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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
      gavingks
      gavingks
      Enthusiast I
      June 26, 2018
      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.
      Really would be useful. Cheers
      mwisemanAuthor
      Enthusiast II
      July 23, 2018
      Is ducking fixed?
      WinterLights
      Trending Lyricist I
      July 26, 2018
      Is ducking fixed?

      Not that I've seen. And I've had ticket response as recently as today saying "We cannot inform on any work being doing in this regard, but I can setup your feedback as a feature request."

      So I too am disabling the Alexa skill.

      I have also posted reviews on several sites disclosing this. I think the only way we'll see movement here is if the community starts to reflect this in the reviews. Clearly after 9 months it's not a priority for Sonos and Amazon.
      gtangjr
      gtangjr
      Lyricist I
      August 4, 2018
      Count me in as someone who disabled Alexa integers tip. due to the ridiculous, music-hating, experience-killing ducking of the entire house no matter the purpose. I can't stand it, and it makes me feel like I wasted money buy going with a Sonos One (yes, there are other benefits -- you know, like the AirPlay 2 support that killed my lock screen controls).

      Sonos was the amazing system for the rest of us, the ones that wanted something that sounded great and gave us the whole house experience in a manner that just worked. The more and more Sonos integrates with third parties beyond the music services themselves, the more compromises there are. It really bums me out.
      Gary-C
      Avid Contributor I
      September 13, 2018
      It is bizarre that the skill was released with such an obvious flaw. A time frame to a fix would be nice, but that never seems to be sonos's way, worse than my industry (nuclear) at letting people know what's going on.

      Probably need to badger Amazon as well, I'm sure they have a big part to play in the delay.
      Bg573
      Enthusiast I
      September 14, 2018
      For those who missed the automation news, the new Sonos integration with IFTTT allows some voice control without using the direct Alexa integration and its horrible ducking problem. Using IFTTT to mix Alexa with Sonos is not nearly as flexible, but it's gotten my family a fair chunk of what we wanted from Alexa voice control of Sonos. Plus it supports some things the Alexa integration doesn't, like playing a Sonos Favorite consisting of music from your local collection.

      See the recent item named "If This Then Sonos" in the Announcements category for more.
      Ian_S
      Prodigy III
      September 22, 2018
      It's frankly disgusting that after nearly a year they can't fix this. Count me as another user for whom Sonos has dropped from being something I'd actively recommend to now a system I'd advise people to avoid.

      And now Amazon have announced their sub option for Echo's, I hope Sonos lose out big time in sales as their products don't deserve to succeed currently.
      mwisemanAuthor
      Enthusiast II
      September 28, 2018
      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.

      I accidently accepted this answer. I don't think that this thread should be marked as answered yet.
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