Contributor II

Question

Controlling In Ceiling and Wall Speakers with Alexa

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
May 8, 2020
15 replies
2335 views

Hi,

I have a large Kitchen / Diner / Sitting Room.

In the sitting room area I’m thinking about getting in wall and in ceiling speakers to 2 amps for a 5.1 (plus sub and phantom centre) for movies.

I would also like to use them for stereo music and control them using Alexa. I have 2 Sonos One above the kitchen cabinets grouped.

Could I control the in wall and ceiling speakers by simply telling Alexa in the Sonos One. “Alexa, play radio in sitting room” or would they have to be part of the same group? The 2 x Sonos One are in the ‘Kitchen Group’ and the 5.1 would be in the ‘Sitting Room’ group.

thanks

Adam

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AdamYAuthor

Contributor II

Regarding multiroom... if you ask Alexa to play in the Sitting Room, and Sitting Room is already grouped with Kitchen, then the music plays in both.

You can also use Alexa groups to group your Sonos speakers, by specifying more than one 'preferred speaker' in an Alexa group.

For example, in my (physical) living room I have two Sonos 'rooms', a Playbar and a stereo pair of Play:5s, both rooms being 'preferred speakers'. And I have an Echo Dot. The Dot controls an Alexa group which includes the Playbar and P:5s. If I say 'Alexa, play X', without specifying a room, the two Sonos rooms will group and play the music in sync.

Thanks John. Goodness me it’s confusing, but I’m sure it should all work.

is your Echo Dot plugged into anything or does it just cast what you want it to play to the Sonos speakers?

i think my final head scratcher is how a non built in Alexa speaker wirelessly plays exactly what you’ve asked an echo dot to play.

if “it’s just magic” is the answer, I’m happy with that as long as it works!

Ah. Just reread your first post. Your two Amps and Sub are a single Sonos room as one of the Amps is for rear speakers, so you need only one Dot. The Dot doesn't have to be wired to anything.

Regarding multiroom... if you ask Alexa to play in the Sitting Room, and Sitting Room is already grouped with Kitchen, then the music plays in both.

You can also use Alexa groups to group your Sonos speakers, by specifying more than one 'preferred speaker' in an Alexa group.

For example, in my (physical) living room I have two Sonos 'rooms', a Playbar and a stereo pair of Play:5s, both rooms being 'preferred speakers'. And I have an Echo Dot. The Dot controls an Alexa group which includes the Playbar and P:5s. If I say 'Alexa, play X', without specifying a room, the two Sonos rooms will group and play the music in sync.

Thanks John. Goodness me it’s confusing, but I’m sure it should all work.

is your Echo Dot plugged into anything or does it just cast what you want it to play to the Sonos speakers?

i think my final head scratcher is how a non built in Alexa speaker wirelessly plays exactly what you’ve asked an echo dot to play.

if “it’s just magic” is the answer, I’m happy with that as long as it works!

No not magic. About 2 years of development work to integrate Sonos and Alexa!

AdamYAuthor

Contributor II

Regarding multiroom... if you ask Alexa to play in the Sitting Room, and Sitting Room is already grouped with Kitchen, then the music plays in both.

You can also use Alexa groups to group your Sonos speakers, by specifying more than one 'preferred speaker' in an Alexa group.

For example, in my (physical) living room I have two Sonos 'rooms', a Playbar and a stereo pair of Play:5s, both rooms being 'preferred speakers'. And I have an Echo Dot. The Dot controls an Alexa group which includes the Playbar and P:5s. If I say 'Alexa, play X', without specifying a room, the two Sonos rooms will group and play the music in sync.

Thanks John. Goodness me it’s confusing, but I’m sure it should all work.

is your Echo Dot plugged into anything or does it just cast what you want it to play to the Sonos speakers?

i think my final head scratcher is how a non built in Alexa speaker wirelessly plays exactly what you’ve asked an echo dot to play.

if “it’s just magic” is the answer, I’m happy with that as long as it works!

No not magic. About 2 years of development work to integrate Sonos and Alexa!

Thanks John.

when I’m pulling my hair out and myself and Alexa are filing for divorce I’ll give you a shout!

Regarding multiroom... if you ask Alexa to play in the Sitting Room, and Sitting Room is already grouped with Kitchen, then the music plays in both.

You can also use Alexa groups to group your Sonos speakers, by specifying more than one 'preferred speaker' in an Alexa group.

For example, in my (physical) living room I have two Sonos 'rooms', a Playbar and a stereo pair of Play:5s, both rooms being 'preferred speakers'. And I have an Echo Dot. The Dot controls an Alexa group which includes the Playbar and P:5s. If I say 'Alexa, play X', without specifying a room, the two Sonos rooms will group and play the music in sync.

Thanks John. Goodness me it’s confusing, but I’m sure it should all work.

is your Echo Dot plugged into anything or does it just cast what you want it to play to the Sonos speakers?

i think my final head scratcher is how a non built in Alexa speaker wirelessly plays exactly what you’ve asked an echo dot to play.

if “it’s just magic” is the answer, I’m happy with that as long as it works!

No not magic. About 2 years of development work to integrate Sonos and Alexa!

Thanks John.

when I’m pulling my hair out and myself and Alexa are filing for divorce I’ll give you a shout!

Haha. It may or may not be me, but there is always someone on here happy to help.

The set up instructions on the Sonos website are good. It seems more complex when it's hypothetical than it is in practice.