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Will Alexa work in a 5.1 Setup with playbar and Ones?

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
September 17, 2018
34 replies
6776 views

I have a 5.1 setup with a playbar, 2xPlay1 and subwoofer. Further more some Play Ones in other rooms. Im thinking about replacing the 2xPlay1 with Ones. But will Alexa work in the 5.1 Setup? Or will they have to be "main/primary" for it to work?

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Best answer by Belly M

On the Sonos Amp announcement thread I asked...

Belly M wrote:
What about voice control?
Any plans to enable the mics in Sonos One’s when used as rears?

Ryan replied:
The mics on a pair of Sonos Ones are only disabled when bonded as surrounds with a Beam. They are fully up and running when voice is enabled and they’re being used with a Playbar, Playbase, or Sonos Amp. The Amp also has CEC over HDMI-ARC, the same as the Beam. So you’d be able to use voice control with your TV too, assuming it’s compatible.

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T

trymph

Trending Lyricist I

That's only thing I can't do with my Echo Dot Playbar, Play:1's and Sub; "Alexa play TV". Can live with that though!.

My One lives in the Kitchen, ideal for music while cooking/ washing up!.

T

trymph

Trending Lyricist I

As I mentioned we have open concept floor plan so can see TV from kitchen and I want to hear FOX news during diner without using Sonos app to activate TV output; kitchen is a ONE. Interestingly the Ring Doorbell2 will play via Echo but not a ONE confirmed by Ring; thanks for confirming TV audio is not available via Echo either. TMI?....Wife hates when i crank up vol on the Playbar; especially for FOX News........lol

T

trymph

Trending Lyricist I

@ ken...Thanks for your replies....what i meant is just using alexa voice to activate my kitchen ONE or my den play1/echo to play audio output from my tv playbar concurrently....vs using sonos app to turn either on from list with a check mark adjacent to each....seems its not possibleNo not possible with Alexa, but perhaps try this instead.... turn on the TV and let the TV audio start to play on the Playbar.

Now go over to your Play 1 (or Sonos One) Speaker in the Kitchen and keep the play button pressed... it should auto-Group your speaker with the PlayBar and output the same TV audio.

If you have other audio sources playing on Sonos, elsewhere in the home, if you keep the “play button” pressed, the Kitchen speaker will cycle through the different playing sources. Just let go when you hear the source you wish to listen to.

This at least saves you having to open the Sonos App to play your TV audio on your Kitchen Speaker and it’s a quick way to Group a Speaker with playing audio... it’s not a feature though that is currently supported via voice control.

See if that helps achieve what you were hoping to do.?

Will try that....
did I read correctly that Beam names the TV audio as "TV" enabling alexa to allow a command like: "alexa play tv on kitchen"? If so or not would be great to be in kitchen with TV playing on my playbar and simply say same while in kitchen. Our house is open concept and i can see the tv while in kitchen or den but not hear too well w/o cranking up vol on playbar.... make it so as capt Pickard would say...thanks

T

trymph

Trending Lyricist I

@ Ken_Griffiths......Still no joy with alexa voice command: "alexa play TV on kitchen" Kitchen is my sonos ONE. I did manage to register the LG TV with both LG & Amazon and it shows as a recognized devise "TV" in the alexa world; not sure if it can be named as an audio service/subscription for playing to sonos though. Good news is your suggestion for the play button toggling on the top of my ONE works to push playbar audio to the ONE! I will no longer have to get out the phone and open the sonos app....Thanks for that tip!!
Playing with groups/rooms/named devises to see if i can get ONE to work with voice command for the TV devise and will try an echo/play1 combo next; Ringdoorbell2 will play to echo and Ring confirmed to me they are working to add skill to play to Sonos also so possibly same deal here with the TV output.
Many thanks!!

Ryan S

Retired Sonos Staff

Hey trymph, the "switch to TV" command will have the Beam or other Sonos home theater device play the TV input, but it won't have any other Sonos players that don't have that input play from a different player. So if you have Sonos Ones with a Playbar, set up as a surround sound setup, you should be able to say "Alexa, switch to TV" and have the Playbar swap over to the TV input. But you won't be able to tell another room to start playing that audio using the voice control.

The button press command is one of the best ways to go other than using the app for this. You may be able to make it work with groups, but make sure you go into the Sonos Settings and under Room Settings > Playbar turn off ungroup on autoplay.

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

T

trymph

Trending Lyricist I

Hey trymph, the "switch to TV" command will have the Beam or other Sonos home theater device play the TV input, but it won't have any other Sonos players that don't have that input play from a different player. So if you have Sonos Ones with a Playbar, set up as a surround sound setup, you should be able to say "Alexa, switch to TV" and have the Playbar swap over to the TV input. But you won't be able to tell another room to start playing that audio using the voice control.

The button press command is one of the best ways to go other than using the app for this. You may be able to make it work with groups, but make sure you go into the Sonos Settings and under Room Settings > Playbar turn off ungroup on autoplay.

T

trymph

Trending Lyricist I

Thanks Ryan............will try with groups via sonos but maybe will work on echo (vs Sonos speaker or echo/Play1 combo) anyway I wanted to know what the ungroup on autoplay did so searching found the following: thanks to all community for answers given some research

I’ll try thanks. What is that meant to do though by doing this?

It ensures that any grouping defined in the Sonos app is broken when TV output is detected.

Ken_Griffiths

trymph,

It’s the Amazon Alexa Groups you will need to research. Perhaps start with this link:

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

The only issue is such grouping will auto-group your speaker with the PlayBar and I’m not sure you wish to do that on every occasion, so I still think perhaps pressing and holding the the play/pause button on your Kitchen speaker (when required) might prove to be the best option for your particular given situation.

In any event the grouping options are still worth a read as that may open up lots of options for your Sonos/Alexa setup.

T

trymph

Trending Lyricist I

trymph,

It’s the Amazon Alexa Groups you will need to research. Perhaps start with this link:

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

The only issue is such grouping will auto-group your speaker with the PlayBar and I’m not sure you wish to do that on every occasion, so I still think perhaps pressing and holding the the play/pause button on your Kitchen speaker (when required) might prove to be the best option for your particular given situation.

In any event the grouping options are still worth a read as that may open up lots of options for your Sonos/Alexa setup.

T

trymph

Trending Lyricist I

Thanks Ken...will look @alexa groups closely....also the ungrouping auto function...but just tapping play button to hear playbar ON kitchen ONE is alot easier than using sonos app on phone....but now its become a personal challenge....
Regards

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