Group two speakers together but leave option for each respective group

With only two rooms the built in 'Everywhere' group already performs this function. There is no need for anything else.

Thanks John - but I don’t see the Everywhere group anywhere..

@jesperss, see screengrab.

yes - i only have two rooms - i’m not seeing it.

why can’t you create an everywhere group for two rooms?

incredibly frustrating.

I’d assume the action of clicking on the other room is considered the same as clicking on an ‘everywhere’ button. You still end up with both rooms grouped, so why display the unnecessary button?

Ah yes that's the explanation,  thanks Bruce.

To me, it’s extra logic that has to be built in, but meh, I’m not the Product Manager or the Engineer involved, so who knows. ;)

Duh - never noticed this!

thank you!

Like so many things: it’s easy when you know 😜

Have I understood everything correctly that it’s not possible to have an option for all rooms when only two rooms are set up? This sounds dumb. I play through Airplay and Spotify and unnecessary clicks are needed as soon as I want to play from both rooms at the same time. It would be so nice just having the option right away in the Spotify connect options.

It's not dumb. Named speaker groups are not visible in Airplay and Spotify Connect anyway because you are not using the Sonos app

@John B  Is it possible to get the both room option (Kitchen + Living room) into Airplay and Spotify connect? If not I think it’s a lack of functionality. I rather use the Spotify app than the Sonos. Previously I used Chromecast audio and it was possible to get the both room option into Spotify connect. Can’t understand why Sonos wouldn’t want to support this.

Hi. You are missing the point. When you are using Airplay or Spotify Connect you are not really using the Sonos system at all, you are using a bunch of Airplay compatible or Spotify Connect enabled speakers.   All that Airplay can possibly find is the Airplay compatible speakers in range.  It isn't a lack of functionality, it's the nature of the beast. There is certainly nothing Sonos can do about it.

But if you group in Sonos then Sonos will do what it always does - play on the 'target' speaker and any that are grouped to it.

Btw.  The 'Can't group two rooms unless there are more than two rooms ' refers only to the named room groups feature added when S2 was launched a few months ago. Of course it is perfectly possible to stream to both speakers using the Sonos app, Airplay or Spotify Connect. 

Ok, I think I understand the problem now. Thank you for the clarifications

The problem is, when you have more than 2 rooms, there is a default group named “Everywhere”.  The reason for this is if you just click the named group, Sonos automatically checks the speakers in the group, saving you from clicking each one individually.  You can also set up other named groupings - Upstairs, Bedrooms, etc. However, there is no “Everywhere” (or any other possible combinations) with only two rooms; they are either grouped, or they aren’t.  So having a named group doesn’t save any clicks, because there’s only one possible grouping you can have. 

It would save me time when choosing which speakers to play from (not my own screenshot). Because I wouldn’t need to choose one speaker first, and then go into Sonos and select the second speaker. An additional problem I face is that when I choose to group two speakers in the Sonos app, then they stay grouped in the Spotify connect app, and I must go back into the Sonos app to ungroup them. 

Hi @Lewom .  This thread is about the use of named room groups, and the reason why it is unnecessary to have them in a two room setup within the Sonos app.

You widened this out to the situation of using Spotify Connect or Airplay, which is a complete red herring as named room groups only exist within the Sonos app, and can only do so.  As I have explained, Airplay can only see Airplay compatible speakers - it doesn’t even know it is dealing with a Sonos speaker.  It is never going to be able to see a named room group.  Your whole premise is meaningless.

Why don’t you forget grouping in in Sonos and just select both rooms in Airplay?

Hi @John B, thank you for pointing that out. I thought I was on the same subject.

I didn’t know it was possible selecting multiple rooms in Airplay. I’ll definitely check that out. Hopefully it suits me. Thank you!

Hi @Lewom . I think you can do the same in Spotify Connect, although it’s ages since I used Spotify.

The screenshot posted is probably an older version of the Spotify App - I have an (...) ellipsis menu option next to each of my Sonos Rooms in ‘Spotify Connect’ that leads to a room grouping/ungrouping screen option. See my screenshots attached.

@Ken_Griffiths Thank you. I’ve used it to group the speakers in my kitchen and living room. The problem is that it requires plenty of additional taps (it sends me into the Sonos app to confirm the grouping) and then the individual options “Kitchen” and “Living room” disappears and are replaced by the group that was just created. So going forward I only have 1 grouped option, instead of 3 (grouped + individual speakers)