Does Alexa work with Playbar?

Playbar does not have alexa built in. But yes Alexa will control it just like any other Sonos speaker.

If you get Sonos Ones for the rears they have alexa built in and yes you will be able to tell them to make the Playbar system do what you want.

The only current real difference between Sonos units that have Alexa built in and units that do not is having to say the room name.

Example:
If I have a Sonos One in my kitchen (which has Alexa built in)…. I can tell the Sonos One "Alexa play Bruno Mars" and the Sonos One will begin playing.


In your case with a Playbar (no Alexa Built in) as the primary speaker in Living Room. If you have an Alexa device (like an Echo Dot … Or A sonos One as rears) you have to say "Alexa play Bruno Mars in Living Room".


See the difference … the ones with built in alexa know who they are where the ones without alexa built in you have to tell the alexa device which to control. Now this limitation is supposed to be going away in the future where an alexa device can be associated with a specific room and remove the need to say the room name.


Hope this makes sense - but every single Sonos device can be controlled by Alexa.

Note: If you decide to go for a pair of Play:1s for the rears instead of Sonos Ones. Then get a cheap Echo Dot for the room to be the Alexa device for the room (probably only like $20 here black Friday). The Dot will then send the Alexa commands to the playbar/Play:1 pairing.

Thank you so much, Chris and Mr. Red. You were both very helpful! I am so disappointed in Sonos tech support. I waited for 30 minutes on hold and got India. They knew nothing. So, it is good to know you folks are out there for help!

If you get Sonos Ones for the rears they have alexa built in and yes you will be able to tell them to make the Playbar system do what you want.



[Edit]
My bad, my comment only applies to Beam

THAT IS INCORRECT - Sonos Ones paired as surrounds maintain Alexa ability. They will hear all Alexa commands. The only difference is that since the Playbar is the controlling speaker you will have to say the group name to them in order to play to the pairing "Alexa play Bruno Mars in Living Room" vs. if they were stand alone you wouldn't have to say the "in Living Room" party.

It is true they can not be Airplay targets since the Playbar is the controlling speaker. But this doesn't apply to the Alexa functionality.

I am a tech novice. What does Airplay give me? Will Play:1s and an Echo Dot give me both Alexa and Airplay control over my Sonos Playbar and sub?

Sonos Ones as surround speakers can NOT be activated for Alexa, just as they can't be targeted for Airplay. They are just slaves to the Playbar. Your best option is to get two Play:1's for surround and an echo dot, that will work fine.

Sorry, but this just isn't true. Airplay 2, no. Alexa, most certainly yes.

What is Airplay? What does it add for me? So, I am trying to figure out if it is something I need/want my backspeakers to be able to control.

Sonos Ones have the ability to stream direct from Apple devices via Airplay. So you can send your phones sound output direct to a Sonos speaker (not going through Sonos app). However, the Playbar is a little older and doesn't have this ability.

So if you Pair Sonos Ones as rears to a playbar… the playbar is the controlling speaker and you don't have the ability to send music direct from an apple device via their airplay protocol. It doesn't sound like you currently use airplay so it may be of no concern to you.