Alexa mutes speakers

Sonos has said they want to do it so when they can they will.

With thirty years developing systems and software, I fully understand that one persons “easy” isn’t always as easy as it appears, but I also know that you need to let people know the limitations of what you’ve released. If a release only supports a single echo and Sonus then it should be in the release notes.

It's Sonos. And it simply isn't true that the system "only supports a single Echo and Sonos". I have two echos and 8 Sonos devices and I can control them all just fine. Sure the ducking happens on all of them when I say the wake work but, knowing it's a Beta skill, I can patiently wait for the new SDK.

If it dips the volume on all Sonus systems then it’s not a true multi room system. (If you don’t use the echo skill you don’t get this behaviour) If your happy with the dipping issues then enjoy, but for many of us it’s not a good experience, which is reflected by the amount of people saying they’ve removed the Sonus skill from their Echo systems.

It's SONOS! SonOs!

And yes, the ducking happens on all speakers. That may mean an unenjoyable experience for some, but it most certainly does not mean you cannot use Alexa to control a true multi-room music system.

"Alexa, play smooth jazz in the kitchen."

"Alexa, play The Bridge from SiriusXM in the master bedroom".

^^^See, I just did it. Music, in multiple rooms, via Alexa.

I have multiple Sonos and Echo devices in two locations, in different states. Because they utilize the same accounts, a question to Alexa in Arizona will duck my Sonoses in Washington state.

My system has stopped dipping the volume when using Alexa. I'm not quite sure when it stopped, maybe a couple of weeks ago. We have a 9 zone Sonos system, with 2 Ones, and 3 Amazon Alexas, so safe to say this problem was driving us nuts. It does mean that if we have a music on loudly, Alexa doesn't hear us, but I'd rather live with that than having all the speakers dip just because someone uses an Alexa in the kitchen.

I'm experiencing the same problem which is made worse because of multiple users. Previously I had an echo dot sitting next to my play 5 to experiment with Alexa and Sonos. Alexa would mute all speakers but I never really noticed or cared. I purchased a Sonos One and since I didn't have a use for the dot I gave it to my son for his room. Mistake. Whenever he interacts with his Alexa it mutes sound everywhere but when he tries to play music through his dot it has an impact on other Sonos zones and changes what is playing elsewhere (he isn't using any Sonos room name, etc). My solution will be to unplug his dot until the APIs mature and hope this improves with time...price of being on the cutting edge.

Hit Dot shouldn't mute the Sonos One. You can disable the Alexa skill on the rest of the Sonos speakers in your house and his dot will not effect them.