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Contributor I
Oct 14, 2017 7:10 PM UTC
Answered

Sonos and Alexa in two houses

I have Sonos speakers and Echo dots in two houses. I activated the Sonos skill in the first house and all is good for using Alexa to control the Sonos speakers in the first house When I go to the second house and search for devices, the Echo dot does not find the Sonos. Is it not possible without using a second Amazon account?
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Keith N
Keith NAnswer
Sonos Staff
Oct 18, 2017 6:50 PM UTC
glennsonos & drammelt: Thanks for reaching out about this. Getting Amazon Alexa to work across multiple houses can be tricky with Sonos. You will need to have a separate Sonos ID to keep Alexa from controlling the wrong house. The best way to do this with just one Amazon account would be to create a separate Sonos ID for the vacation home and then:

- disable the Sonos skill in Alexa app
- ensure you are signed into the proper Sonos ID (if you are at the vacation home, sign into that account)
- re-enable the skill and re-discover (at this point you may see your speakers from both locations)

In most cases where people have multiple houses, the best success is found when you treat each house as a different "person". This means a separate Sonos ID and a different Amazon Account. This keeps you from accidentally controlling your main home from your vacation home.

53 replies

Contributor I
Jan 12, 2018 4:56 PM UTC
It under smartphones in alexa app it only shows the Sonos units in house 1 and hitting discover doesn’t find them when in house 2. Maybe while in house 2 disable and reenable the Sonos skill in alexa then try discover.

So, I have just tried that. Whilst re-enabling the skill, having entered SONOS account details, I am then asked which system do I want to control with Alexa - both SONOS systems are shown correctly, It seems to be either / or though. The systems definitely have the same SONOS Household ID.
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Chris
Lead Maestro
Jan 12, 2018 6:25 PM UTC
Are you sure. Did you check under settings ... about my Sonos when connected to each Same Sonos id. They sound opposite.
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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)
Contributor I
Jan 13, 2018 5:21 AM UTC
Are you sure. Did you check under settings ... about my Sonos when connected to each Same Sonos id. They sound opposite.

Absolutely sure the SONOS ID is the same. The whole system was originally in house 1; some of it was then moved to house 2. I have just checked the SONOS ID again at both houses....
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Chris
Lead Maestro
Jan 13, 2018 2:06 PM UTC
Huh. I’m stumped.
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Contributor I
Jan 14, 2018 8:37 PM UTC
Are you sure. Did you check under settings ... about my Sonos when connected to each Same Sonos id. They sound opposite.

Absolutely sure the SONOS ID is the same. The whole system was originally in house 1; some of it was then moved to house 2. I have just checked the SONOS ID again at both houses....
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Contributor I
Jan 14, 2018 8:43 PM UTC
This is clearly a SONOS Skill problem. I have 4 SONOS systems at four different locations and Alexa understands all 23 SONOS devices (which are all named differently). They were all discovered by enabling and disabling and reenabling the SONOS skill at each location. The problem is that the SONO Skill deletes the SONOS devices when you disable. There should either be an option in the Skill to rediscover devices or to Disable without deleting the device from Alexa's memory. All my LP-link smart switches in all four locations are always known and can be used from any other location. Two Accounts is not an option unless you want to have two Amazon Prime accounts. Come on SONOS. Fix the issue.
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Lyricist III
Jan 19, 2018 10:19 AM UTC
2 Sonos IDs; 2 Amazon accounts; 1 Amazon "household". How do I avoid irritating the neighbours by leaving the radio on in an empty flat without going through an Amazon "divorce"?
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Trending Lyricist I
May 12, 2018 2:17 PM UTC
This is clearly a SONOS Skill problem. I have 4 SONOS systems at four different locations and Alexa understands all 23 SONOS devices (which are all named differently). They were all discovered by enabling and disabling and reenabling the SONOS skill at each location. The problem is that the SONO Skill deletes the SONOS devices when you disable. There should either be an option in the Skill to rediscover devices or to Disable without deleting the device from Alexa's memory. All my LP-link smart switches in all four locations are always known and can be used from any other location. Two Accounts is not an option unless you want to have two Amazon Prime accounts. Come on SONOS. Fix the issue.

Sonos, are you fixing this issue?
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Chris
Lead Maestro
May 12, 2018 2:22 PM UTC
What are you trying to accomplish TreeGuy?
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Lyricist I
May 12, 2018 2:49 PM UTC
If I would have known this I would have just purchased 5 Alexa instead of 5 Sonos One's with Alexa. That said, I have 4 Sonos units at home, and one at the office, one Amazon account, and I won't get another one just because I want to listen to music (I can do that with Pc) .... Wife goes to office and turns on Sonos/Alexa, nothing works at home and vise versa.... There should already be an answer and solution to this problem but seems like it's been ignored. I'll probably return all of the units unless Sonos at least answers to this thread with a plan (to address the problem) .... :@:@:@
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