setting up multi-room music in Alexa app

SH12 · 2018-01-19T23:06:36+00:00

I have 2 Sonos Ones (both have Alexa built in)n and a Sonos Play 5. I asked Alexa to play music in bedroom, dining room and family room, then Alexa tells me I need to set up multi-room music on Alexa app. I checked internet to see how to do that and it says to go to "Audio Groups" in Settings but there is no Audio Groups shown in my Alexa app Settings.

Hello there, SH12. Thanks for posting and welcome to the Community. It sounds like you would like to group rooms together when requesting a track through Alexa. Grouping can only be done in the Sonos app. When using Voice Control after grouping, the volume will need to be controlled individually. A command such as: "Alexa, turn it up." will only turn up the Sonos One you are speaking to and not to the group as a whole. If you want to control the volume of the group as a whole, that will need to be done in-app.

Hope you found this helpful!

Keith, quick question about your answer.

If I´ve done a group in the SONOS APP and want to play a specific playlist and use Alexa to start it.

What would be my command?

Or do I have to start the playlist in a specific room and THEN group it in the SONOS APP?

Thx

Hi

Please see this article for Voice Commands across the different music services:

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3514

Please note to play a Playlist you must include the word 'Playlist' after the name. e.g. 'Alexa, Play piano chill Playlist'

With regards to grouping, you can either group before or after the music has been initiated via voice control - just use the Rooms tab in the Sonos App.

I have the same issue as SH12, and Keith's solution doesn't work for me. I believe the grouping needs to be done in the Alexa app. Currently if I say "Play ____ in the Living Room and Bathroom" it doesn't work. If I say "Play ___ in the bathroom" is does work, but I think only because "Bathroom" is listed as one of my devices in the Alexa app. I'll try to set up multi-room in the Alexa app and let you know if it works

There is no current way to group players via either Groups within the Alexa App or via voice control. The only way of doing this is via the Sonos App. Once grouped, asking Alexa to output to any speaker contained within that group will output music to all speakers within the group.

Sonos *REALLY* needs to introduce this feature ASAP. I have speakers around my house and it really is a drag not being able to say "play xxxx on kitchen and living room" or "play on all speakers". Major feature deficiency.

Agreed and I think it will be something that will be included but Sonos haven't committed to a timeline yet.

Really disappointed that this basic functionality has not been implemented yet. It defeats the purpose of controlling the speakers with Alexa.

Can't play music to a group of speakers and can't adjust the volume of a group of speakers... Seriously? Those are the two most basic functions you'd want to do.

Just to clarify - you can play music to a group of speakers via voice control but you need to group them in the app first and then ask Alexa to play to any player within the group.

I agree, this feature really needs to be added. Seems like you should be able setup a group name along with the ability to play the individual speakers separately, without having to group / ungroup them in the app first. Please consider adding this feature.

Wow I can not believe this is not a feature yet. I purchased the beam and just enabled Alexa and the first thing I tried after haveing it play so Music is to also play the current song on another speaker and no go. Then I tried to group the speakers and it didn’t know the command. This a basic function of Sonos speakers. The fact this has not been added in almost a year is very disappointing

My understanding is that Amazon haven't allowed this functionality to be used with 3rd party speakers yet.

Nobody actually addressed this guys Q directly. I have the same issue. Alex (Echo Dot) recognizes my two sonos systems (Playdeck and two Sonos Play Ones plus a standalone Play # in another room), but says I need to set up a multiroom group using the Audio Groups section of Settings in the Alexa App. Like the OP, I cannot find any Audio Group command set up in Settings.

You can't group Sonos devices for multi room audio within the Alexa App, you have to use the Sonos App. Just select the Rooms tab on the Sonos App to group the Sonos Devices together.

Then from your Echo Dot use the command 'Alexa, play soft jazz on {Sonos Room Name}' and audio will be output on all Sonos devices grouped with that device.

Wow I can not believe this is not a feature yet. I purchased the beam and just enabled Alexa and the first thing I tried after haveing it play so Music is to also play the current song on another speaker and no go. Then I tried to group the speakers and it didn’t know the command. This a basic function of Sonos speakers. The fact this has not been added in almost a year is very disappointing

Not really the Amazon Alexa 'Multi-Room Music Groups' is currently just for Amazon echo devices only, which are all standalone and cannot be stereo paired etc. Sonos has its own Multi-Room grouping system in the Sonos App, which is faster/easier to group/ungroup speakers 'on the fly' and supports stereo paired speakers and those in a bonded home theatre setup.

Presently the Amazon and Sonos speakers operate entirely separate from each other, in the same way that Sonos and Bose and other speakers do not work together through their Apps. I can’t see this changing too much in the neat future.

I guess the closest step towards a multi-speaker cross-platform music system is Apple's new AirPlay 2 protocol, but even then, it still has a long way to go to get things in sync, plus the audio plays through the controller device rather than direct from the audio source to 3rd party speakers.

