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mwiseman
Enthusiast II
October 17, 2017
Answered

Ducking

  • October 17, 2017
  • 48 replies
  • 4927 views
Reluctantly, I disabled the Alexa skill for Sonos today. The whole house ducking was causing too many complaints form everyone in the house. Ducking a Sonos speaker in a room so far away from the person using Alexa just doesn't make sense. I really would like to use voice commands with Sonos; but I guess I will have to wait even longer for Sonos to correct this problem.

I have three Echo dots connected to Sonos either through line-in jacks or Connects. This was originally done to work around the Audible issue. The bonus of doing this was that all output from the Dots sounded great going through the Sonos speakers. Even, simple things like: "Alexa, what is the weather?" sound very good. Well, they don't with ducking, because you can't hear them at all now.

Perhaps the long-term fix is to assign Alexa devices to specific Sonos products. A short-term fix would be to add the option of turning ducking off. I would be willing to accept that Alexa might not be able to hear me with this option.
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      Best answer by Keith N
      Hi there, mwiseman. Thanks for checking in. No news to share regarding this just yet. In the meantime, be sure to keep current on Sonos Controller app updates!

      I will be sure to update this thread with any new information as it becomes available.

      48 replies

      Show previous replies
      mwisemanAuthor
      Enthusiast II
      March 28, 2018
      Has there been any progress on fixing ducking?
      Chris
      Chris
      Lead Maestro
      March 28, 2018
      We are awaiting there next update to Alexa integration. I would be hard pressed to believe a ducking fix would not be coming with the next Alexa update.
      Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
        Katherine R.
        Lyricist II
        March 28, 2018
        Really, really waiting for this fix.

        My son has an Echo in his room which he uses to control music at night, read him things, make bodily noises, etc. It's physically locked in another room from where our sonos players are.

        When he's in his room playing with Alexa, I can't listen to music. I had the Skill disabled for a while, but it really makes having purchased Sonos:Ones completely pointless, because then you can't voice control even that one device.
        Chris
        Chris
        Lead Maestro
        March 28, 2018
        Sonos ones should not duck when another rooms alexa is utilized. When using Sonos One also it shouldn’t duck other rooms other than itself.

        You can leave Sonos ones enabled and disable the others by going into alexa app and deleting from smart home the speakers you don’t want to utilize for voice control.
        Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
        Katherine R.
        Lyricist II
        March 28, 2018
        Except it does.

        Using an Echo (not a One) anywhere in the house mutes every non-Sonos:One speaker until Alexa has finished talking. In order to stop this, you have to disable the Sonos Skill in Alexa. If you disable the Sonos Skill in Alexa, than you can't control the One with voice commands because Alexa doesn't have permission to control the speaker.

        You can temporarily forget a speaker, but Alexa automatically re-probes the network to identify devices periodically so they're rediscovered and the problem starts over again.

        So, we have to either live with the ducking, or live with being unable to use voice commands on the devices we bought.
        Chris
        Chris
        Lead Maestro
        March 28, 2018
        You don’t have to disable the skill.

        Enable the skill.

        Then go into alexa app. Go to smarthome section. Click on non-Sonos one speaker and hit the trash can top right to delete it. Delete all your non-Sonos one speakers this way. Now only the Sonos One speakers have the skill and others will not duck.
        Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
        Katherine R.
        Lyricist II
        March 28, 2018
        Except that Alexa automatically rediscovers those speakers on a schedule — they don't stay gone. It's even mentioned by Sonos employees higher up in this very thread.

        https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/ducking-6792257/index1.html#post16161897
          Chris
          Chris
          Lead Maestro
          March 28, 2018
          Never noticed happening but I beleive you. Hopefully we see next release addressing very soon.
          Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
          Ian_S
          Prodigy III
          March 29, 2018
          Given that it's been months so far with no response from Sonos I'm not holding my breath.
          Nezmo
          Avid Contributor I
          April 1, 2018
          Good grief please get the 'fix' to this out. With 12 Sonos and 8 Alexa devices this is no fun. It's a real buzz kill when music you are enjoying ducks. Ands it's worse if you are using the new Alexa ability to do follow-on commands (currently US only) as the ducking stays on until Alexa is certain you have no further commands.
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