Question

Multiple Sonos components in same room

  • 26 April 2013
  • 13 replies
  • 4708 views

Sorry for the newbie question. I'm using the PC controller to add a second Play:3, and there does not seem to be a way to add it to the same room as I added the first one to. I add the first one to Office, and now Office has been replaced by Office2 in the room selection drop down. I want them both to be in Office so I can create a stereo pair.

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13 replies

See the following link on how to create a stereo pair (Note: It is for the Play:5, but the same applies to the Play:3): https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1077/kw/stereo+pair
I guess I wasn't clear. I can see how to do stereo pairing, but I am having trouble adding the second Play:3 speaker to the same room as the first. When I go to add the second speaker, the room that contains the first speaker is not in the drop-down list. So the question is: How do you add the 2nd speaker to the same room as the first? From there, stereo pairing seems straightforward.
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Hi. Was this resolved? I'm having the same issue, would be good to have this info in public somewhere. Thanks!
Not sure if this is still an open issue with you two or not but the easiest way to accomplish what you want is to realize that SONOS sees speakers, not rooms so if you already have a speaker in the OFFICE simply add another speaker to your SONOS network in another room...say OFFICE2. Go to the OFFICE in the Room Settings and create a stereo pair between OFFICE and OFFICE2 and both speakers will show up in as OFFICE from that point forward.
This seems to be limited to Sonos speakers of the same type i.e. two PLAY:1 or two PLAY:5s.

How do I make my PLAY:1 and PLAY:5 in the same room show as one room?
This seems to be limited to Sonos speakers of the same type i.e. two PLAY:1 or two PLAY:5s.

How do I make my PLAY:1 and PLAY:5 in the same room show as one room?


You can't. You can group them easily, but they cannot be configured as a single room.
I have the same question. As jgatie said, it does not seem possible to have many speakers in the same room. I'm not sure to understand why this can't be done.

I have a Play:1 stereo pair among a Play:5 solo in the same room (living room). My pair and my Play5 cannot be added in the same room (the app forces to rename LivingRoom as LivingRoom2), I must "group" them, which is actually quite fine by me (but still very confusing).

The point is just that the term "Room" is very misleading for users (including me): when I first installed my system, when I read "Rooms" in the app, I was expecting to be able to add as many speakers as needed in one room. I took quite some time to try everything to understand.

Now, let's say I purchase a Sub in the future : I will have :
- 1 stereo pair in LivingRoom1
- 1 Play:5 in LivingRoom2
- 1 Sub in LivingRoom3.

In my case, I renamed the rooms like so :
- my stereo pair is named livingroom-play:1
- my play:5 is named livingroom-play5
And with this I know what I'm grouping when needed.
What now if I buy a Playbar for the same room ?
Very strange. Or did I get something wrong ?

Also, it doesn't seem you can save a group for later use, this is annoying. At least, I could save one group as "LivingRoom", one group as "TV" (with playbar)...

Sorry for the long message. Can maybe anyone at Sonos give us a hint about this ?
Thanks

Axel
You can only pair or bond certain standard configurations as a single room. They are configured for best sound from stereo or 5.1 sources. They are:

Single speaker.
Single plus Sub.
Two like models as a stereo pair.
Stereo pair plus Sub.
Playbar or Playbase with like pair as surrounds.
Playbar or Playbase with Sub
Playbar or Playbase with surrounds and Sub.

Any other configurations are non-optimal soundwise, so you must configure them through grouping.

That's it.
I'd agree that the name "room" is a construct of the Sonos system, and has zero relationship to a physical room. But, once that's understood, the only thing that restricts my ability to put all my Sonos speakers in the same physical room and play the same music simultaneously is the number of electrical outlets I have in the physical room.
Hello jgatie. Thanks for your reply.

I get your point. I'm just saying it may be confusing.
So my Play:1 pair with my Play:5 is not the optimal configuration ?
Should I return my Play:5 and replace it with something else. Like I don't know ... a Playbar ? My goal was to enjoy some loudness without Sub (that I will eventually buy one day).

Tks
Hello jgatie. Thanks for your reply.

I get your point. I'm just saying it may be confusing.
So my Play:1 pair with my Play:5 is not the optimal configuration ?
Should I return my Play:5 and replace it with something else. Like I don't know ... a Playbar ? My goal was to enjoy some loudness without Sub (that I will eventually buy one day).

Tks


To the bolded? No, it is not, at least for critical, accurate listening. A matched stereo pair, with one playing the left and the other the right channel of the stereo signal, is far more accurate than two mismatched speakers playing both channels.

Same with the rest of the configurations. Sonos has decided that the only bonding allowed is the standard, optimum configurations. Now you may not care about critical, accurate listening and just want background music that is all around the room. For that, you would group the speakers.
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The use of Rooms is confusing in Sonos environment, but where it really breaks down is in using Alexa to control the volume. You can't control the volume via Alexa for a group, but you can for a room. But you can't put a couple of Sonos One's with a Play:5 in the same "Room". So there's no way with a single command via Alexa to turn down the volume for all the speakers in a physical room. You have to go the app which sort of defeats the purpose of having Alexa built in in the first place. So when I need to suddenly turn the volume down in my room via Alexa (if my phones not on me), I basically need to Pause the music and either find my phone or run around to each speaker to turns down the volume for the entire room. Really hope this scenario is high on the list to resolve better.