Google Assistant and Room Control

  • 20 June 2019
  • 6 replies
  • 1256 views

I just got a Beam, and I'm enjoying it so far. The only annoying thing is that I can't get the Google assistant to handle a voice command to play music in all rooms.

I have 3 other Sonos rooms, and when I say "Hey Google, play Miles Davis everywhere", she says she doesn't understand. And when I try "Hey Google, play Miles Davis in every room" she says "I can't do that yet. But I'm still learning"

It seems like this would be a pretty basic command, given that the Sonos app shows 'Everywhere' as a default option in the Rooms menu. It's a little cumbersome to have to say "Hey Google, play ___ in the living room, and in the kitchen, and in the bedroom, and in the den, and in..."

Has anyone else experienced this and found a better command? Or is this likely to become possible through a future update?

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6 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +20
Hi

There isn't currently the option to create a Sonos Group via voice control (Unless you have a Harmony Hub Remote), unlike Alexa where you can use the Preferred Speaker option. If all of your rooms are grouped in the Sonos App, then a command to one will output to all speakers within that group.
Hi,
even without taking the Google Assistant issue into consideration, it would be useful if there was a way to group different speaker configurations into named groups. I think this would be useful for people with speakers in a number of rooms, so rather than having to conitnually add/subtract speakers from a group they just select one of the saved configurations. It would/could also solve the google assitant issue with groups.


Cheers,
Paul
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
Hi,
even without taking the Google Assistant issue into consideration, it would be useful if there was a way to group different speaker configurations into named groups. I think this would be useful for people with speakers in a number of rooms, so rather than having to conitnually add/subtract speakers from a group they just select one of the saved configurations. It would/could also solve the google assitant issue with groups.


Cheers,
Paul

Hi Paul

Yes this would be great but not sure if or when it will happen. There is a work around which I use, if you have a Harmony Ultimate Hub: https://en.community.sonos.com/google-assistant-and-sonos-229109/grouping-of-sonos-rooms-via-voice-control-solution-6825763
Hi Ukmedia,
Awsome idea! Unfortuately the ex got the harmony hub :-(

But definately with you on the reds. A pinot noir tonight. :-)

Cheers, literally
Userlevel 1
Badge +1
We can group in Alexa for quite a while now. Why is it taking so long in Google Assistant to group speakers in a room or whole house?

My current home audio situation has been cobbled together over 30 years and the current situation is: Chromecast audio connected to a receiver in home theater which also connects to 2 pairs of wired speakers in my kitchen and dining room, which I can turn on and off via a speaker switcher, and another Ccast audio connected to a Bose radio in my living room. I have these 2 Ccasts grouped together so when I want play music throughout my whole house, I change my receiver input to the Ccast Audio, turn on the wired speakers to the 2 other rooms, then via my Google Home I say "play ____ on whole house" and the music works flawlessly, but it's such a pain to switch things up all the time with the receiver and switcher and it's impossible to level the volume for the 3 rooms all attached to the same receiver without further complicating things as they're all different sized speakers.

What I want to do is switch out my receiver for a Sonos Amp, then switch out the 3 other rooms with the Ikea Sonos speakers (got one for a gift and absolutely love it in my bedroom). However, since I only have 1, I have no idea how a Sonos groups would be compatible with Google Home. From what it sounds like, you can't group Sonos speakers via the Google Home app, but can you group them via the Sonos app and Google Home will recognize them as one output source? I want it to be as easy as possible to go from "play ____ on kitchen speaker" and easily change that to "play ___ on whole house" and the music will start playing in all rooms. Also when I do so I would like the receiver to just automatically start playing instead of me having to dig out it's remote and change the input. Is this possible or are things still complicated with Google Home?