How can I control my Sonos Port with a remote control?

Hi @eulerfx, Thanks for reaching out and welcome to the community. Regarding your concern about controlling the volume on the Sonos Port, however, The Sonos Port doesn’t have an IR receiver to control the volume of the Amp and the speakers connected to it. 

Let us know how you get on with the advice above.

We're here to answer any further questions you have.

No, only a phone, tablet, PC or Mac using the Sonos controller or one of the alternates.

Can someone confirm whether the Lutron Caseta Audio and/or Senic Nuimo hardware buttons work on the Port’s variable line-out volume, like they control the standalone speaker volume?  I have never tried it, but would like to know… (yah, lazy!-)

Hi, @Simon B , Thanks for responding.  BUT: (1) The link you provided does not answer the specific question posed: Does “volume control” -- which of course all those devices do! -- extend to “variable line out” on the Port?  (2) Also note that the chart in that article does not even list the Senic Nuimo which Sonos sells from the website.  (3) Is that why you did not recommend any of those devices in response to @eulerfx asking, “Is there no way to control the volume on my Sonos Port with a hardware remote control?”

Let us know how you get on with the implied advice in #2 above.

And #1 & #3 above are, in fact, any further questions I have, which you may now answer!

Just as a datapoint, I control my Sonos Port using an IR remote, but it requires a Python program running on a Raspberry Pi (or other computer), and a ‘FLIRC’ IR receiver.

The code is available here if anyone wants to try it:

  https://github.com/pwt/SonosKeyController

I can use the IR remote to play, pause, go to next/previous tracks, control volume, and play favourites, but I could set it up to do anything that’s supported by soco-cli [1]. It works very well for me (especially as the Port has dispensed with the convenient front panel controls found on the Connect).

[1] https://github.com/avantrec/soco-cli

Cool -- $18 remote and $40 “gateway” (don’t search Ikea.com for “hub”)?  I’ll have to try one.  They both look clunkier than their Lutron equivalents, and of course the product description throws a curve because it says, “Can only be used with IKEA Smart lighting products.”

Since Sonos Staff can’t recommend, here’s my experience: Lutron controls “just work”.  Battery in the remote supposedly lasts 10 years.  Mounting options (pedestal, wall plate, fake “tandem” wallplate with light switches) are great.  I ordered 2 “Lutron Caseta Wireless Pico Remote for Audio” @ $40 each and 1 “Lutron Caseta Wireless Smart Bridge” @ $80, plus a $12 Pico pedestal to keep it above the counter slop in the kitchen.  That’s only twice as much as the Ikea pieces and worth the peace of mind IMO.

The iPort that Sonos sells is reputed to drain its battery pretty quick, so I didn’t even bother with it. 

The Senic Nuimo that Sonos sells is heavy-duty hardware (even better than Lutron) and I *love* the spinwheel’s look & feel, but their hub occasionaly failed to reconnect.  (Whether it was across power-fails or Sonos software updates I don’t know, but both occur way too often for my liking.)  I prefer their switch to the spinwheel only because it has no battery at all (piezo!), so no recharging or sleep/wake delay.  Rarely, it takes an extra click to charge it up and only the second click gets transmitted to (by?) the hub.  The Nuimo controls required closer distance to their hub than the Lutron Picos did.

In all these cases you must load the manufacturer’s app as well as the Sonos app.  And in all cases, volume clicks have a tiny delay before they take effect.  I didn’t mind the Lutron delay. The Nuimo switch delay wasn’t much longer, but the Nuimo spinwheel delay made it easy to overshoot.  I have only used them on pre-S1, no idea about S2.

Ikea is little risk as they havea 1 year return policy 😀

I don't find it clunky but ymmv.The puck shape isn't ground breaking design but imo it's a good mix of design and function.  I'm using it with Smartthings hub so haven't bought the Tradfri gateway. 

So far in approx 4 months use every time I press a button it works and it continued to work over upgrades to S2.