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Turn down Assistant volume on Sonos One?



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Just got two Sonos ones and this is definitely a big annoyance, makes me avoid using Alexa. Please fix! 🙏

By the way, I found a workaround: in the Sonos app under Settings>Services>Google Assistant>your room>Google Assistant Settings>Default Media Output> and just choose something quiet. 

That only changes the default speaker for music output. It doesn't change the volume of the VA

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Decided to return my Lunar White Move sadly. Can’t use the device in the bedroom with Google yelling at me in the middle of the night when I ask it to turn off my lights or cancel an alarm if I wake up earlier.  

You are probably right that there may be a problem with how feedback is handled. However, I don't see any issue with forum staff giving an "I don't know" answer. Some people have issues with this answer and feel this answer is problematic. I actually don't. So, I assume others may be like me and be more indifferent.

We did pay good money for a good product. I agree with that. Now, I say let's move on. If we expect better ongoing services beyond the great product, maybe charging a subscription or monthly maintenance is in order. I'm not clear where customers are entitled to having "voices" after the product is paid for and delivery is completed. If anything, it is a privilege to even have a forum where your voice can at least be heard.... By someone.

I'm not sure if there is much more I have to say. I agree with you up to the point of entitlement.

 

I’d like this feature too, even if it was in the Amazon app. Currently I’ve replaced Sonos Play speakers and Alexa dots for Sonos One’s and the sound improvement and lack of devices being plugged in is great.

although it’s not a good experience listening to music at say volume 8 and then at 2am in the morning talking to Alexa to turn on a light in our new babies room and she blasted it out across our top floor.

Worked for me on my sonos one! I just said "hey google, set living room volume 10%"

(My sonos is names living room)

The loud GA was driving me crazy... almost refunded.

 

Userlevel 7
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On my system GA's volume is controlled by the volume I play my Sonos device at. If my music is loud, so is GA. I am not very surprised about this.

I can however understand the need for Sonos to have a standard volume setting, not related  to the volume the Sonos is playing at.

Whithin the GA environment volume can also be a problem. If I say “Hey, Google, good morning” GA's response is fairly loud. The anouncement for my travel time to work is at the same volume, while the aannooncement for the news broadcasts and the broadcasts themselves are noticably less loud.

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For some glimpse of control I made an IFTTT applet that sets the volume of my Sonos devices every night at 03:00 AM. This way my morning talk with Google won’t be of a suprising volume.

We're in luck.
Just found this at 9to5Google

https://9to5google.com/2019/07/20/google-home-assistant-volume/

Yeah but that's for iOS and isn't a Sonos app fix

Userlevel 5
Badge +13

Hi folks, thanks for reaching out with the Sonos Community! We greatly appreciate you being a part of the Sonos family. It is our pleasure.

With the Google Assistant, you can play music, find answers courtesy of Google Search, plan your day, set timers, and easily control smart devices around your home. And, with a Chromecast device, access TV and movies by using a simple voice command. 

The integration also supports features specific to Google Assistant, like continued conversation, meaning you can ask the Google Assistant a series of questions without having to say “Hey Google” every time. For more information on using Google Assistant to control Sonos, please see this link.

We’ll continue to bring more actions and functionality to the experience over time through software. 

Please let us know if there’s anything else we can help you with. We and the community are always here.

Just wanted to add my voice. +1 for this request.

Also to respond to people's frustration. I am a customer and I share the frustration, however, I've also worked where these Sonos reps stand. As a liaison, their job is to take your feedback to the team.... Not the other way around.

It's not really an arrogance thing either. The teams have roles and responsibilities. The product development team is super busy working on developing products. And where they are happy to take input, the ability and patience to provide output is very limited. If the "liaison" team were to corner a product development team member to take time out to give information, despite being well intentioned, heads would roll. I can just imagine a project manager intervening with a "what are you doing, these guys are busy".

So, in all reality, find the CEO's Twitter account and post a comment at the top. These guys just want to keep their jobs. Obviously, you're looking for a culture change at Sonos which is not very likely to happen over a forum post.

Cheers!

