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Alexa reminder lowers max volume on Sonos Beam

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Hi all. So I was finally able to isolate the issue and recreate. Currently have a Sonos beam connected via arc to my LG TV. Everything works and sounds great……until I set a reminder on my echo show which announces on several other echo devices AND my Sonos Beam through my tv. What happens is, once the reminder is communicated through my Beam, the volume on my Sonos Beam is altered (significantly lowered) and my 100% volume is not very loud at all. Normally I can’t hardly stand next to it at 100% volume but after this reminder I can crank it to 100% no problem.

sIm struggling to figure out if this is a Sonos, Alexa, or TV issue? Only when I unplug the tv, beam, and fire stick will the audio revert back?

Any ideas?

Thanks

Rick

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RaultTNAnswer

Prominent Collaborator I

We’re back. So I just hung up after 75 minutes with Amazon support. Long story short, the support rep was able to recreate the issue from his end. He uses two echos as his tv’s speakers and as soon as he set a reminder/alarm/timer through his Firestick remote, his volume was reduced also. So it is definitely not a Sonos issue. The other crazy piece that we both discovered, when the timer/alarm goes off, instead of clicking the Dismiss button with the remote (which triggers the volume reduction), if you tell Alexa to dismiss the volume instead, no volume reduction! So it is happening at the moment you click the actual dismiss button with the firestick remote on the TV.

@Ken_Griffiths here are the steps if you dare to recreate from your end ha. I would be curious to know if it does the same for you. If you are using a firestick:

Put on a show of any kind (not music).
Set your volume to a decent level (even better if you have the ability to see the actual # of the volume level. My normal listening volume on my setup is 30.
Set a 10 second timer using your fire remote.
After 10 seconds the reminder popup will show up on your tv with the reminder itself and the alarm.
Click the dismiss button and see what happens to your volume. At this moment is when my volume output is decreased probably 50%. I still have volume but significantly decreased.
If you are able to view your volume level # you should notice that although it is much quieter, the volume # will be the same (30 on my tv).
If this recreates on your end you can fix it by simply asking Alexa the time. For whatever reason it reverts back to “normal audio output”. So strange.

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Ken_Griffiths

So after two attempts with Amazon and an hour later no luck. I was hung up on twice when transferring. Ill try again tomorrow ha. But some more information in case it makes any sense. I set the reminder via the firestick remote and as described above, the volume output is decreased out of my sonos speaker. I have now figured out that if I simply tap the microphone button on my firestick remote, although I get a prompt about how I can use alexa, the volume comes back!! So still no answer but I think this is further confirmation that the Firestick Alexa is what is causing the issue.

Now I am wondering if the issue is somewhere in the settings of how I have Alexa enabled and linked to the Sonos Beam itself, the smart TV the Sonos Beam is connected too, and the Firestick connected to the smart tv (all “devices” in the Alexa app”. Thinking maybe the reminder I am creating is causing some issues between those 3 Alexa devices that are all connected together in some fashion. My brain hurts ha

It’s not the button somehow getting stuck in the pressed position on the Fire-TV remote is it?

Also, have you checked the Fire-TV for updates?

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Ken_Griffiths

So I just tried this with a Fire-TV 4K (not the max version) and the voice remote which I attached to an LG C9 TV and a Sonos Arc.

I set a ‘reminder’ via the remote to begin with (and for good measure I also tried it with a timer too). Each one was set for 10s.. screenshots , attached. As an example both executed after 10 seconds and the TV audio is definitely at the same here volume here FWIW.

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Ken_Griffiths

I appreciate it’s not the exact same setup here as you are using, but I would have thought if it was an issue with Fire-TV, then I would ‘likely’encounter the issue too, unless you have a fault with the FireTV or it’s remote? Maybe try powering off the Fire TV (leave off for a minute or two), reseat it in the TV’s HDMI port and also remove/replace the batteries from its remote and then give it another try to see if it makes a difference. Sorry it’s just guesswork on my part, but maybe worth a try.

Edit: The Fire TV here software version is attached as a screenshot.

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RaultTNAuthorAnswer

Prominent Collaborator I

We’re back. So I just hung up after 75 minutes with Amazon support. Long story short, the support rep was able to recreate the issue from his end. He uses two echos as his tv’s speakers and as soon as he set a reminder/alarm/timer through his Firestick remote, his volume was reduced also. So it is definitely not a Sonos issue. The other crazy piece that we both discovered, when the timer/alarm goes off, instead of clicking the Dismiss button with the remote (which triggers the volume reduction), if you tell Alexa to dismiss the volume instead, no volume reduction! So it is happening at the moment you click the actual dismiss button with the firestick remote on the TV.

