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Google home mini default speaker



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This really sucks because we've been waiting ages for this and is a very bad experience. Looks like I'll have to change my whole home system :-(Could you list the other whole home audio system that supports setting a default target speaker in Google Assistant?


Any chromecast enabled speaker, and any BLUETOOTH speaker as well. Even a cheap 20€ one. Also, there is a long list of smart speakers that support chromecast: https://www.google.com/chromecast/built-in/audio/

Raumfeld, Grundig, LG, ...

While I agree this functionality would be nice, you can still connect your Google to your Xbox and Sonos, and you can also use the Sonos app to connect your music services and it is pretty similar to “casting”. I use it for my music playing. Just go to Sonos app and connect those services and it works good.

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The google assistant implementation is so bad that even using it the intended way is inconsistent and produce the non desired behavior.

For instance, yesterday I start playing music on Sonos by using 'ok google, play my thumbs up playlist in the kitchen'. Since all my speakers where previously grouped, the whole house started playing. That's not what I asked for... Then ask google: set the volume to 80%. Well only the kitchen was set to 80%. Seriously!? How is that acceptable?

I ended up having to get to my phone to control the sound system defeating the whole purpose of Sonos integration.

I just moved my Google minis into fictitious rooms ‘upstairs’ and ‘downstairs’ so that there was no conflict with any rooms that physically had both a Google device and Sonos. Then Sonos is the only option in each real room. Seems like the simplest solution?

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3486?language=en_US

I found this article which seems new or recently updated. Looks like it should be possible. But I don’t get it to work with a home mini and my Port. My One is already connected with assistant and I can’t add the assistant again. If I remove the One’s assistant first I still can only select the One speaker.
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Oh, that sucks. This is what I've been waiting nearly two years for and I thought today would be the day. We have a Home Mini and a Play:1 side-by-side, but my family always play music on the Mini because the Sonos is just too much more work to get started. Guess I will have to train them to add "in the dining room" to the end of the command.

 

Only solution I have found and works:

Add chromecast to your TV (living room TV) 

Add Play 5 / Soundbar to your TV

Connect Play ones ( if wanted ) and group them.

 …

Set Default music on google home app as TV (Living Room TV) Make sure your TV's default audio is sonos.

'Hey Google play Bob Marley' 

For me it turns my TV on and Plays through Sonos 👍

 

I have found no other way, I dont mind my tv being on as it shows what's playing. If you just have play ones, it's not possible so have to stick to 'hey google play Bob Marley on sonos' 

This really sucks because we've been waiting ages for this and is a very bad experience. Looks like I'll have to change my whole home system :-(

Could you list the other whole home audio system that supports setting a default target speaker in Google Assistant?
I haven't had chance to test this, but in the settings for assistant on my Android phone I found an assistant devices section. Office is my Sonos One with GA. In this menu is a default media input option, and in there is the ability to select all my Sonos devices and cast devices. O don't have a standalone GA, bit can try with the other options when I get home

I read this “This article will help you set up a Google Assistant-enabled device, like a Google Home or Google Home Mini, to control Sonos. Once set up, you can use the Google Assistant to play music to Sonos, skip songs, pause playback, adjust the volume, and more.” as that after linking it will be the default speaker.
That is unfortunately not how it works. You still have to say: hey google play Coldplay on kitchen Sonos, like described above. If not, it plays from the GA device.
It also takes a very long time - much longer than if playback is from the GA device, and the results seems less accurate... go figure.
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Too bad, routines aren't available in my Language (Dutch) 

You guys are expecting something very complicated to “just work” because in your minds, it simply should.

From a technical perspective, it is not as simple to make sonos play the audio while the Google Mini does the thinking. All this thinking and answering is computer code. And it’s code that Sonos is unfamiliar with. Sending it to Sonos would fail, because the code is designed to work with a particular speaker (the google home) and because the sonos is not at all designed the same way, the software would not just work. This has always been a problem with AI assistants, and it was why Siri used to be the best assistant (only needed to work on iphones). 

Ask your phone’s assistant the same questions as you do the google mini - you will get the same answers for basic things, but you will get very different answers if your questions/commands are more complicated. They are not the same software. This is the case even though both are written by Google. The developers of the Google Assistant app on android are not the same as the developers of the google assistant on Home, or on anything else, for that matter. And they can’t just take the code from the app and plug it into the Home. Or into the Sonos speaker. It doesn’t work that way.

For the integration to be as smooth as you were expecting, either Google or Sonos needs to design both the speaker and the software. Google would never allow Sonos to do that, but it does allow Sonos or anyone to get a vanilla version of Google Assistant that they then have to make compatible with their Sonos speaker. This takes a lot of work and money, and it will never be a top priority for Sonos. Even with years they spent focused on Alexa, the Alexa integration is not that good either.

It’s not really anyone’s fault; we just have not yet figured out a better way to integrate software with hardware. 

There are apps that try to fill in and do what you want -- but they are essentially tools for you to write your own commands. 

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You could rename your sonos devices to make it more logical for the family, like "Kitchen sonos".
Then they can just tag the target sonos name onto the end of their voice command.
I haven't had chance to test this, but in the settings for assistant on my Android phone I found an assistant devices section. Office is my Sonos One with GA. In this menu is a default media input option, and in there is the ability to select all my Sonos devices and cast devices. O don't have a standalone GA, bit can try with the other options when I get home


I'm thinking that might only work with Sonos ONE or BEAM... I've added my Sonos to Assistant and I don't see my devices at all.
I have a Google mini and a Sonos play:3 in the same room. Since the play:3 does not have voice, I have to ask the Google mini to play the music.

If I just say: "hey google, play some music" the music plays on the mini which is definitely not what anyone wants... I have to say the room where the speaker is but not only that, if I setup both speaker in the same room the mini still gets the job. You can set default media playback device for the Google mini but no Sonos speakers can be selected.

Is that it? Is that what we waiting so long for? Cause if that's so, I'm getting rid of all of this and just getting Chromecast enabled speakers.

Please let me know I did something stupid and this can be fixed.

I get the same problem with the Sonos Home Hub. Looking at another reply to this, Sonos 1 and beam can be accessed.