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Ryan S
Ryan S
Retired Sonos Staff
October 3, 2017

New to Sonos or Alexa? How to set up

  • October 3, 2017
  • 194 replies
  • 139172 views

So you have an Alexa device and Sonos players, where do you go next?

1. Make sure your Sonos and Alexa devices are all powered up and connected to the network.

If you're new to Sonos, this means Installing the Sonos app, and going through the steps for Setting up Sonos here.

If you're new to Alexa, install the Alexa app (currently only available in the US, UK, and Germany) and make sure your Alexa device(s) show up. They will be listed under Settings > Devices. Amazon has a setup guide for the Echo Dot here.

2. In the Alexa app, search for and add the Alexa Skill for Sonos.

3. Follow the on-screen prompts to authenticate your Amazon account, then your Sonos account.

4. Finally, inside your Alexa app, select discover devices under Smart Home or on the Sonos skill page.

You are now ready to try out some commands! There’s a great, comprehensive list here.

Wondering how it all works? Check out the How it works thread.

If you run into any trouble, please feel free to take a look here to start, or ask any question in the Amazon Alexa and Sonos forum.

 

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    194 replies

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    varsas
    Trending Lyricist I
    October 5, 2017
    Yes. To clarify, my Dots names are the same as the Sonos, unlike the first person in this thread. Should I add "Dot" to the Dot names? For instance, "Bedroom Dot" for Dot and just "Bedroom" for Sonos?
    Yes! They need to have different names :)

    EDIT: Also looking at your other replies, you need to make sure you use 'in the Bedroom' or similar for commands like increasing the volume too.
      User625323
      Trending Lyricist I
      October 5, 2017
      I took your example, but it just plays Heart Radio on my Dot, not in the Sonos speakers.
      Have you installed the Alexa skill and linked it to your Sonos account? The same Sonos account used by your speakers?

      Yes
      User625323
      Trending Lyricist I
      October 5, 2017
      Yes. To clarify, my Dots names are the same as the Sonos, unlike the first person in this thread. Should I add "Dot" to the Dot names? For instance, "Bedroom Dot" for Dot and just "Bedroom" for Sonos?
      Yes! They need to have different names :)

      So I changed my Dots to have "Dot" in their names, but the sound still only plays in the Dot - not the Sonos! Ugh. Yes, the skill has been installed.
      User625323
      Trending Lyricist I
      October 5, 2017
      Yes. To clarify, my Dots names are the same as the Sonos, unlike the first person in this thread. Should I add "Dot" to the Dot names? For instance, "Bedroom Dot" for Dot and just "Bedroom" for Sonos?
      Yes! They need to have different names :)

      EDIT: Also looking at your other replies, you need to make sure you use 'in the Bedroom' or similar for commands like increasing the volume too.

      I just tried. Dot says "Living Room isn't responding."
      User625323
      Trending Lyricist I
      October 5, 2017
      Yes. To clarify, my Dots names are the same as the Sonos, unlike the first person in this thread. Should I add "Dot" to the Dot names? For instance, "Bedroom Dot" for Dot and just "Bedroom" for Sonos?
      Yes! They need to have different names :)

      EDIT: Also looking at your other replies, you need to make sure you use 'in the Bedroom' or similar for commands like increasing the volume too.

      I just tried. Dot says "Living Room isn't responding. However, the Dot responds to play/stop for Sonos - just not volume Si odd."
      varsas
      Trending Lyricist I
      October 5, 2017
      I just tried. Dot says "Living Room isn't responding."
      It looks like a few people are having similar problems, there's an active thread about it at the moment.
      User625323
      Trending Lyricist I
      October 5, 2017
      Great. I am impressed that Alexa/Sonos are trying to integrate. Bugs are expected in Beta. Hopefully in a few weeks/months this will be better. But right now it's pretty useful to use for voice command.
      varsas
      Trending Lyricist I
      October 5, 2017
      Great. I am impressed that Alexa/Sonos are trying to integrate. Bugs are expected in Beta. Hopefully in a few weeks/months this will be better. But right now it's pretty useful to use for voice command.

      It might be worth removing the Alexa skill and discovered devices and retrying from scratch. Perhaps there's a bug when renaming devices? Something is cached?
      dignifiedb
      Lyricist II
      October 5, 2017
      Any idea why Spotify isn't working yet? It's the most popular music streaming service. Hopefully, it's added sooner rather than later.
      ac921ol
      Avid Contributor I
      October 5, 2017
      @Ryan

      I have 5 play1’s and an alexa device for each.

      Scenario,

      In my bedroom and master bath I have 2 P1’s I ask alexa to play Kings of Leon. That works perfect, so when I leave the room I say alexa pause or stop.

      I then walk to my family room, 1 P1 there, I ask alexa, play some reggae it works perfect, but when I head to sonos app, to check things, the speaker menu says bedroom+bathroom (King’s of Leon *no longer playing) I then select the speaker menu on the bottom, and I can see the bars jumping up and down on my family room speaker, but there is no way of actually navigating to that speaker unless I group some speakers to the family room.

      Known issue? Or what do you think?
      Hopefully you understand.
      Show more replies
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