I’d have to agree with this, the staff obviously work hard and produce great products. There is however, in my opinion, a problem with how feature requests are prioritised, handled internally and communicated back to the customers. It makes for a bad user experience when people feel like they are not listened to or taken seriously.

 

The point you raise about developers being too busy developing new products is not in my mind a valid reason to abandon customer requests from people that have already paid good money for the products.

 

Just my opinions, I realise that it might sound like people are complaining at the forum staff but that is certainly not what myself or hopefully others are doing. We are complaining at the processes and procedures that lead to customers opinions seemingly being abandoned.

Userlevel 1
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I want this also - it’s crazy having the thing shout at me in the middle of the night.  It cannot be that difficult to fix.  

Userlevel 3
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Dear Ryan S

 

I know your going to reply with your standard answer:

 'I don't have any details as to if it'll happen, but I'll make sure the team knows people are still asking.'

 

However, on this occasion could you please go and ask 'the team' if this is going to be fixed or not. Get a yes or no answer then report back. 

 

I need to know as this issue is so bad on beam you never want to use it. If it's not going to happen I want to invest in different system so a 'dont know' answer isn't good enough, you're either working on a fix or you're not.

Userlevel 5
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Bought a Move, turned on Google Assistant, scared the bejesus out of myself, turned off Google Assistant. Useless feature, as it stands, without a separate volume control.

What did you try? What works? Just the morning routine or is there a way how to set the overall assistant volume? 

Just tried it on the Sonos One in my office. It does seem to work! Great advice!

 

 

Please can someone respond to this, it clearly needs to be fixed as it is downgrading the whole Sonos experience

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By the way, I found a workaround: in the Sonos app under Settings>Services>Google Assistant>your room>Google Assistant Settings>Default Media Output> and just choose something quiet. 

This is a brilliantly simple workaround - been putting up with my beam responding at whatever volume I've got it set to for 18 months or so and just resigned to it - always hate having to ask it to turn a light in at 3a.m. when rest of household asleep BUT got a couple of minis spare so ideal use right here!! Many thanks.

( wonder when they'll get round to sorting out the incorporating Sonos speakers into the Google group facility 🤔)

Userlevel 2
Does anybody see the Equalizer settings for their Sokos One? I couldn’t find them and I have the latest version of Google Home for iOS as listed in article.
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That's correct, but then you gain the ability to lower the volume on that one specific device which is not a part of Sonos. I chose a Nest Hub as the default media output and turned down the volume on that device. No more screaming. 

Excellent simple workaround 😉👌

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By the way, I found a workaround: in the Sonos app under Settings>Services>Google Assistant>your room>Google Assistant Settings>Default Media Output> and just choose something quiet. 

This is a brilliantly simple workaround - been putting up with my beam responding at whatever volume I've got it set to for 18 months or so and just resigned to it - always hate having to ask it to turn a light in at 3a.m. when rest of household asleep BUT got a couple of minis spare so ideal use right here!! Many thanks.

( wonder when they'll get round to sorting out the incorporating Sonos speakers into the Google group facility 🤔)

Ha! - just realised my effective implementation of this solution is to remove Google assistant from my Beam and use the mini for voice control. The Sonos are still present in my Google home set-up so can be controlled from both the Sonos app and Google assistant. BUT it's hardly making use of Sonos integrated Google Assistant ( good job I'd got a spare mini sitting around looking for something useful to do 😉) .

I purchased a Sonos one for my bedroom recently, the Alexa integration is fantastic. Or so I thought until I woke in the middle of the night and instead of get up and look at my phone, I asked Alexa for the time. Everyone in the house woke up.

 

The inability to change the Alexa / GA volume is absolutely ludicrous. There are numerous forum posts about this going back years. When Sonos staff do respond they are just generic robot responses with no useful information. The product is fantastic but the lack of this vital feature along with the lack of acknowledgement and transparency on these forums is appalling.

 

Is anyone that works at Sonos prepared to let us know if / when this is coming so that customers can make informed decisions before buying more speakers?

 

I would expect this with a cheap Chinese speaker from eBay but not Sonos. How disappointing.

Just adding a +1 to this issue (having signed up to the forum specifically).

Google Assistant is much too loud. I can’t imagine anyone likes it yelling. This is something that needs to be fixed.