Recommendation for adding speakers to Beam

  • 19 October 2018
  • 11 replies
  • 5878 views

Having had my Beam for just a few days I must say that I am delighted with the sound. The main reason I replaced it was for the inclusion of Alexa in the lounge, enabling voice commands for music & tv, but the sound quality is much better than the old LG sound bar that it replaced despite being half the size and minus the sub!
I now wish to enhance things a bit more ( I am truly hooked! ) by installing a couple of satellite speakers and providing a bit of 'fill-in' sound to a rather large lounge.

So my question is do I go for Plays or Ones? Will Alexa still work from all speakers easily or will I have to shout at the Beam? I have had issues in the past with Echo devices not working correctly when paired.

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11 replies

Userlevel 7
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Really - since the Beam is the controlling speaker and gives you Alexa and Airplay …. I would probably opt for the cheaper alternative and pickup a pair of Play:1s. Unless the room is real big I have never had issue with Beam hearing me.
I have it with the Play ones and works great! Old Play ones so without Alexa in the speakers. But my separate Amazone Alexa puck still gives me all the options.
Thanks for the input guys. I decided to plump for the Ones - my logic being that if I decide to move any speakers to different rooms in the future (probably upgrades) I will retain all of the Alexa control on all speakers.
Just to confirm, when you add a pair of Ones to a Beam, do you lose voice control on the Ones and revert to the Beam for all commands?
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Thanks for the input guys. I decided to plump for the Ones - my logic being that if I decide to move any speakers to different rooms in the future (probably upgrades) I will retain all of the Alexa control on all speakers.
Just to confirm, when you add a pair of Ones to a Beam, do you lose voice control on the Ones and revert to the Beam for all commands?


I 'think' that's the case - even if I'm standing immediately in front of either of my Ones and say Alexa it's the Beam that responds.

I have to say to as a general point, the Beam always hears me very well, even better than the other Ones I have dotted around the house do. May be my imagination of course!
Sadly, I am having issues with the Beam hearing me - I am usually sitting about 1 metre from one of my surround Ones but about 5 metres from my Beam. My neighbor can hear my frustrated calls and certainly knows I have Alexa in my life now!
Are the microphones permanently disabled when you add a pair of Ones or can you re-enable them and disable the Beam's?
On a more positive note, the addition of my surround Ones has made a good system quite astonishing and makes my movies so much more enjoyable.🆒

Are the microphones permanently disabled when you add a pair of Ones or can you re-enable them and disable the Beam's?


Unfortunately, you can't re-enable them. As I understand it, the Alexa commands that use CEC through the HDMI cable will not work unless the Beam itself hears you, hence why the Ones are disabled.
Just to be clear, though, if you unbond them from the Beam, the speakers would be re-enabled. So, if you chose to move them out of the surround situation, and say into a bedroom, then they would work as Alexa interfaces.
Got the answer guys. What do you think? Too much?

:D
I have a question - I have a sonos beam in my living room and two play 1s hooked up to it. But, I can’t figure out how to adjust the volume of the two plays1s separately from the beam.

Every time I adjust the volume is turns up the beam as wel, I just want to turn up the volume for the play 1s separately. I have read that tapping the volume bar allows you to control separate speakers but this doesn’t work for me. Can someone please help? Thanks.
No need to post the same question in multiple threads. You have already been given an answer.
Userlevel 5
Badge +10
I always say go for the Ones. They look better and are more flexible if you decide to do something else with them. They aren't that much more.