Question

Super Groups?

  • 3 September 2013
  • 40 replies
  • 3908 views

Userlevel 2
I have a set up in my house with 10 Sonos speakers. I tend to group them in the various rooms..... Kitchen (3 Speakers) Living Room (4 Speakers) Kids Bedrooms (3 Speakers) Master Bedroom/Bathroom (4 Speakers via Connect & Connect Amp) I change the Groups depending on the set up the house at any time. Watching movies etc...... Is there any way to get the system to remember 'Groups' so i can just click on a PreSet say 'Movies' and it will link the appropriate speakers together. I know you can create stereo pairs but i want to create 'super groups'. Many thanks

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40 replies

The fact that it was not possible to save group settings was quite an unpleasant surprise for me when I first started using my four SONOS PLAY:1 speakers. Even more unpleasant was the surprise when I first checked out this user community and found that this feature has been asked for, for years and SONOS just seems to ignore it.

Dear SONOS team, regardless of whether this is technically difficult to implement or not, this is a very, very basic feature from a usability perspective and should have been available by now.

Please give this feature request the visibility and priority is deserves; it is keeping me from further investing in your products.
Userlevel 3
Badge +7
i had posted to the original post and so am adding my two cents here.

I have not even had my SONOS speakers a month - started with PLAY1 and then scored a PRIME DAY deal on PLAY 3 and then got another PLAY1 for a third room... and then went to the ROOMS and tried to set up permanent groups.

silly me, it seemed such a natural thing to do and yet oops its not available.

further searching here and i discover that its been a feature request for YEARS... REALLY ... thats kinda unbelievable!

I have come to ADORE SONOS - in just three weeks my music and radio listening has morphed to exactly what I wanted ESPECIALLY with the addition of PLEX as a music service (I have a huge music library).

That was the MAIN reason I had put off buying SONOS - i had finally just given up (had tried ECHO but the fact you could not control multiple ECHOs was a game changer) coincidentally I purchased the PLAY3 and then TWO days later beta for PLEX was announced (for once i was in the right place ... )

SO MUCH of SONOS is beautifully thought and planned and the hardware is gorgeous that I am truly amazed and perplexed at this issue.. how can it be so hard to add permanent groups? even if it is, its such a HUGE selling point that i cant understand the decision making not to give this a priority in development!

so adding my (more than) two cents - PLEASE add permanent groups !!!!!!!!!!!
Userlevel 1
Badge
Why is this so hard to do?

They keep implementing changes I don't need, and refuse to do the one that so many people keep asking for.

The lack of permanent groups is my main issue with Sonos, and has been for ages. Having to constantly set up a group every time I want to use Sonos is the item that consistently pisses me off about Sonos....

Dave
Userlevel 2
Come on Sonos..... someone from tech support read this thread and give us an update...... there are many many requests for this addition to the software. Can't be that hard to implement. Allow your users to create 'SuperGroups' of speakers and save them. 
Bump for saving group settings please.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
As Paulw123 says Sonos will likely only ever acknowledge a suggestion and confirm it has been passed to their developers (I expect if you are lucky you'll find where a Sonos rep has done just that). Sonos won't come on here and confirm a feature will be implemented.

From my point of view the grouping of rooms is so trivially quick and easy that it seems most unlikely that Sonos will see it as a priority.

Please this video I took of the process https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiHHz6WKJoc

Others may, naturally, have a different opinion to me and that's fine too

But, obviously, I'm right!!
I am mostly dismayed that it has been a feature years in the asking. And the speakers are nice, but I'm not super-keen on the annoyance of "oh, i shouldn't play music in the bedroom and wake up the girlfriend" :regroup regroup regroup: "oh she's awake and now music can be everywhere" :regroup regroup regroup:. I've really got better things to do in life and didn't know other systems actually solved the problem. I may be far from some Sonos-style power-user however.

I actually bought a bunch of Google Audio casts, and they work beautifully. But sadly none of my Sonos:1's even have an audio-input jack, which sort of leads to lots of suckitude.

