Volume Fluctuating up and down on it own

Hi adamgod,

That doesn't sound very nice. Please give us a call and we can troubleshoot your system with you, and fix this. :)

Best,
Ditte

Did this get resolved? I have had Sonos working for a year but when I just added a Sonos One with Alexa to the mix, volume fluctuates when I group my speakers. I took the Sonos One offline by powering it off, tried grouping my speakers again and problem persists. Now my groupings are unusable whether I group one or many speakers.

Hi Mark, you may want to set up a group with your Sonos One, check out this page here for details.

If the volume is lowering for a few seconds after you call for Alexa, that's a feature which allows for the volume to lower, in order for microphones to be able to pick up you're trying to say. For some more details about Sonos and Alexa, check out this thread.

Thanks Ryan for responding. The second point about lowering a few seconds I understand and makes sense. The issue is not that but constant fluctuating volumes on all speakers if I group any or all of them within my Sonos app on my MAC. I even eliminated having the Sonos One online to avoid Alexa altogether. The fluctuating volume was never a problem until I added the Sonos One and setup Alexa in my Sonos network. I was left with a problem even after taking Alexa out of the mix. The only other thing I did when I setup Sonos One was update my Sonos software for all devices to latest version they deployed but I always keep my software updated. Is my description clearer to what is happening?

Thanks for helping clarify. Just to make sure, is the volume actually changing within the Sonos app, or does it just drop for 5-10 seconds every now and then?

I'm trying to help identify if what you're experiencing is the volume lowering that's to be expected with voice control, or if it's something else entirely.

Do you happen to have any other Alexa enabled devices in the house or just the Sonos One?

I have no other Alexa devices and this is my first experience with Alexa. The odd thing is that you hear the volume dropping in and out on the speakers but you can also visually see the volume bar going left to right and back constantly within the Sonos app on my Mac. It is almost as if someone has control of my mouse and running the slider back and forth. It is weird for sure. And as I say I don’t see it happen until I group more than one speaker. I have a playbase, Play 5, 2 Play 1 each in different rooms and now added the Sonos One. I also have a Connect to tie in my stereo receiver and all its components. All has been running great until the Alexa Sonos One setup and software update this weekend.

Thanks for the details, Mark. Can you go into the Sonos settings and adjust for the Sonos One under Room Settings > [Room Name] > Speaker Touch Controls and turn off the toggle? This will make it so the touch surface on the top of the Sonos One is disabled. I'd like to see if it's the top cap not functioning properly, as the Alexa volume lowering should not show up in the app on the volume bar.

It may be best to give us a call or message us on social media to work with a technician live.

I had powered off the Sonos One and still had the issue so not sure about this helping but will look at it. I will give support a call. Thanks for the insight and help on this.

Update: After more troubleshooting, it appears the volume fluctuations happens whenever I use my Connect to play CDs using my receiver as input to the groups. So if I eliminate playing through the Connect, volume is steady for my group. This seems to eliminate it being caused when I installed the Sonos One with Alexa. However I did install the latest software update at the time I installed Sonos One. I will probably need to work this out with Sonos Support when I have time but at least this focuses the issue.

Update: Well I finally had time after the holidays to sit down and continue to troubleshoot and it appears the "fix" was a simple one. I had narrowed down the issue after trying a number of configurations to the Connect on my Receiver and volume fluctuated whenever I played through the receiver. I finally just re-powered the Connect and it seems to now work again without volume fluctuations. Apparently something happened after the software update, not so much when I added the Sonos One. I did both at the same sitting so originally thought it an Alexa issue. The Connect must have needed the reboot so not sure why but that seems to have fixed my issue. I can now enjoy my setup as I have invested quite a bit into it.