Sonos beam mic sensitivity

  • 23 December 2018
  • 8 replies
  • 2847 views

Alexa struggles to hear me on beam - just me or beam problem?

I currently have my beam next to my TV as it's recommended, outputting TV sound. Majority of the time I say 'Alexa' she doesn't hear me - I sit roughly 9 feet away from the beam.

The weird thing is, sometimes with the above issue I have to shout and I have a sonos one in an upstairs bedroom, opposite side of the house - usually this picks me up saying 'Alexa' as I can hear the 'Alexa' tone. This happens sometimes and the beam still hasn't heard me....

Anyone else have issues with beam microphone not being very sensitive. Majority of the time If I shout it does hear me and if the TV is off it's usually fine too - My TV isn't particularly loud either.

Advice would be appreciated!

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8 replies

Userlevel 7
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Some people have found that simply turning the Mic off via the button on the Beam for 2 secs and then back on again improves things.
Userlevel 1
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I've a Sonos One in a room adjacent to the room with the Beam. Sitting some 5 meters away from Beam, and at least 8 meters from the One, the One will often hear the Alexa wake word when the Beam doesn't. That's even with no sound coming from either speaker. I would say the mics on the One's are far more sensitive than the Beam.
I've a Sonos One in a room adjacent to the room with the Beam. Sitting some 5 meters away from Beam, and at least 8 meters from the One, the One will often hear the Alexa wake word when the Beam doesn't. That's even with no sound coming from either speaker. I would say the mics on the One's are far more sensitive than the Beam.
Sometimes it can down to Room acoustics and sound reflecting off things, but as long as one device picks up your instruction and interprets it correctly, it shouldn’t matter too much. I just wish Sonos would take away the 'bong' tone after the Alexa wake word... it’s enough to drive anyone up the wall, I think. How nice it would be, if that could be switched off.
Same prob i have to shout to be heard will try turning the mic off beam is brilliant but alexa is a bit deaf compared to the sonos one , that can hear my voice from 10ft away in the other room
Just turned off the mic for 30 secs seems to have done the trick happy now no more shouting brilliant
I seem to have the opposite problem with my One - Alexa responds to some word combinations on the TV. Being able to adjust response sensitivity would be helpful.

I've a Sonos One in a room adjacent to the room with the Beam. Sitting some 5 meters away from Beam, and at least 8 meters from the One, the One will often hear the Alexa wake word when the Beam doesn't. That's even with no sound coming from either speaker. I would say the mics on the One's are far more sensitive than the Beam.I just wish Sonos would take away the 'bong' tone after the Alexa wake word... it’s enough to drive anyone up the wall, I think. How nice it would be, if that could be switched off.

If you check into the Alexa App via the Sonos App you can turn off Wake Word response (can also do it via Alexa app (I have 5 Alexa/Echo derivatives in the house & none bong or ping etc 👌

Alexa struggles to hear me on beam - just me or beam problem?

I currently have my beam next to my TV as it's recommended, outputting TV sound. Majority of the time I say 'Alexa' she doesn't hear me - I sit roughly 9 feet away from the beam.

The weird thing is, sometimes with the above issue I have to shout and I have a sonos one in an upstairs bedroom, opposite side of the house - usually this picks me up saying 'Alexa' as I can hear the 'Alexa' tone. This happens sometimes and the beam still hasn't heard me....

Anyone else have issues with beam microphone not being very sensitive. Majority of the time If I shout it does hear me and if the TV is off it's usually fine too - My TV isn't particularly loud either.

Advice would be appreciated!

Mine worked great since install (three months) then all of a sudden I had to raise my voice from two feet away. I did what some others suggested, turned mic off and on, now it works fine.