Sonos One in Alexa Speaker Group?

  • 11 December 2020
  • 18 replies
  • 5027 views

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I have mostly Amazon Echo devices in my house, with the exception of two Sonos One speakers working as a stereo pair in my living room. Every Echo speaker is in an Alexa group “Everywhere” so I can play music “everywhere” in my house.

Except the Sonos One speakers aren’t listed as available for the speaker group. 

I’ve heard that it’s the fault of Amazon for not allowing third-party speakers to be integrated into speaker groups in Alexa. I’ve also heard that it’s Sonos integration that’s to blame and that there are other third party speakers that can be part of a speaker group. 

Is there a solution? And if so, how do I get my Sonos One speaker pair onto my “everywhere” group?

If not, what’s the update, Sonos? What would be involved for your speakers to be available for speaker groups through the Alexa app?


18 replies

Userlevel 7
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The issue here is that the technology to sync audio across multiple rooms is proprietary and in fact Sonos is currently sueing Google for patent infringement of this very thing..

With regards to other speakers being included, I'm not aware of any non Amazon multi room speakers that can be grouped currently.

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Thanks. Highly disappointing and really leaves us consumers out in the cold. :-(

This really is disappointing. I’m the same as you Dave T, I’ve mainly got Alexa speakers controlling smart bulbs, plugs and my heating, as well as playing music, etc. I forked out on a Sonos Move to fill my open plan kitchen/family room area with sound, and also thinking that I could link all my speakers together for a full on in-house experience. Sadly, I now know, this isn’t possible. And there appears to be an impasse not allowing this to happen. 

@Sonos, consumers want this - how can you make this happen? Or I may have to stop buying expensive Sonos equipment and go back to all Amazon Alexa devices to get that coverage I want.

There is a solution. Kind of. Buy cheap echo dots and connect the audio out to your sonos speaker audio in. You are then in effect using the echo dot as your “bridge” between sonos speaker and Alexa group. You would add the echodot to “everywhere” group 

Been over a year and a half since I bought the Sonos Move and realized it didn’t group with my collection of Echos.  At 400 bucks it should do everything the others do and more.

 

Unfortunately it looks like Sonos is much like Apple in the sense they like to litigate pointless stuff like basic technology that shouldn’t be patentable anyway…  “Synch Audio”…  Really?  And they don’t like to work with other services while blaming the other services for it.  

This was the only Sonos product I have ever bought and it’s the only one I ever will buy,  The Echo Studio is half the price of the Sonos Move, 30% louder, has double the drivers, and just plain sounds better.  The only advantage to the Move is the wireless charging and portability/water dust shielding.  If it wasn’t for fan boys Sonos would have died off long ago.

Take care!  Brush your hair!

Yeah, have the same issue.  Hopefully Sonos will put out a future update.

Userlevel 1
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I have this problem months after it was discussed above. Has a solution been found?

I have this problem months after it was discussed above. Has a solution been found?

No, because nobody is trying to find a solution. And that is because there isn't a problem. Sonos makes multiroom home audio systems. Their systems are self-contained.  You either commit to the Sonos ecosystem or you don't.  If you are already heavily invested in a rival system such as Google or Amazon, why go out and buy a Sonos speaker? 

I have this problem months after it was discussed above. Has a solution been found?

No, because nobody is trying to find a solution. And that is because there isn't a problem. Sonos makes multiroom home audio systems. Their systems are self-contained.  You either commit to the Sonos ecosystem or you don't.  If you are already heavily invested in a rival system such as Google or Amazon, why go out and buy a Sonos speaker? 

Because consumers like options. To give you an analogy, imagine a world where, e.g.,  LG tv pairs only with LG speakers and nothing else.

There is a solution. Kind of. Buy cheap echo dots and connect the audio out to your sonos speaker audio in. You are then in effect using the echo dot as your “bridge” between sonos speaker and Alexa group. You would add the echodot to “everywhere” group 

Downsides of this approach:

1) If you connect with audio 3.5 mm jack:

  a) You need a Sonos that has 3.5 mm input. Not all Sonos speakers have 3.5 mm input, e.g. Sonos Move does not have one. 

  b) Even if your Sonos has 3.5 mm input, the audio quality is really bad. This is a known issue with Ecoho dots when connected via 3.5 mm to high end speakers.

