Contributor I

Alexa volume VERY low on Sonos Beam

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
December 31, 2020
97 replies
13520 views

When my Sonos Beam volume is set a comfortable level for watching tv and I ask Alexa a question, the volume of her response is too low. I am unable to hear the answer. If I raise the volume of the Fire Cube it doesn’t change the volume on the Beam. If I raise the volume of the Beam I can hear her response, BUT the volume is WAY too loud to watch tv..

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darkling

Lyricist III

Sounds more like a hardware issue to me, software can be amended.

It depends, but I doubt the hardware is the limitation. Software should always be able to manipulate the sound output level.

I design and develop software for a living, and Sonos may have painted themselves into corner with how the software is designed, meaning independent volume levels aren't completely impossible, but would require a lot of work to implement.

What I can't get over is that the software already knows when speakers are in streaming mode, Bluetooth mode, TV mode, smart assistant mode, etc. so I personally don't see why the Sonos devs can't write new logic to artificially increase / decrease volume based on these modes.

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silverdude

Lyricist III

If it’s software surely they just amend the software and push out an update, not sure how you can be backed into a corner other than hardware. If current mode = Alexa is speaking look up stored Alexa volume level and set volume to it, if current mode = TV then set volume = stored TV volume. I know that’s an oversimplification but not hard.

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DaveNotUsedYet

Lyricist II

Same issue here with new ARC. They just need to update the software to have an independent volume setting for Alexa, sounds simple ?

It seems like it might already have independent volumes - given that it seems it is when I am listening to TV that the Alexa responses become very quiet - probably Alexa volume 1 or 2. It seems to adjust to a much quieter Alexa volume than what I have the volume of the Sonos for the TV input set to. I can’t pinpoint exactly what it does. It might be setting Alexa to a percentage of the TV volume but then it leaves it at that volume when the TV is off. I know this much. When Alexa is too quiet, I can say Alexa, set volume to 4. Then later on after watching TV and with TV off, it is set much lower.

Sonos - just explaining exactly how it works as a start I think would be really helpful for all of us having this issue. Ignoring us is the opposite.

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DaveNotUsedYet

Lyricist II

Same issue here with new ARC. They just need to update the software to have an independent volume setting for Alexa, sounds simple ?

It seems like it might already have independent volumes - given that it seems it is when I am listening to TV that the Alexa responses become very quiet - probably Alexa volume 1 or 2. It seems to adjust to a much quieter Alexa volume than what I have the volume of the Sonos for the TV input set to. I can’t pinpoint exactly what it does. It might be setting Alexa to a percentage of the TV volume but then it leaves it at that volume when the TV is off. I know this much. When Alexa is too quiet, I can say Alexa, set volume to 4. Then later on after watching TV and with TV off, it is set much lower.

Sonos - just explaining exactly how it works as a start I think would be really helpful for all of us having this issue. Ignoring us is the opposite.

It seems it is just something we have to live with. One note on the above - when the Alexa volume is too low, if I say “Alexa, what is your volume”, it still responds with 4 even though it is clearly not 4. Then, saying “Alexa, volume 4” sets it where I want it. I do think it is something Sonos should be able to fix but perhaps it is not a very high priority or there is some technical complexity that they cannot overcome.

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Armand28

Contributor II

Same thing with my new ARC. Thing is my old ARC is fine, the new one has much lower volume for Alexa commands than for everything else.

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rich v

Lyricist I

found this discussion as this same problem with my Beam/Alexa and LG tv is driving me CRAZY. How did they not fix this yet?

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va2yes

Trending Lyricist I

We recently bought an Arc, same issue. While TV/music is at a comfortable volume level, Alexa is super quiet and we can’t hear her. When turn up Alexa, the TV volume explodes. Issue still persists after 2 years, sadly!