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MichaelRHL
Contributor I
October 30, 2019
Question

Group - ungroup - group - ungroup.....

  • October 30, 2019
  • 14 replies
  • 1594 views

I started using a Sonos speaker as an alarm.  Fine, but I would like the radio to play only in my bedroom when the alarm starts.  So that’s how I have set the alarm.  My day now starts with this speaker ungrouped because that’s what the alarm does.

Then when I am up and about, I like to play the same radio downstairs too.  

So now I have to create a group every morning and set volumes for each speaker (4 speaker system).  If I don’t, I can hear the radio out of sync in different rooms.  Like most people who spend all this money on Sonos, it is to have the benefit of a multi-room system - I like to be able to walk around the house and hear the radio in sync throughout.

It is so cumbersome and frustrating.  My experience with Sonos is that I have some amazing hardware with software that seems to stand in the way of how I want to live.

Solutions that would be terrific are:

  • I have tried IFTTT automation but it doesn’t control grouping (yet?)
  • why does Sonos need groups?  Surely it would be easy to design the controller to sync automatically any speakers that are using the same music source.  If you play the same source through 2+ speakers, why wouldn’t you want them in sync?   Why does it require the user to put speakers in groups manually?

Has anyone found a work-around to help avoid the constant process of adding speakers to a group after setting an alarm? 

 

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      Ken_Griffiths
      Ken_Griffiths
      November 25, 2019

      If using Alexa, it might also be worth seeing if the yonomi smart-home skill can perhaps do these things too?? (I don’t use it, personally speaking, but I think it’s a possibility that it might work).

        MichaelRHLAuthor
        Contributor I
        November 25, 2019

        Hi Ken - I didn’t know about keeping a Sonos button pressed to pull audio through.  Will give that a go.  Thanks for ideas about Logitech and Yonomi.  As I mentioned, I am now using Home Assistant - a home automation system that runs on a cheap raspberry pi.  (Having spent all my money on expensive Sonos units, I wanted to keep further investment as low as possible…)  

        Ken_Griffiths
        Ken_Griffiths
        November 25, 2019

        Hi Ken - I didn’t know about keeping a Sonos button pressed to pull audio through.  Will give that a go.  Thanks for ideas about Logitech and Yonomi.  As I mentioned, I am now using Home Assistant - a home automation system that runs on a cheap raspberry pi.  (Having spent all my money on expensive Sonos units, I wanted to keep further investment as low as possible…)  

        Yes of course makes complete sense. The push/hold play/pause button is not a widely known feature, although it is publicised by Sonos... the way it works, briefly, is like this…

        • Press/hold the play/pause button and it will find the first playing audio source on another Sonos Room and you then release the button to play the audio in sync on that local speaker. 
        • If you have more than one existing playing audio source (on other Sonos rooms), if you once again press/hold the play/pause button, it will find the second playing audio source and you then release the button to play it on that speaker… and you can continue to cycle through any other playing rooms using this method. 
        • Once you have cycled through all the playing rooms by pressing/releasing the play/pause button in this way,, it will just return back to not playing and you can then go through the cycling process again, or just leave it not playing.

        Hope you find that useful.👍

         

         

          MichaelRHLAuthor
          Contributor I
          November 26, 2019

          It is not the alarm that is “un-grouping” your speakers. This is caused by either your TV, if this is connected, or by a user action prior to the alarm going off.
          The alarm will keep the existing group and start on the pre-defined sound level provided that 1) your speakers are already grouped when the alarm is set and 2) that you have enabled the “keep group feature” in the alarm settings.
          Therefore, you can group your speakers before going to sleep to avoid having to adjust the volume rather than doing it on the morning.
          Make sure that your bedroom is the “main” alarm room, if your frequently forget to regroup in the evening.

          And I agree, Sonos should have an auto-group feature connected to the alarm setting. This has been brought up a million times.

          I checked this.  If I keep the alarm speakers grouped in the alarm option, all the speakers in my house play the alarm and I can only pre-set the volume for the alarm for all speakers together.  

          Never mind.  My Home Assistant setup allows me to reset my whole-house configuration in the morning with one button.

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