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Sonos in one room, Echo in others

  • 5 October 2017
  • 14 replies
  • 4350 views

Hey everyone,

Firstly, I have scoured threads relating to Alexa and Sonos, but haven’t seen anybody ask or answer this question.

I currently own one Play:1 and have been waiting for the announcement and details of the Alexa skill before expanding my Sonos range throughout my home. With the recent details of the new Amazon Echo, I was thinking this could be a good option for smaller rooms, rather than another Play:1.

So, let’s say I buy two Sonos One when they release - I create a stereo pair in my living room with these, then I have a Play:1 in my dining room with an Echo Dot, then I put a new Echo in my bedroom - if I were playing music on my living room Sonos pair, could I then also play this in my bedroom at the same time on the stand-alone Echo?

I’m not sure this would work because of the cross platform and also how grouping works in Sonos (I don’t own any Echo products, which may be why I’m asking this question), so thought I would ask those who have both!


Thanks!
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Best answer by jgatie 5 October 2017, 13:19

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14 replies

Userlevel 4
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I'm pretty sure that you won't be able to share / play your Sonos music through the standalone Echo product (dot, echo, plus, show), it will only work to control the other Sonos devices
lewisc- thanks for the reply. Seems about right... has anybody tried this?
Userlevel 1
I’m not that familiar with the Sonos side of things but I have 4 echo devices in my house. I added my Play 1 today and as of right now I can’t find a way to play all of the devices at the same time. There is a grouping feature for all of my echo devices but the Sonos is not there. I can ask Alexa to play music on my Sonos Play 1, which is great, but I was really looking forward to playing music everywhere at the same time.
Echo and Sonos cannot be grouped to play the same music in sync.
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Hi how did you connect your play 1 to your amazon dot? Got a dot connected to my play 5 via jack plug cable, but no means for the play one. Thanks
Hi how did you connect your play 1 to your amazon dot? Got a dot connected to my play 5 via jack plug cable, but no means for the play one. Thanks

There are detailed threads in the Announcements section detailing how to setup the new skill.
Userlevel 3
Badge +3
Great question. I was trying to figure out if I should buy a Dot or Echo. If I could group Echo and Sonos that would have been the ticket. Now I will just get a Dot. I will probably buy a Sonos One at some point but at this point the Dot will suffice for Sonos voice control. Thx.
Thanks for all the responses everyone, they’re really helpful!

This would be the ideal situation for Alexa and Sonos integration in my eyes, but understand Sonos want their speakers to only group with their speakers, otherwise there’d be all kinds of multi-room-Frankenstein setups about...
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Hi how did you connect your play 1 to your amazon dot? Got a dot connected to my play 5 via jack plug cable, but no means for the play one. Thanks

There are detailed threads in the Announcements section detailing how to setup the new skill.


Sussed it thanks. If anoyone else is wondwring need to sync devices in the skills section in alexa app. Put sonos search its at the bottom.

It works but still a bit clunky i had a speaker playing downstairs and it got confused. Massive leap though.
I do think there is room to have both stand alone echos and sonos products in the same house though. I have sonos outside, the living room, my bedroom, and bathroom. I have echos in the kids rooms. I don't have much need to do multiroom in the kids rooms, and voice control is their preferred interface.

I do have echo dots in other rooms, but really discourage using them for music. This new interface goes a long way towards that, although having to state the room is still kind of a pain.
Thanks everyone for all the help and advice!

So, since Amazon are currently allowing those with a voucher code emailed to them to buy a Dot for £25, would this be worth it? I currently have a Play: 1 and plan to get some Sonos One in the near future.

If I have a Dot now, with the Sonos skill enabled for use with my existing Play: 1, will this then pair with the Sonos One when I get them?

So, for example: Play:1 in the bedroom with an echo dot, two One’s in the living room and one One in the dining room. I could say, whilst in the bedroom, “Play XXXX in the dining room”?
Userlevel 5
Badge +11
I hope so - I've just ordered a dot with the voucher purely to try the voice control thing out. That is how I understand it will work. The dot will effectively be able to act as a (limited function) voice activated remote control for Sonos.
Thanks everyone for all the help and advice!

So, since Amazon are currently allowing those with a voucher code emailed to them to buy a Dot for £25, would this be worth it? I currently have a Play: 1 and plan to get some Sonos One in the near future.

If I have a Dot now, with the Sonos skill enabled for use with my existing Play: 1, will this then pair with the Sonos One when I get them?

So, for example: Play:1 in the bedroom with an echo dot, two One’s in the living room and one One in the dining room. I could say, whilst in the bedroom, “Play XXXX in the dining room”?


I would recommend getting a dot to use with your existing sonos zone(s), yes. I've been happy with that setup.

I don't think 'pair' is the right word in this context. The two Sono's One's you plan on getting would be a stereo pair, creating one zone. The Play:1 in your bedroom is a separate zone, that can be 'grouped' with your living room zone.

And yes, you can tell the echo (or the Sonos Ones) to play music in your dinning room or any other zones that you setup in your system.

Please note that there are still several features in Sonos that can be controlled through the app that cannot yet be done through Alexa voice control. You cannot set groups or iniate play in several music sources, like Apple or your own local music files for example. It would be wise to look around the forums and learn about the features, if certain features are very important to you.
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Have read comments with interest. Have a pair of Play 1's in lounge (great!) and have linked them to Alexa/echo dot in kitchen, which I connect to a decent Vita amp/speaker via aux in. I want to play music through all together, and the previously mentioned problem of a combined Echo/Sonos group doesn't work.

However, you can play the radio through both at the same time - not ideal. Any other ideas or solutions to get music out of my sonos and vita speaker in sync?