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Connecting Sonos to Alexa Dot

  • 28 December 2016
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Connected Alexa via Yonomi App, however she cannot follow my music command like volume control. My Alexa app shows she is connected to all my Sonos components . Any ideas?
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Best answer by jgatie 28 December 2016, 20:00

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31 replies

Sonos has stated it will be a full integration, not simply a skill. I assume that means an update to both Sonos and Alexa devices. The best way to be a tester is to sign up for the public beta program:

http://www.sonos.com/en-us/beta/screen
I have just downloaded the Yanomi app, I have added all my devices including my Sonos speakers. Updated the Alexa app for the new skill "Yonomi", created a new routine to play "kitchen music" (which plays what is loaded in the routine in Yonomi, in this case a radio station which is in the Sonos favourite folder) refreshed the Alexa app which picks up routines as well as the devices. "Alexa play Kitchen music" and on comes the radio station on the Sonos in the kitchen. It works but it is very basic only "on" and "off". Looking forward to a proper Sonos/Alexa solution.
The solution is really easy... It has been working for me for two months.. I bought a dot and a lutron caseta bridge.... Alexa iworks with lutron as a skill and lutron caseta works with sonos....
I created some playlist using sonos favorites , I created a scene using caseta that use the any kind of sonos speaker that I have and I select the playlist that I created in Sonos. It is VERY easy to do it.
After that the only think that I have to do is say ... Alexa turn on xxxxx (any name for the scene in lutron app) and that's it,,, Alexa send the order to lutron and lutron send the order to Sonos .... Works perfectly..... (the only little problem, is that you have to wait a little until Alexa incorporates the scene name to your account, but after 1 hour is working perfectly...

You can create multiple scenes with any playlist that you want or radio station that you want and done.
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In my case I bought an Echo & Echo Dot first, then read about the planned Sonos/Alexa integration, and that's what drove me to look more closely at Sonos systems.

I auditioned Sonos, quickly bought lots of gear, and I totally love it. Ironically, I barely use the Echo now. Even a PLAY:1 simply _crushes_ an Echo for audio quality, and the Sonos app. (across a variety of iOS/Mac/PC platforms) serves my audio needs exceptionally well. Add in the line-in options, and the picture is complete.

I do look forward to the Alexa integration -- I'm sure it will be good -- but I can't say I care that much.
And the bunny gets it.
Yonomi is not officially supported; there are only a couple here who use it. Unless those few come by and know the answer, you will probably have better luck inquiring at Yonomi.
Thank you! Is there a better way, recommended way to connect my sonos system with Alexa?
The only other way is to connect the line-out on a Dot to the line-in on a Sonos device which has one (Connect, Connect:Amp, Play:5). However, Sonos has announced a partnership with Amazon which will bring full Echo/Alexa integration in 2017.

http://press-us.sonos.com/134980-sonos-with-partners-and-industry-leaders-ushers-in-new-era-of-connected-home-listening
Will this support include an update to Sonos code as well as a Alexa skill or just the skill. I would like to be a tester of this function, I have both technologies and am comfortable to the technologies
I agree based on what Sonos announced, I am a detail guy and was looking for confirmation on what I assumed. Thanks for the beta screen link I will apply and see what happens.
Like you I'm looking forward to the proper Sonos / Echo integration. In the meantime I'm not having much success with the Yonome solution. When your Sonos plays, does the Echo play the same music etc, or is it silent? Thanks.
No it is silent, however sometimes she says ok to the routine command but nothing happens, so I have to repeat the command, but generally it is ok........ using lutron and a bridge appears to be a similar approach, but purchasing a bridge would not work for me as it would be redundant when there is a sonos integration and I have wemo everywhere.
Thanks for your replies. I'll wait for the Sonos/Echo integration solution to be released as I don't want to buy anymore hardware. The Sonos stuff is expensive enough! I'm hoping that the Sonos solution will allow the Echo to play the same music as the Sonos speakers otherwise you then have a Sonos speaker and an Echo speaker in the same room which is a bit of a waste! I know the Sonos speakers are superior in sound quality but the Echo is fine for the kitchen.
Do we have a release date yet on the firmware update between Amazon Echo and the Sonos?
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Do we have a release date yet on the firmware update between Amazon Echo and the Sonos?

No

and you won't get one before it is released.
Spotify connect let's you use them together but that's all 😞
Like Lutron Caseta, Insteon also integrates with Sonos, and Alexa with Insteon. So I've been able to use Alexa to turn on/off my Sonos through an Insteon hub. I set up scenes on Insteon to activate up to 10 different channels on the Sonos (one scene for each channel); a channel can be a radio station, or a Pandora station, or a Sonos or Spotify playlist, etc. Then I can say "Turn on [name of scene on Insteon]" to turn on that channel.

Note that Alexa sometimes confuses the scene name with playing her own music -- e.g., I tried to name a scene "NPR" in order to get the Sonos to play NPR, but Alexa went ahead and played NPR on her own speaker. So I've named my scenes "Sonos NPR" and "Sonos Classical" instead.

I've also created a scene just called "Sonos", so that I can shut off the music by saying "Turn off Sonos". The command "Turn on Sonos" will also work, with Sonos just playing whatever it was last playing when it was shut off.

I haven't tried volume control yet, but if Sonos behaves like lights do on Insteon, then just like I can say "Reduce Dining Room Lights to 50%", I should be able to say "Reduce Sonus to 50%" to control volume.
Correction -- the volume control doesn't work; I haven't figured out a way to control the Sonos volume through Alexa despite the otherwise successful operation through an Insteon hub.
Is there a date yet? I want to use Alexa with sonos 🆒
Sonos doesn't do exact dates. The official statement is later this year.
Oh OK - I guess 'later this year' is more information than I had.
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Sonos... Any update when Sonos and Alexa will be integrated??? I have Sonos and Alexa set up in every room and am ready for them to work together. I can't wait to have voice control for my music. I already have it for my lights and that was a game changer. I do not listen to music on alexa because I have really nice Sonos speakers with way better quality sound and am ready to use alexa to control these speakers. Any update would be helpful. Thank you.
So, you posted in this thread, as well as starting a new thread?

Thanks.
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Sonos... Any update when Sonos and Alexa will be integrated??? I have Sonos and Alexa set up in every room and am ready for them to work together. I can't wait to have voice control for my music. I already have it for my lights and that was a game changer. I do not listen to music on alexa because I have really nice Sonos speakers with way better quality sound and am ready to use alexa to control these speakers. Any update would be helpful. Thank you.

Don't share this voice control enthusiasm as it appears others do. Having voice control for lights has no comparison to control of music. What can you do with lights? Switch off and on or dim to varying degrees. This is totally different to choosing from potentially thousands of music selections. Is selecting music from the (in my case) iPod Sonos controller and flicking through albums, artists, playlists so much of a problem that it's crying out for voice control?
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I can control what color they are their brightness and what rooms come on, which I think is cool. I can say Alexa turn off all lights of I can say Alexa turn on Dinning room lights.
I am kinda confused by your response to my post.... What does my enthusiasm about voice control have anything to do with your negative personal views of the technology???
I for one have always wanted to live in a smart home and have been building mine for the past couple of years. The ability to lock my front door, turn lights off and on, Change lights colors, Change lights brightness, Control lights by a room by room basis... Now I want to be able to control my music? It would be awesome to say Alexa play Eric Clapton in the Kitchen and it come through my sonos speakers.... Why are you on here trying to tell me that voice control is not that important when it clearly is a huge selling point for a lot of people?