One day we may see cross platform speaker grouping happen, where everything is playable on 'everything' in perfect sync, but I’m not going to hold my breath whilst waiting for this to happen... many think it may not ever happen at all, though some partnerships are beginning to emerge... there are too many patents/licences at stake, plus a strong competitive market is much better for the consumer and will help to drive the business forward.

Nobody actually addressed this guys Q directly. I have the same issue. Alex (Echo Dot) recognizes my two sonos systems (Playdeck and two Sonos Play Ones plus a standalone Play # in another room), but says I need to set up a multiroom group using the Audio Groups section of Settings in the Alexa App. Like the OP, I cannot find any Audio Group command set up in Settings.

You can't group Sonos devices for multi room audio within the Alexa App, you have to use the Sonos App. Just select the Rooms tab on the Sonos App to group the Sonos Devices together.

Then from your Echo Dot use the command 'Alexa, play soft jazz on {Sonos Room Name}' and audio will be output on all Sonos devices grouped with that device.

Ok, so for grouping sonos speakers without alexa you need to group using the sonos app, and for grouping sonos speakers with alexa you can use mutiroom from the alexa app.

BUT, i don't want to group anything, i just want alexa to start playing in my office where there is just a sonos play5. Is that possible? :?:8:?

Ok, so for grouping sonos speakers without alexa you need to group using the sonos app, and for grouping sonos speakers with alexa you can use mutiroom from the alexa app.

No, that part isn't possible (yet).

BUT, i don't want to group anything, i just want alexa to start playing in my office where there is just a sonos play5. Is that possible? :?:8:?

Yes, if you've got an Amazon Echo device.

Setting up Amazon Alexa on Sonos

Controlling your Sonos with Amazon Alexa

ok, thanks! 😃

I have a group called 'Lounge' which is my Beam + 2x Play:1's and another group called 'Bedroom' which is just a Sonos One. As far as I can tell from this thread it's only possible to play music through both groups by physically selecting them in the Sonos App, and not possible to pair them using voice control with Alexa.

Is it possible to create a new group in the Sonos app called "Everything" that includes my Beam + 2x Play:1's + Sonos One so I can tell Alexa to play music to "Everything" and bypass having to select them individually on the app?

Sprint211,

If you group everything to begin with in the Sonos App and use Alexa to play to any Sonos Room, the Audio will play to all Rooms.

There is currently no way to group/ungroup using Alexa voice instructions and presently Alexa enabled Groups are just for the Amazon devices only.

Sonos have said in the past they would revisit this issue but it’s not certain what their plans are, or if indeed they will go onto develop this 'much asked for' feature using voice-based instructions.

Is the only way to group everything together at the beginning? I have my Beam and 2x Play:1s set up as a home theatre. I tried setting them up all together but it didn't change anything.

Sprint211,

Sorry if any of the below info is teaching you to 'suck eggs' and you are already fully aware of these things, but it maybe useful anyway to some others reading this thread...

When you setup your Beam and it’s two Play:1 surrounds, that is actually different to the term 'grouping'... it’s a thing Sonos call 'Bonding' and is created from within the Apps 'room settings' section, so your Beam and it’s surrounds (when 'bonded') show as just one single room. The room name appears in the 'room settings' section of the app and may look something like this ... Lounge (+LS+RS)... this same room however will just appear in the 'Rooms Tab' of the app as a room called ..'Lounge'.

Obviously 'Lounge' is just an example here and will depend on your chosen Room Name.

For music to play equally through all speakers in this home theatre setup, you need to goto “Settings/Room Settings” and select Lounge (+LS+RS) and then goto Advanced Audio/Surround Settings/Music Playback and toggle the setting from 'Ambient' to 'Full'.

The other 'Sonos One' you have in the Bedroom is obviously an entirely separate and second group, called 'Bedroom'.

So you just need to go into the Rooms Tab in the Sonos App and ' group' both Lounge and Bedroom together, or whatever your two rooms are currently called.

Then once they are grouped, just ask Alexa to play to either of your two rooms... I have numerous rooms in my home and the two screenshots attached shows the case where I have grouped them all in the Sonos App Rooms Tab. Note there is the option to select 'everywhere' too in the dialogue box that appears when grouping your rooms together.

You can currently only do these things within the Sonos App, they cannot be done with Alexa voice commands, well not yet, at least.

Hope that helps.

Ken that is great information.

Okay so just to clarify there isn't any way of using the voice command to group the two rooms when playing music, only via the app. After the rooms are grouped in the app I can use voice commands to play music, yes?

I don't seem to have the option to play "Everywhere" like you do on the app. I only have two rooms to choose from though.

Sprint211,

Yes that’s correct.

I assume the 'Play Everywhere' is simply because I have lots of rooms.

Yes that is correct. In the Rooms tab, as soon as you hit the 'Group' button the top option should be 'Everywhere'. It is possible that it doesn't appear for a two-room setup as it only requires one touch to achieve that anyway (by selecting the other 'room').

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