If you are looking for some Sonos:1's I'm happy to help you out 😛
Copied from my reply in another thread:

Putting in my vote for this feature, as it is sorely needed.

My situation - I do A/V installs for higher end clients who have large homes, vacation properties, etc. and they like to have zone controls, but each zone requires 2+ Connect:Amps and we want a way to bond multiple Connect:Amps so they don't have to fuss with Grouping every time.

Another scenario that I'm sure many would like this feature for is using multiple Connect:Amps for their surround sound systems. Scenario - receiver gets HDMI audio from each device, then separates it out into line outputs for each surround channel. Each line output is sent to a Connect:Amp input which are then balanced for volume between their inputs and, finally, bonded so that the user has 1 volume control that raises the volume for the bonded units relative to it's set volume.

In any case, this kind of functionality is a dream come true and certainly would get my clients to purchase more units.


+1
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
It has been asked for . . but as yet not listed by Sonos as planned.
Userlevel 1
Badge
I'm up to 6 Zones, about to 2-3 more with the introduction of the Play 1 and have same wish. Doesn't seem like a huge software ask...
Agreed.  It would be great to be able to create any number of groups with any number of devices in the group.  For example, when guest are here, I would like 4 devices in a "party group", but at night, have a "night party group" which does not include the outside speakers (trying to be nice to the neighbors).

I'm would be OK with only one group being able to control a device at any given time.  The idea here is to have a bunch of groups based on different activities in the house.  It is a bit of a pain to group, regroup, etc.
i just got my 2nd device and i like you to revise groups please. i hate having to group and then ungroup speakers - why can't i have 1 group with 2 speakers an a group for each individual speaker?
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
If you want them to stay grouped why do you have to ungroup?   Also you can make them a stereo pair if in same room and same speaker (that is permanent).
Userlevel 1
Same request here. Would love to have the option of creating a group of e.g. bedroom, bathroom and kitchen in the morning without having to group and ungroup every day. And I don't understand why volume levels and control are not synced automatically in groups of different rooms either. I also agree that this should be a simple software update issue, which would improve usability immense.
This is a long standing request that is overdue for attention!
Would love this feature
100
Perhaps if someone lists this as an idea instead of a question this will get more traction? As it seems it is now listed as "answered"...
Also agree that this is a great feature idea. I have been wishing Sonos would add it since my first components were purchased. Now that I've added a fee more, I want to be able to create several arrangements. Sonos can make it happen. But when?
Userlevel 5
Badge +2
This request is as old as the Sonos brand. I recommend voting and following this thread

https://ask.sonos.com/sonos/topics/virtual_zones

@Sonos reps: Please provide an update as to why this is not considered for implementation.

This would be a significant increase of the user experience!
This request should get a higher priority than any further development on new streaming services or Apple integrations. Let's get some of these core functionality requests addressed already!
Userlevel 1
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I would like to see more group options available in the Sonos app.

I would also like to preset the default volume for each individual speaker in a group. This way, when the group is enabled, the speakers are at a known volume.
I couldn't agree with this thread any more. Just purchased my second Sonos and very disappointed I cant save different groupings with different volume levels for the speakers. This will affect my decision to continue purchasing more speakers.
I have to apologize for my last post. Volume levels for the different speakers in a group just showed up. I'm back on the Sonos band wagon.
Copied from my reply in another thread:

Putting in my vote for this feature, as it is sorely needed.

My situation - I do A/V installs for higher end clients who have large homes, vacation properties, etc. and they like to have zone controls, but each zone requires 2+ Connect:Amps and we want a way to bond multiple Connect:Amps so they don't have to fuss with Grouping every time.

Another scenario that I'm sure many would like this feature for is using multiple Connect:Amps for their surround sound systems. Scenario - receiver gets HDMI audio from each device, then separates it out into line outputs for each surround channel. Each line output is sent to a Connect:Amp input which are then balanced for volume between their inputs and, finally, bonded so that the user has 1 volume control that raises the volume for the bonded units relative to it's set volume.

In any case, this kind of functionality is a dream come true and certainly would get my clients to purchase more units.