Question

Can you stream to individual speakers once they are grouped?

  • 14 August 2017
  • 14 replies
  • 2244 views

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If I group a Play:1 speaker that is in my family room and living room, it creates a group. Can then play music to ONLY the Play:1 in the family room? I know I can ungroup them, which is what I believe I need to do.

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14 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +22
You need to un-group them to do that.

Or you could se the volume of the other to zero but then that's not quite the same.

Un-group them
Userlevel 7
Badge +17
Hopefully sonos will add this feature, just like google home has being able to pick from a list of permanent groups.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Hopefully sonos will add this feature, just like google home has being able to pick from a list of permanent groups.

I don't see any "feature" in the OPs post. If you have 2 Sonos speakers in different rooms and you only want to play through one of them then don't group them. Besides it is trivial to group or un-group.

I literally don't understand the request to be able to group 2 speakers and only play through one - In that case just don't group them!
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Hopefully sonos will add this feature, just like google home has being able to pick from a list of permanent groups.

I don't see any "feature" in the OPs post. If you have 2 Sonos speakers in different rooms and you only want to play through one of them then don't group them. Besides it is trivial to group or un-group.

I literally don't understand the request to be able to group 2 speakers and only play through one - In that case just don't group them!


Let me explain it to you -- If I have a speaker in my living room grouped with a speaker in my garage, because I will be working in the garage. But after the work has been completed, I don't need to hear music in the garage, only the living room. How about if I'm doing chores upstairs and downstairs, while playing music upstairs and downstairs. But after the chores are completed you just want to listen to the speaker in the living room.

I can think of several other scenarios too. With a Chromecast Audio you can group speakers together, but still play to individual speakers. That's what Sonos should do too.
That;s a pretty illogical definition of "group speakers together". If you are streaming to them individually, what exactly makes them "grouped"?
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
I'm with jgatie. Even if I were to accept the premise of your suggestion, which I don't, you'd still need to use the controller to tell Sonos to only stream to to one room - which is EXACTLY what ungrouping is and it is trivially easy to do.
Perhaps your asking if ungrouping zones will cause the music to stop. It will not. Here's an example.

1 - You start listening to Pandora in the living room.
2 - You decide you want to go to the garage for something and want to hear the same song there. You can then pair living room and garage together.
3 - Your wife comes into the living room and doesn't want to listen to your music. She can ungroup the living room from the group you previously created. Pandora is still on in your garage. Your wife can then select something else in the living room. Both zones playing something different.

Or maybe this is just a naming convention issue. Within your house, you'll setup different zones. That's typically one speaker, but you can pair two speakers together for stereo in one zone. Or you can create a 5.1 bonded speakers with a playbar/playbase..etc. These are semi-permanent settings. When you want more then one zone to play the same music source at the same time, you group them together. When your done, you ungroup them. Grouping is designed to be temporary and easy to switch back and forth.
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That;s a pretty illogical definition of "group speakers together". If you are streaming to them individually, what exactly makes them "grouped"?

Evidently you've never used a Chromecast Audio. It allows you to group speakers together, but still play to individual speakers in that group. Google does not think it is illogical. It's especially useful for some of the situations I stated earlier. You shouldn't have to create and delete groups to obtain this functionality. It's trivial to do so, but if you do it frequently, then it will become annoying.
No I haven't used Chromecast Audio, so there is apparently a disconnect.
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Perhaps your asking if ungrouping zones will cause the music to stop. It will not. Here's an example.

1 - You start listening to Pandora in the living room.
2 - You decide you want to go to the garage for something and want to hear the same song there. You can then pair living room and garage together.
3 - Your wife comes into the living room and doesn't want to listen to your music. She can ungroup the living room from the group you previously created. Pandora is still on in your garage. Your wife can then select something else in the living room. Both zones playing something different.

Or maybe this is just a naming convention issue. Within your house, you'll setup different zones. That's typically one speaker, but you can pair two speakers together for stereo in one zone. Or you can create a 5.1 bonded speakers with a playbar/playbase..etc. These are semi-permanent settings. When you want more then one zone to play the same music source at the same time, you group them together. When your done, you ungroup them. Grouping is designed to be temporary and easy to switch back and forth.


Yes, what you say is true. But the way Google designed the Chromecast Audio, you don't have to perform the extra steps of grouping and ungrouping, which could get tedious. The Chromecast Audio allows you to group speakers together, but still play to individual speakers in that group. It's especially useful for some of the situations I stated earlier. You shouldn't have to create and delete groups to obtain this functionality.

But this is a minor complaint, overall I am enjoying the sonos ecosystem! Last weekend I just connected a Sonos Connect to two 8" KRK Rockit monitors, and it sounds awesome! I'm planning on connecting another Sonos Connect to my TV in the living room, and two KRK Rokit 5 speakers.
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No I haven't used Chromecast Audio, so there is apparently a disconnect.No I haven't used Chromecast Audio, so there is apparently a disconnect.

It's minor complaint, overall I am enjoying the Sonos ecosystem! Last weekend I connected a Sonos Connect to two 8" KRK Rokit monitors, and it sounds awesome! I'm planning on connecting another Sonos Connect to my TV in the living room, and two KRK Rokit 5 monitors.
Userlevel 3
Badge +7
So here's a question to compare this scenario with chrome cast:
One thing I love with Sonos is the fact that I can start listening to radio (example only) in the living room, I then want to listen to the same in the kitchen and group living room + kitchen. Once I'm done in those two rooms, I can go to the grouping option, un-tick BOTH living room and kitchen, and only tick bedroom. Music will stop in both kitchen and living room and simply start in bedroom - with exact synchronization and without any gaps etc. How would this work on chrome cast?
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So here's a question to compare this scenario with chrome cast:
One thing I love with Sonos is the fact that I can start listening to radio (example only) in the living room, I then want to listen to the same in the kitchen and group living room + kitchen. Once I'm done in those two rooms, I can go to the grouping option, un-tick BOTH living room and kitchen, and only tick bedroom. Music will stop in both kitchen and living room and simply start in bedroom - with exact synchronization and without any gaps etc. How would this work on chrome cast?


I don't believe that is possible with the Chromecast Audio.
Userlevel 7
Badge +17
Basically chromecast creates permanent groups in a list with individual speakers with gui's, and you just cast to whatever single speaker or group you want. Then stop and re-cast to something else in the list. So the music will stop for a few seconds whilst it establishes the new cast.