Contributor I

Answered

Echo’s setting for “Preferred Speaker” doesn’t work with my Sonos One

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
November 29, 2018
14 replies
6551 views

I’m trying to setup my Echo Spot to play music to my stereo pair of Sonos Ones without having to say “Alexa play music on ,” using the Preferred Speaker setting in the Alexa app’s Groups function.

My speaker shows up in the app and I select it as my preferred speaker, but asking Alexa to “play music” as the configuration screen suggests still plays it through the Echo itself.

So far, I’ve tried:
1. Disabling the Sonos skill and removing the Sonos as a device, then re-adding it.
And 2. Setting up the Alexa group both with and without my speaker in it (both scenarios allow me to set the Sonos pair as my Preferred Speaker).

Neither of these have helped. What else should I try? Am I missing something?

Sonos One

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Best answer by UKMedia

Amazon have implemented this for Music only - Now you would think this is easy to understand but if I ask 'Alexa, Play BBC Radio 2' the output will be to the Echo Dot, if I ask 'Alexa, Play BBC Radio 2 from TuneIn' it will output to the Preferred Speaker:?:?:?

I'm not sure what streaming service you have set as your default in the Alexa App - I use Spotify and this works fine, albeit controlled from an Echo Dot and not a Show.

Can you try ' Alexa, play [Specific Artist]? Also, there does seem to be some issues if the same device is set as the preferred speaker in multiple groups, so may be worth removing if it is and retesting.

Let us know how you get on.

UKMediaAnswer

Amazon have implemented this for Music only - Now you would think this is easy to understand but if I ask 'Alexa, Play BBC Radio 2' the output will be to the Echo Dot, if I ask 'Alexa, Play BBC Radio 2 from TuneIn' it will output to the Preferred Speaker:?:?:?

I'm not sure what streaming service you have set as your default in the Alexa App - I use Spotify and this works fine, albeit controlled from an Echo Dot and not a Show.

Can you try ' Alexa, play [Specific Artist]? Also, there does seem to be some issues if the same device is set as the preferred speaker in multiple groups, so may be worth removing if it is and retesting.

Let us know how you get on.

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)

T

TeamSAMAuthor

Contributor I

At the office now, but I tried both of the BBC Radio 2 phrasings you suggested, and each played out of the Echo. I'll try asking for an artist tonight but it really seems like the setting isn't taking for some reason. I've tried rebooting the Echo as well but that hasn't helped either.

UKMedia

If it still doesn't work, try Disabling the Sonos skill in the Alexa App and then Re-Enabling.

Edit:

I wonder if it's because you've defaulted to two Sonos devices which are paired. I have the ability to select two devices but it only outputs to the first in the list.

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)

T

TeamSAMAuthor

Contributor I

I’ve tried disabling and re-enabling the skill but will try again.

I was also wondering if the stereo pair was an issue, though because the Alexa app just sees it as one device (the Sonos app represents it that way too), I figured it wasn’t the issue.

UKMedia

I’ve tried disabling and re-enabling the skill but will try again.

I was also wondering if the stereo pair was an issue, though because the Alexa app just sees it as one device (the Sonos app represents it that way too), I figured it wasn’t the issue.

If it still doesn't work, try breaking the pairing to check - if this works, I'm sure it will be fixed soon.

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)

T

TeamSAMAuthor

Contributor I

Tonight I tried unpairing the speakers, removing and then re-adding the Sonos skill, and then creating a new Alexa group with my Echo and one of my Sonos speakers, setting it as the Preferred Speaker. I then asked Alexa to play music, play a specific artist, and everything else I could think of, but every time it still plays out of my Echo. What else can I do/try?

melvimbe

At this point, I'd suggest just forgetting about it for a little bit. This is all very new functionality that hasn't really even officially annouced/released yet, at least from a Sonos perspective. There may be a few bugs that they still need to work out. Try again in a week or so.

Danny

chicks

I don't even see a "preferred speaker" in the Alexa app settings. When was this introduced?

Edit: Ah, Googled it, have to set up a group. Set up my Office Dot to prefer the Office Play:1 pair. Works great! Wow, had no idea. Thanks!

Off to configure the Show to prefer the Connect:Amp...

melvimbe

A few days ago. The prefered speaker is selected when you create an Alexa group. So you'll create the group, at the echo device, add your smart devices, and then preferred speaker.

Danny

chicks

Ha! Works great with a Dot, but with the Show, the music plays on the Connect:Amp, but Show doesn't display what's playing. Oh well. The Home Hub will do this, once Sonos finally implements Google Home...

Also, while it works with music services like Amazon and Pandora, skills like The Jazz Groove and Radio Paradise still play on the Dot or Show.

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