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Contributor I
Jan 11, 2018 6:52 PM UTC
Answered

Alexa voice volume too loud

Hi there,

I already read some posts about other people heaving problems with alexa's voice volume on the Sonos One. Some say it's not loud enough, when they have low music playing. Some say it's too loud.
For me, the problem is, that Alexa is way too loud. When I mute the Sonos One and ask Alexa a question, she responds at a volume absolutely inapropriate. So I won't ask Alexa a lot in the evening, because I'm scared to wake someone up.

Is this just normal on the Sonos One, is this a bug? And is Alexa supposed to be muted, when the Sonos One is muted?

I would appreciate any advice. Does anyone have similar experience with the Sonos One?
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Edward R
Edward RAnswer
Retired Sonos Staff
Jan 15, 2018 3:04 PM UTC
Hi, M Z. Welcome to the community. This is a popular topic at the moment and we have received quite a bit of feedback regarding this. We are currently exploring options as to how to remedy this, so your input is much appreciated. Should this be introduced, we will announce it, but that is all the information we have available until such time, I'm afraid. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you. Many thanks.
Try searching our articles for help with your question: https://www.sonos.com/en/support

72 replies

Lyricist II
Jan 10, 2019 10:43 PM UTC
At least it’s not just me! Alexa shouts! LOL
I’ll follow to find the solution. Thanks.
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Contributor I
Jan 15, 2019 11:55 PM UTC
I just wanted to add I'm having the same problem. Alexa is deafeningly loud and completely impractical to use at night.

There must be a way of turning it down to a normal level.
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Contributor I
Jan 16, 2019 7:02 PM UTC
After spending a bit of time talking to support today they confirmed that the massive difference between the Alexa voice and the music you are listening to is "intended". Which would be a truly weird design choice.

I have found a workaround. By disabling Alexa on my Sonos One and adding the Sonos skill to an old Amazon Dot I can get most of what I need.
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Trending Lyricist III
Jan 16, 2019 8:55 PM UTC
The ability to set Alexa voice to a static level is desperately needed. Streams on Tune In have wildly fluctuating volume levels and often require raising the volume to achieve a moderate listening level, in these frequent scenarios Alexa's voice is far too loud.

I also don't really get the need of fixing Alexa's voice to the device volume level, the active audio fades anyway before she kicks off so it's not as though she needs to compete with it.

Count me in as another who's disabled Alexa which is a real shame, I bought the gear as a music playback solution for my other half who's not good with technology but good at talking!
She found the whole thing very obtrusive and I have to agree.
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Lyricist I
Jan 18, 2019 9:57 AM UTC
Found this post whilst trying to find a way to turn Alexa's voice down on our new Sonos One. It's fine during the day, but it's in the evening/at night, the voice is way too loud when the One's volume is set to quiet.

They really need a way to change the average or minimum volume of Alexa. I'm worried that this thread is a year old with no fix, despite how 'closely' they're working together. Considering returning and buying a new echo dot and an Audio pro Add-on T3 instead as the Sonos one the way it is now just won't work for our circumstances.
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Ken_Griffiths
Jan 18, 2019 11:20 AM UTC
Found this post whilst trying to find a way to turn Alexa's voice down on our new Sonos One. It's fine during the day, but it's in the evening/at night, the voice is way too loud when the One's volume is set to quiet.

They really need a way to change the average or minimum volume of Alexa. I'm worried that this thread is a year old with no fix, despite how 'closely' they're working together. Considering returning and buying a new echo dot and an Audio pro Add-on T3 instead as the Sonos one the way it is now just won't work for our circumstances.
I was wondering if we are trying to shoot the messenger in this case and perhaps not realising it?

I’m just considering if this is maybe a limitation of the Amazon Alexa system ...and that Sonos are having to comply with the Alexa volume being set relative to the audio output of their Speakers and perhaps for this to change, that Amazon needs to alter that restriction within their own system, or adjust an agreed policy. Otherwise, I think Sonos would probably have done this piece of work by now.

Obviously if that is the case, then Sonos would also perhaps not choose to say anything about the matter publicly, as it may be seen (possibly) as a criticism of their partner. Sonos can only make Amazon aware of what people are saying and then this could be an issue for Amazon to address.

I’m not saying that this is definitely the case here, but that it is looking more and more like a possibility, I think.
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Contributor I
Jan 19, 2019 7:51 PM UTC
Found this post whilst trying to find a way to turn Alexa's voice down on our new Sonos One. It's fine during the day, but it's in the evening/at night, the voice is way too loud when the One's volume is set to quiet.

They really need a way to change the average or minimum volume of Alexa. I'm worried that this thread is a year old with no fix, despite how 'closely' they're working together. Considering returning and buying a new echo dot and an Audio pro Add-on T3 instead as the Sonos one the way it is now just won't work for our circumstances.
I was wondering if we are trying to shoot the messenger in this case and perhaps not realising it?

