. You can see more here.

It's called "ducking," glad you like it :)

I actually hate it. we have 3 Echos and every time my son speaks to his Echo the Music in other rooms is ducked. Annoying. Would be great to „disconnect“ Echos to prevent ducking across different rooms. Workaround was now to setup different Amazon and thus Echo accounts for me, my wife and kids.

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.

I also have most of my music ripped to FLAC/MP3 on a NAS, played via Sonos Play:1 and PLay:3 stereo pairs. I've managed to find a way of controlling these via the Echo I got for Xmas. I've taken out a subscription to the Amazon Music Storage Service (£22/year). By uploading the music the playback of which I want the Echo to control, I can then ask Alexa to play it, pause it, etc. Not ideal as yet another purchase to make but at least it works (for now!). Sadly Amazon is about to cease allowing new subscriptions but it looks like existing subscriptions will be honoured and allowed to be renewed. Hope this helps!

Hello, recently new to Sonos One and having issues, particularly using radio tune in to play on demand shows - Kirk and Callahan is what I’m trying to access, and when I ask to play it, Kirk comes on and says “excellent choice, content will play next “. So it sounds like it works, but then nothing plays after that. When I physically use the Alexa app, and click the show, 3 blue dots scroll across like it’s trying to play, but then nothing plays. See picture attached. I’ve already tried disabling and enabling the skill for the show, and deleting and adding the app again. Can anyone please help?

Hi Ncaruso77, have you tried using the Sonos App to find that show through TuneIn and see if it'll play through there, instead of through Alexa? I just tested it out and some of the shows aren't working while others play. Can you test out if maybe some play through Alexa but not others?

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for your response. When I try to play it direct from my Sonos app I get an error saying access is denied . Any idea why that would be? See attached pic, thanks for your help.

Also, as info, Sonos support got back to me and said he Alexa skill is not compatible with Sonos One. They will add this to their list for functionality feature requests

The team was probably referring to a specific Alexa skill for the show itself, if there is one.

The error is usually because the stream has some account specific protections on it, or there's a problem with the stream. I just tested that particular episode out on the TuneIn page directly: https://tunein.com/radio/The-Kirk--Callahan-Morning-Show-p11394/?topicId=119446077 this is where Sonos pulls the streams from. So if it's not working on TuneIn, they may have the wrong stream indexed.

Ok thanks. I checked some of the other episodes and they work. So we should be all set. Really appreciate your help!

this doesn't seem to work in Canada? or am I mistaken?. I can add the Sonos speakers to Alexa Smart Home... but if I request something to play on them, Alexa denies all knowledge of anything called "Living Room Sonos" or Bedrrom Sonos"

You would need the Sonos skill for Alexa, but it is not available in Canada yet. Sonos has stated they are working on it.

I'm getting a blank screen when adding the Sonos skill. deleted and reinstalled the sonos app, still can't add the skill. Help please.

Hi folks. Quick question, I plan to set up 2 sonos ones as a stereo pair in my man cave. When setting up the alexa part, should I only enable one device under the alexa app?

You'd enable Alexa on both, but you could turn off the mics on one if you wanted. There shouldn't be any need though, as they will arbitrate between them so that only one answers when you talk. You could play around with it, since muting the mics is just touching the microphone icon on top of the unit.

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