Grouping of Sonos Rooms via Voice Control - Solution

  • 21 May 2019
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Hi all

There have been a lot of requests for the ability to group Sonos devices via voice command to Google Assistant. Whilst this isn't supported yet by Sonos, there is a way of doing this if you have a Logitech Harmony Hub type remote.

Here are the steps I've tested:
1/ Open the Harmony Hub App>Harmony Setup;
2/ Add your Sonos players as devices;
2/ Next create an Activity - As an example, lets call this 'Group Sonos';
3/ Click on Sonos Speakers and then using the link select the specific Sonos devices that you want to group. You can also set the default volume at this stage;
4/ Please link your GA and your Harmony Remote accounts under Add Device>Works with Google>Harmony. If already linked then please Remove the link in the Google Home App and relink. During this process you have the ability to define 'Friendly Names' - there doesn't seem to be a way of doing this any other way. I created 'Group Sonos' and 'Sonos Everywhere' as friendly names;
5/ Save the Activity in the Harmony Hub App;
6/ On a mobile device sync your Remote with your Harmony Account.

Now the command 'Hey Google, Turn on Group Sonos' or 'Hey Google, Turn on Sonos Everywhere' groups all of my Sonos speakers and displays the new grouping in the Sonos App. You just need to repeat for any other named Sonos groups you require and you can switch between them by turning on the required Activity.

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I have a harmony hub, and I've set up other integrations this way. However, I'm not sure how this would work in practice. For instance, I have my Google Homes in a Home Group. I can say, "Hey Google, play Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash on Home Group" and all the Google Homes in the house will play. Once my Sonos set up is complete, I'll have Sonos Connects driving all the in-ceiling whole home audio speakers. Right now, I have just one in the den. But I can play on it similarly by saying "Hey Google, play Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash in Den" and the Den Sonos will start playing.

If I were to pre-form all the Sonos groups as activities within the Harmony Hub, how would I achieve the same thing in a single voice command, or even two voice commands? Could I say, "Hey Google, play Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash on Upstairs Sonos" (assuming that's what I name the Upstairs Sonos group in the Harmony Hub)?
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
If I were to pre-form all the Sonos groups as activities within the Harmony Hub, how would I achieve the same thing in a single voice command, or even two voice commands? Could I say, "Hey Google, play Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash on Upstairs Sonos" (assuming that's what I name the Upstairs Sonos group in the Harmony Hub)?
Hi

You need to split the command into two:

1/ Create the Sonos Group - 'Hey Google, Turn on Upstairs Sonos'
2/ Request music - 'Play Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash on [Any Sonos Player within the upstairs group]'