Groups and Alexa commands

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
December 26, 2018
15 replies
2482 views

Hi guys. I have a playbar and two Alexa enabled Sonos ones setup as a surround system in the lounge. I now also have another Alexa enabled One in the kitchen. When I’m playing music in the lounge I can ask Alexa to play in the kitchen, but it stops playing in the lounge. How do I get it to play in the kitchen as well as the lounge? Meaning play everywhere instead of transferring from one to the other

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

Best answer by jgatie

You can use the Sonos app to group them together after they are already playing.

You can also create an Alexa Group. To do this:

Using the Alexa app, you can go into the Devices tab (last one on the right) and select the + at the top to make an Alexa group. Just assign it a name, an *Alexa-enabled device, and then the other smart home devices that are part of the group, including Sonos speakers. Once the group is made, tap on it from the main Devices page to set your Sonos speakers in it to be Preferred Speakers.

Please note, microphone enabled Sonos speakers can only be in one Alexa Group at one time for now, but the non-microphone enabled ones can be in multiple groups.

So in your case, you can make a group (call it something distinctive, like "Lounge and Kitchen"). Then use the process above to select the little speakers icons labelled Lounge and Kitchen. Then, at the bottom of the page, tap Preferred Speakers, and again select Lounge and Kitchen. Save.

Now, when you say "Alexa, play XXXX in Lounge and Kitchen" it will play in both. You can set up similar groups like "Upstairs", "Downstairs", etc.

*Note: It is not necessary to select an Alexa enabled device. This is only necessary if you want the device to always default to the group of speakers, without having to say "Alexa play XXXX in (room name)". Setting the Alexa enabled device eliminate the need for "room name".

See this link for a big discussion on Alexa Groups:

https://en.community.sonos.com/announcements-228985/sonos-now-playing-with-alexa-groups-6817588

jgatieAnswer

You can use the Sonos app to group them together after they are already playing.

You can also create an Alexa Group. To do this:

Using the Alexa app, you can go into the Devices tab (last one on the right) and select the + at the top to make an Alexa group. Just assign it a name, an *Alexa-enabled device, and then the other smart home devices that are part of the group, including Sonos speakers. Once the group is made, tap on it from the main Devices page to set your Sonos speakers in it to be Preferred Speakers.

Please note, microphone enabled Sonos speakers can only be in one Alexa Group at one time for now, but the non-microphone enabled ones can be in multiple groups.

So in your case, you can make a group (call it something distinctive, like "Lounge and Kitchen"). Then use the process above to select the little speakers icons labelled Lounge and Kitchen. Then, at the bottom of the page, tap Preferred Speakers, and again select Lounge and Kitchen. Save.

Now, when you say "Alexa, play XXXX in Lounge and Kitchen" it will play in both. You can set up similar groups like "Upstairs", "Downstairs", etc.

*Note: It is not necessary to select an Alexa enabled device. This is only necessary if you want the device to always default to the group of speakers, without having to say "Alexa play XXXX in (room name)". Setting the Alexa enabled device eliminate the need for "room name".

See this link for a big discussion on Alexa Groups:

https://en.community.sonos.com/announcements-228985/sonos-now-playing-with-alexa-groups-6817588

jgatie

Also, here is another pretty extensive thread discussing Alexa Groups. Forum member UKMedia tries to sum it up in a simple way:

https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/an-overview-and-explanation-of-the-new-support-for-alexa-grouping-6817788

D

DiscozombieAuthor

Contributor I

Hi. I’m still struggling with this, not sure it’ll actually do what I want it to do. Let me try and explain what I’ve done so far, apologies if it’s a bit wordy.

I have playbar and two sonos ones linked as a surround system in the lounge. I have a sonos one in the kitchen. As far as I can see the Sonos Skill on Alexa allows me to say ‘play xx on lounge’ and it plays on lounge only. Say ‘play xx on kitchen’ and it plays in the kitchen only. I say ‘play this song in the kitchen and stops playing in the lounge and plays in the kitchen (and vice versa). So what I then want to be able to do is if something is already playing in the lounge I want to ask Alexa to play that song in the kitchen as well as the lounge. All speakers on.

I’ve used the Alexa app to create a group called ‘everywhere’, added all my speakers and made all the Sonos Speakers preferred speakers. So when a song is playing on lounge surround I say ‘play this song everywhere’ in the hope that it will then play in the kitchen as well (all speakers in the group playing together). Alexa says ‘playing xx on everywhere’ but the kitchen speaker still doesn’t come on. Alternatively if music is on in kitchen and I say ‘play this song everywhere’ it still only plays in kitchen and not in lounge.

I think I’m doing everything right but unsure as to why it isn’t working. The hope is to add more speakers over time and to be able to control with my voice but it seems the only way I can get a song to play on everything is through the Sonos App which renders Alexa useless!

Apologies again but it’s driving me bonkers. We bought the kitchen speaker with this in mind. Please help 🙂

UKMedia

There are two ways to achieve this:

Via an Alexa Group with a 'Controlling Device' - your Sonos One and your other speakers set as Preferred Speakers. The command 'Alexa, Play, Soft Jazz' to that Sonos One will output to all speakers set in the Preferred Speakers setting.

Or via an Alexa Group without a Controlling Device (Let's call this Downstairs) - Just set the Sonos speakers that you want to group as Preferred Speakers only. The command 'Alexa, Play Soft Jazz on Downstairs' will group those speakers together.

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)

D

DiscozombieAuthor

Contributor I

So if I have grouped correctly, and I have something playing in the lounge, how do I get it to play on the other speaker? As I said, I’ve grouped all sonos ones together (lounge and kitchen) made them all preferred speakers and called the group ‘everywhere’. But when I’m listening to a song in the lounge and I also want it to play in the kitchen, what command do I use? When I say ‘play this song everywhere’ alexa acknowledges but doesn’t activate the other speaker.
Also, you mentioned controlling device. I take it that these are the Alexa controlled devices that you add in to the group? I have added all 3 of my sonos ones in to the group and made them all preferred. Is that correct?

jgatie

I'm not sure "play this song everywhere" is functional yet. I've been messing around with groups for a while now and although starting a new stream/queue on a group works just fine, I've not found a way to include a group to an existing stream/queue.

UKMedia

I'm not sure why but Grouping wasn't working, so I Disabled then Enabled the Sonos skill in the Alexa App and all back working again.

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)

D

DiscozombieAuthor

Contributor I

Ahh that’s what I thought. I’m looking at the way I’ve set it up and it should be working but I guess Alexa isn’t clever enough yet. It’s no bother, it’s not something that I need to happen daily. A minor annoyance but doesn’t spoil the experience one bit. Hopefully ‘play this everywhere’ will happen soon. Thanks for all your help 🙂

D

DiscozombieAuthor

Contributor I

Disable Sonos Skill? I’ll give that a go when I get home from work. Thanks guys

D

DiscozombieAuthor

Contributor I

Sonos skills and groups clashing somehow maybe???