2) If you connect via Bluetooth:

  a) Audio quality is slightly better than 3.5 mm jack, but not the same as using WiFi to play music. 

  b) Your Sonos is linked to one device only. You cannot, e.g., play music via WiFi, you will have to manually switch Sonos from Bluetooth to WiFi. Imagine that you also have Alexa and Google Home in your house and you want flexibility - forget it.

For me, there is no point to own an expensive speaker if you cannot get 100% out of it.

To add my experience, I recently bought a Sonos Move which I returned it due to multi room compatibility with Alexa and Google Home. The speaker was exactly what I was looking in terms of sound and portability, but since it cannot integrate it in my existing multi room groups, then I am afraid it is of no use to me. As such, I do not think I belong to Sonos' clientele. 

To add my experience, I recently bought a Sonos Move which I returned it due to multi room compatibility with Alexa and Google Home. The speaker was exactly what I was looking in terms of sound and portability, but since it cannot integrate it in my existing multi room groups, then I am afraid it is of no use to me. As such, I do not think I belong to Sonos' clientele. 

Why didn’t you just simply Bluetooth-pair the Move to an echo dot and then play ‘Everywhere’? - that would have output the playing audio to all your devices? Seems to me you made a mistake, sending back probably one of the best speakers you had in your Home, it makes no sense when there are such easy ways to achieve these things. 

I agree it is possible, but please kindly see my reply above regarding Bluetooth pairing: 1) audio quality via Bluetooth, 2) manually switching between Bluetooth and WiFi sometimes to connect with other devices. 

 

Being able to connect via WiFi and multi room connectivity with Alexa and Google Home (I have both in my home) was possible until late 2021/beginning 2022 where the Sonos-Google lawsuit meant that multi room connectivity (with different speaker companies) should not be widely used. This is why many consumers are confused: if you read an article/blog of 2021 then you would see that multi room connectivity was possible, which was actually true in 2021. 

 

Consumers nowadays should have the opportunity to be able to connect via WiFi to all speakers, but of course this is only point of view. I specifically refer multiple times to WiFi connectivity, because Sonos Move is advertised as a product with WiFi connectivity, and this is the reason that I purchased this product over cheaper products that have Bluetooth connectivity only.

 

For Google Home multi room connectivity, I know that devices with built in Chromecast allow this, but unfortunately Sonos Move is not one of them. 

 

I understand that the multi room connectivity is a Sonos patent and at the moment Sonos has not decided to share it, but my experience with the product is not what I anticipated. 

 

I am also not a big fun of patents, because usually in order to create a parent you take knowledge that is publicly available, e.g. in peer reviewed academic papers, and you customize it so much to your needs that you now call it your product so that no one else will use it (unless compromises are made) even if they independently come up with a similar approach. I work in tech.

@ZioN_123,

I still wonder why, in defeat, that Google didn’t just licence the technology from Sonos for the benefit of their own customer, having illegally ‘acquired’ it to begin with.

Having lost their battle in Court, it seems Google left in a bit of a huff. At least, that’s how it appears from a customer perspective, having perhaps lost out on some things once available.

I personally opted to stay with the Sonos train, as it all works great together and has TV audio integration available too within the multi-room audio system. It’s also been nice to see that Sonos and Amazon seem to be getting along. 

As such, I do not think I now belong to the Google clientele.

Fair points. By the way, Google and Amazon are on the same boat, meaning multi room connectivity (and other functionalities like controlling volume in a group via phone) is not available in none of them at the moment but was available in the past, so I was not sure what you mean by Sonos and Amazon getting along. Again this is just my experience as a consumer.

To clarify, I am not biased towards either of the companies we mentioned, meaning that I see Google Home and Alexa as tools that could connect the consumer with companies like Sonos, JBL, Bose, etc. I am just trying to find products that suit my needs, given a set up I currently have. 

Userlevel 1
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It seems this is sorted out now and may have been some time ago.

Currently in Feb 2023 I can play on Sonos speakers (or an Alexa-defined grouping of them) by using an Alexa voice command. The Sonos speakers are defined within Alexa as a “Group” rather than a “Speaker Group”.

It seems this is sorted out now and may have been some time ago.

Currently in Feb 2023 I can play on Sonos speakers (or an Alexa-defined grouping of them) by using an Alexa voice command. The Sonos speakers are defined within Alexa as a “Group” rather than a “Speaker Group”.

 

I believe the issue was about putting Sonos speakers and Amazon Echos in the same Alexa group to play in sync.  Yes, you can play echos together, or you can play Sonos speakers together, but not both, at least in my Alexa setup.  If you can play both together, please share how.

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