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Harmony Hub Ultimate, Sonos:Connect, favorites, and "Line-In"

  • 1 September 2015
  • 11 replies
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I just posted this in a Harmony support forum as well, but it is probably as likely to be addressed by Sonos as it is as by Harmony. . . maybe more likely?

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I like the Harmony hub remotes a lot. They have simplified the universal remote problem in several rooms in my house. So much so that I am now actively using two Harmony Hub Ultimates and one Harmony Hub, one each in 3 different rooms in my house.

I use multiple audio input sources, and have Sonos eqpt in 5 rooms of my house. Two of these are the Sonos:Connect modules, so that I can send audio to and from multiple sources using my existing AV amps and speakers. The Sonos:Connect devices send the audio using 'Line-In' (this is Sonos' labeling/nomenclature). To send audio from my office to my den, I select the source as (office Sonos:Connect - Line-In) on the Den unit. I have to do this using the Sonos controller. . .

I have not found any way to use the Harmony remote to select that as a source. It would be nice if that was an option as a favorite (which probably is not a Harmony/Logitech problem - that choice is probably not exposed in the programming API provided to Logitech by Sonos), or as an option in the pull down for commands / sequences / edits.

I have upgraded two of my rooms from the Harmony Hub to the Ultimate specifically to better control music choices (especially Sonos) in those rooms. Having access to favorites make the remotes mostly usable for selecting music on the fly.

But, I use the 'Line-In' (sourced from Sonos:Connect in another room) often enough to make this a priority for me. In order to switch to that source, I have to open the Sonos controller on my phone/tablet - which works OK for me, but for the rest of my family, not so much.

If anyone has gotten this to work, I would appreciate some ideas.
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Best answer by controlav 31 May 2019, 15:45

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11 replies

Same as David_414, I see the line-in available as a favorite but the Hamrony doesnt seem to trigger it. Other favorites work fine and triggering through the Sonos app also works fine. I've never been successful with the autoswitch on the Connect line-in so that's not an option. Am I missing something?
I am trying to setup a Harmony Elite using the Sonos Line-in from my Direct TV audio. I can see the Line-in Audio component in the favorites list but when the remote selects this favorite Sonos stops playing and the room shows no music selected. If I select a favorite station on the remote it plays the station without any issues. Also if I start the line-in audio from the Sonos app the remote correctly shows what is playing on the display???
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Since the original thread, Sonos actually added this feature to the official apps. Even the Desktop version OMG!!
@controlav That was it! Thank you!
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By the way, you can make a Favorite from Line-In easily enough, and it works great. You just can't do it with the official app. The 3rd party apps SonoPad (iPad), SonoPhone (iPhone) and Phonos Universal (Windows) all allow a Favorite to be created from a line-in source. There may be others too, but these are the ones I use.
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It wouldn't need any collaboration from Harmony. All it would need is for Sonos to include the option of adding Line-in as a favorite, something that has been requested by many for several years. I know there are people on here who feel it's not necessary because of autoplay, however, there are several use cases which make autoplay not a workable alternative.

Sonos: Please consider adding line-in to favorites! It would really increase the flexibility of the system for DIY home-automators and professional installers alike.
Surely one way to go about this, is to ask Alexa, to ask Harmony, to just begin playing the A/V device ... a CD Player for example ... the CD Player will have needed to have been setup previously, in advance, to output its audio source to the line-in on the attached Sonos Connect. Then in the Sonos Controller line-in settings (within the 'Room' that the Connect is located), you would simply set the Connect line-in to auto-play and automatically output the CD Player audio to the 'Den' Sonos speakers, at a chosen volume.

So there is a potential workaround for this problem, with a bit of pre-configuration of the CD Player or A/V device and the Connect line-in auto-play settings, but like MikeV mentions above, the Harmony Hub currently only has access to 'My Sonos' favorites and it’s not possible to add a Sonos Connect (or Play-5) line-in source to Sonos favorites.

For the line-in source to work in the way being requested, it would need work/collaboration (and the 'will' to do this) by both Logitech and Sonos developers and that will perhaps only happen, if there is a much greater demand for such a feature.
+1 and bump... there more recent requests and comments for same on Logitech forum. I wonder if this a Sonos or Logitech issue.
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The Harmony devices only seem to have access to the Sonos Favorites, as far as being able to select an audio source to play/listen to. Usually they're used to add a favorite internet radio station or playlist for easy access. Unfortunately, the Sonos Line In connections cannot be added to Sonos Favorites, so there is no way to easily access them from the Logitech Harmony system.
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This is not the internal Line-In on the connected Sonos:Connect (which I think may be what you are referring to?). What I am trying to do is to use an "Audio Component: (Other Room)" as a source.

I have 2 Connects. One is in the Den/Console and one is in the Office. Both are connected to AV amps in each room, and both are connected using IN and OUT connectors. So, I am able to both receive Sonos sourced audio FROM any other room as well as to send Sonos sourced OR AV sourced audio to any other Sonos-enabled room.

Attached is a screen shot from my android - Sonos controller of the Audio Component - Line In choices for source.

My goal would be to be able to control these sources using the Harmony Hub Ultimate.
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You can set the CONNECT to automatically switch to the Line-In source when a signal is detected? You can also set a default volume and a default set of rooms it will play the audio from.

Everytime you switch on a device which is connected with Line-In it will automatically switch to that and play it on your system.