I’m just considering if this is maybe a limitation of the Amazon Alexa system ...and that Sonos are having to comply with the Alexa volume being set relative to the audio output of their Speakers and perhaps for this to change, that Amazon needs to alter that restriction within their own system, or adjust an agreed policy. Otherwise, I think Sonos would probably have done this piece of work by now.

Obviously if that is the case, then Sonos would also perhaps not choose to say anything about the matter publicly, as it may be seen (possibly) as a criticism of their partner. Sonos can only make Amazon aware of what people are saying and then this could be an issue for Amazon to address.

I’m not saying that this is definitely the case here, but that it is looking more and more like a possibility, I think.


It may be an Alexa problem. The minimum volume when Alexa speaks is at least a 4 on my Sonos One. For example, when I have music at volume 1, Alexa is at the equivalent of 4 - ie I need to set music at level 4 for it to be as loud as Alexa's voice is at 1).

This makes it unusable in the evening or early morning. It wakes everyone up even if I set volume to 1 before asking anything.
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Ken_Griffiths
Jan 19, 2019 8:31 PM UTC
It may be an Alexa problem. The minimum volume when Alexa speaks is at least a 4 on my Sonos One. For example, when I have music at volume 1, Alexa is at the equivalent of 4 - ie I need to set music at level 4 for it to be as loud as Alexa's voice is at 1).

This makes it unusable in the evening or early morning. It wakes everyone up even if I set volume to 1 before asking anything.
My Sonos 'Alexa Enabled' devices are not anything like that at all.. The Alexa volume is directly 'relative' to the speakers audio-output volume, but if my volume is/was perhaps set too low, then the Alexa stays slightly higher, so that I can hear the responses being said, just about.

If my audio is/was set loud, or louder than say volume level 2, then Alexa gets louder also, in line with the current output, so I can just hear her responses clearly, when the audio 'ducks' to hear my voice instruction,

Maybe your speaker is faulty?? .. I would perhaps record/video the issue that you are currently experiencing and then send it onto Sonos and see what they have to say about it. I don’t really find my Beam, or any of the Sonos One's that we own an issue at all that would cause me that degree of concern, like you appear to mention in your post. Slight adjustments are maybe on the cards, but certainly nothing that I would call drastic, or unusable in our case.
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Contributor I
Jan 19, 2019 9:07 PM UTC
It may be an Alexa problem. The minimum volume when Alexa speaks is at least a 4 on my Sonos One. For example, when I have music at volume 1, Alexa is at the equivalent of 4 - ie I need to set music at level 4 for it to be as loud as Alexa's voice is at 1).

This makes it unusable in the evening or early morning. It wakes everyone up even if I set volume to 1 before asking anything.
My Sonos 'Alexa Enabled' devices are not anything like that at all.. The Alexa volume is directly 'relative' to the speakers audio-output volume, but if my volume is/was perhaps set too low, then the Alexa stays slightly higher, so that I can hear the responses being said, just about.

If my audio is/was set loud, or louder than say volume level 2, then Alexa gets louder also, in line with the current output, so I can just hear her responses clearly, when the audio 'ducks' to hear my voice instruction,

Maybe your speaker is faulty?? .. I would perhaps record/video the issue that you are currently experiencing and then send it onto Sonos and see what they have to say about it. I don’t really find my Beam, or any of the Sonos One's that we own an issue at all that would cause me that degree of concern, like you appear to mention in your post. Slight adjustments are maybe on the cards, but certainly nothing that I would call drastic, or unusable in our case.


Thanks Ken. I have the same issue across 3 Sonos Ones around the house, so I don't think it is the speaker itself, although there may be a general settings issue that I'm not aware of. I tried setting a low maximum volume (14%) on the Sonos Room Settings to see if that worked. I can barely hear the music, but Alexa is still just as loud, so Alexa appears to ignore the maximum volume control with sonos.
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Ken_Griffiths
Jan 19, 2019 9:31 PM UTC
Thanks Ken. I have the same issue across 3 Sonos Ones around the house, so I don't think it is the speaker itself, although there may be a general settings issue that I'm not aware of. I tried setting a low maximum volume (14%) on the Sonos Room Settings to see if that worked. I can barely hear the music, but Alexa is still just as loud, so Alexa appears to ignore the maximum volume control with sonos. I’m fairly sure the 'volume limit' option in the 'room settings' of the App is not related to the Alexa component part within the speaker. That limiter runs between 1-100 whereas the Alexa volume controls are between 1 and 10 .. Have you tried the instruction ...”Alexa set your volume to 1”.. does that help you at all? (Or you can set the Alexa volume to 2, 3, 4 etc.) I find setting her to '2' or '3' is about right for me, but admittedly I don’t often use the volume-limiter options.
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