@Ken_Griffiths here are the steps if you dare to recreate from your end ha. I would be curious to know if it does the same for you. If you are using a firestick:

Put on a show of any kind (not music).
Set your volume to a decent level (even better if you have the ability to see the actual # of the volume level. My normal listening volume on my setup is 30.
Set a 10 second timer using your fire remote.
After 10 seconds the reminder popup will show up on your tv with the reminder itself and the alarm.
Click the dismiss button and see what happens to your volume. At this moment is when my volume output is decreased probably 50%. I still have volume but significantly decreased.
If you are able to view your volume level # you should notice that although it is much quieter, the volume # will be the same (30 on my tv).
If this recreates on your end you can fix it by simply asking Alexa the time. For whatever reason it reverts back to “normal audio output”. So strange.

Translate

Ken_Griffiths

We’re back. So I just hung up after 75 minutes with Amazon support. Long story short, the support rep was able to recreate the issue from his end. He uses two echos as his tv’s speakers and as soon as he set a reminder/alarm/timer through his Firestick remote, his volume was reduced also. So it is definitely not a Sonos issue. The other crazy piece that we both discovered, when the timer/alarm goes off, instead of clicking the Dismiss button with the remote (which triggers the volume reduction), if you tell Alexa to dismiss the volume instead, no volume reduction! So it is happening at the moment you click the actual dismiss button with the firestick remote on the TV.

@Ken_Griffiths here are the steps if you dare to recreate from your end ha. I would be curious to know if it does the same for you. If you are using a firestick:

Put on a show of any kind (not music).
Set your volume to a decent level (even better if you have the ability to see the actual # of the volume level. My normal listening volume on my setup is 30.
Set a 10 second timer using your fire remote.
After 10 seconds the reminder popup will show up on your tv with the reminder itself and the alarm.
Click the dismiss button and see what happens to your volume. At this moment is when my volume output is decreased probably 50%. I still have volume but significantly decreased.
If you are able to view your volume level # you should notice that although it is much quieter, the volume # will be the same (30 on my tv).
If this recreates on your end you can fix it by simply asking Alexa the time. For whatever reason it reverts back to “normal audio output”. So strange.

Firstly it’s great to hear you have discovered the root-cause and I will definitely try this after dinner and report back and let you know, although I’m fairly sure I clicked the ‘dismiss’ button on screen yesterday when I tried this. Anyhow let me try again and come back to you.

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Ken_Griffiths

Ah, just tried it and ‘yes’ volume does reduce - by about 30% approx. here. I might have cancelled it with a voice command yesterday then (perhaps🤔?) - and it’s also correct that asking for the time etc; restores the volume level.

Nice catch.👍 I guess Amazon will sort it with an update at some point.

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RaultTNAuthor

Prominent Collaborator I

The Amazon support guy was great. He is now as bummed out as I am knowing this was happening to him also ha. He had never previously used reminders/alarms through his firestick ti have experienced it himself, but really liked that the reminder pops up and fills the entire screen. The biggest thing to note when/if you do try and recreate is to make sure your volume is at a listening volume prior to starting the process. If its down really low to begin with you may not notice. This happened to the support guy as well. But then once he turned it up and tried again it was a significant difference. That and because the output is lowered so much, the max volume is also not as loud as it could/should be. That is how I figured this entire thing out to begin with was watching a movie with my wife and I have my volume maxes out and couldnt understand why it wasnt blowing my ear drums out ha. Typically a level 30 on my Beam is plenty loud enough.

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RaultTNAuthor

Prominent Collaborator I

Oh man I must missed your reply. Thats crazy! So very annoying. But hey its been great chatting. As soon as I hear of a fix I will share with the community.

Thanks again Ken!

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D

DrDad

Lyricist I

Rick,

I have a similar issue that, I think, was solved by me disabling the Sonos ‘Skill’ (as Alexa calls it) in the Alexa Android app. Do you know whether you had the ‘skill’ on?

John

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RaultTNAuthor

Prominent Collaborator I

Rick,

I have a similar issue that, I think, was solved by me disabling the Sonos ‘Skill’ (as Alexa calls it) in the Alexa Android app. Do you know whether you had the ‘skill’ on?

John

Thanks for the note. So by doing this you can no longer talk to Alexa through any of your Sonos speakers is that right?

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