Unresponsive "Alexa" wake word on Sonos One

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
July 23, 2018
5 replies
836 views

I'm new to the Sonos ecosystem and purchased a Sonos One to replace an old Echo. So far I have really enjoy the music playback and quality of the sound.

But compared to Amazon's Echo line, are the microphone significantly less sensitive on the One. Nearly 50% of the time I try to trigger Alexa in a quiet room (no background noise) and normal speaking volume, nothing happens. I would have to raise my voice repeatedly until I'm nearly yelling to wake Alexa.

My old Echo in the same position in the Kitchen could be triggered with a mumbling voice, even with the water tap running. I've tried some of the troubleshooting suggestions on other threads by restarting or turning the mic on and off.

Is there some settings or way to increase the insensitivity? As it stands right now, it's just not usable as a smart speaker.

Sonos One

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Best answer by Ryan S

Hi teryan2006, sometimes it helps to toggle the microphone off and back on by pressing the top microphone icon on the Sonos One. The sensitivity should be able the same between Sonos and Echo devices, so if you think it's off considerably, I'd invite you to give us a call on our support line to investigate.

Ryan SAnswer

Retired Sonos Staff

Hi teryan2006, sometimes it helps to toggle the microphone off and back on by pressing the top microphone icon on the Sonos One. The sensitivity should be able the same between Sonos and Echo devices, so if you think it's off considerably, I'd invite you to give us a call on our support line to investigate.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.

T

teryan2006Author

Contributor I

I have already tried toggling the microphone off and on. It seems to fix the issue for a few minutes. After 30 mins or so the microphone would start to lose sensitivity again and it would revert back to the same issue. Unplugging and plugging back leads to the same effect.

Thinking I might have been lucky enough to receive a unit with hardware issue, I went to a store to pickup a 2nd Sonos One for comparison. The same issue appears and the microphone would work for a while then just lose sensitivity. It behaves like there is some sort of adaptive noise filtering mechanism that is getting skewed over time.

chicks

That was an issue early on, but mine have been as sensitive as the Echo now for months. Odd.

T

teryan2006Author

Contributor I

That was an issue early on, but mine have been as sensitive as the Echo now for months. Odd.

Just side note. Both units definitely have the latest firmware running because Airplay 2 is working.

H

Harvo

Contributor II

I have exactly the same issue. I bought a Sonos one to replace an Echo as I loved the Alexa functionality in the kitchen but wanted better audio quality. The speaker is amazing but Alexa is terrible. I also find myself shouting at it to respond. I have the old Echo in another room and quite often that answers me when the Sonos One is still ignoring me. I've also noticed that quite a lot of the Alexa skills don't work on the Sonos One which is also disappointing. On the whole I am really pleased with the sound quality but Alexa is a big let down. While I'm having a moan - the noise it makes when it finally does respond is horrible 😃 Here's hoping this is software....

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