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Cannot group Sonos system with Google Home devices

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106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

@Boppy17 Assumption is the mother of all f ups. Check before you buy. And maybe this is Google’s fault?

G

Laughable. Absolutely disappointing.

Two years after the original post this is still an issue. You cannot link a Sonos speaker to a Google Speaker Group. A major reason for purchasing the Roam was to connect it to a speaker group.

I am returning this device. I will find competitors offering Wifi and Bluetooth.

K

Ended up here just like most of you folks. 
 

I assumed that now that Sonos has Google Assistant integration I d be able to add a high-end speaker to my house and connect it with the existing google Home speakers in my other rooms, but it turned out to be a disappointment out of the box. 
 

just bought my first Sonos last night and this is a deal breaker for me. There’s no point having connected speakers in every room and then having this brand Siloed into its own little system. 
 

I will be returning my Sonos to the retailer next weekend. It’s too bad because the speakers sound great but Sonos’ current integration (or lack thereof) makes this an expensive isolated TV sound bar at best, which I don’t need.  
 
Goodbye Sonos!

Same… I purchased a Sonos 5.1 surrond setup prior to Google Assistant integration and waited until my return period was almost up before returning it due to lack of GA support. In the meantime, I purchased several JBL Link devices and used my existing surround system with a Google Chromecast audio device.  Although not the most elegant system, it works just fine.  Then with nice deals and GA integration, I thought I would give Sonos another shot and bought another 5.1 surround setup.  When I started setting it up and was unable to group them with my other Google home speakers, I was shocked that this was not supported.  So, these new Sonos speakers will be going back as well.  If Sonos supported full GA integration, I think they would sell more 5.1 surround systems, because that appears to be lacking in the other implementations.

E
Userlevel 2
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I could be wrong but I think most people on here that are complaining about not being able to group speakers do not have a newer Sonos speaker with a line-in. I’m in that boat - I’ve got 2 play 1s, 2 play 3s, and a Google Home Mini.

Otherwise, yes, I’d just plug a chromecast into a Sonos line-in.

ratty

@Simbadagr8 Please show where Sonos advertised the ability of Sonos speakers to be part of a Google speaker group?

They never did, and never would.

Sync play with cheap third party speakers would be technically challenging to say the least, not to mention commercially senseless.

S

@Simbadagr8 Please show where Sonos advertised the ability of Sonos speakers to be part of a Google speaker group?

I'm well aware now that they technically avoided specifically saying it integrates with Speaker Groups, but their advertising espoused that it does everything your Google smart stuff does. It does not and they made no effort to make that clear, despite it being the reason many would not have purchased it including myself. 

"All the smarts of Google" Except integrating with Google Speaker Groups.

 

P
Userlevel 2
Badge +1
Sorry you feel that way. Out of curiosity is that a gen 1 or gen 2 Play:5?
Play 5 Gen 2.
ratty

That’ll be the page which details the Google Assistant features in Sonos. 

S

That’ll be the page which details the Google Assistant features in Sonos. 

I'm aware. I'm simply showing examples as to why customers may have arrived at the wrong impression about this, when Sonos marketing team seemingly banged on at length about how it does everything your current Google stuff does and left out mentioning that the multi speaker thing Sonos is famous for does not integrate with Google Speakers.

I'm not saying I'm technically right. I should have been more thorough in my research before buying it. I considered asking the question by email of Sonos before buying, but with a sale on, I impulse click & collect bought it thinking there's no way it won't do that. I even asked the sales guy & he just pointed to the works with Google logo and said it should right? 

I run Alexa on it now just to hear it's different voice & have a Google Home Speaker in the same room to do the group music stuff. I'll survive and I'll never buy Sonos again unless they get this feature right. If Google supposedly stole their intellectual property they should be able to integrate with it easily 😂

G

I don’t mind manually grouping my devices to play, but this would be a really nice feature - and seeing as this thread is 3 years old I sure won’t hold my breath. Google’s assistant seems to get worse by the day.

What I would like is for the assistant to recognize when two devices are paired OR if there’s not music playing. Egs: “Garage 1 (stereo pair) and Garage 2 (another stereo pair) are paired and playing music, and I say ‘pause music in garage’ - it comes back with “Would you like to pause music on Garage Sonos 1 or Garage Sonos 2” DUHDUHHHH. The other hilarious one is I have a routine that dims my lights and pauses my bedroom music - If I run the routine without any music playing it prompt with “There’s a problem in the bedroom”. Funny but tiresome several years into using the same devices.

ratty

Even if Google did a technology licensing deal and, somehow, it was technically feasible to sync with cheap third party speakers I’m sure you can see that it would be commercially crazy to do so. Overnight a large slice of Sonos’ business would haemorrhage away.

jgatie

“Strong rumors”?  LOL.  I’ve heard that “rumor” a half dozen times over the last decade.  Nothing but obscure websites looking for clicks.

S

I came here after finding the Sonos Move and being excited about using it on my deck, paired with my indoor Google Nest speakers for whole home + deck audio.

 

After finding out I can't join a Sonos speaker to my Google speaker group, I'm no longer interested in the product. Sorry Sonos, get with the times!

M

2 years and still no progress on this topic?

“Progress”?  Exactly when were you promised this feature that you would expect some “progress”?  I’ll answer - Never, because it’s not possible.  Sonos and Google have two completely different synching methodologies.  

Please stop trolling this thread. This is a feature many Sonos owners want. If Sonos can explain why they don't implement this, that would be great.

I imagine the primary reason is maintaining the extremely high audio quality of Sonos products. There are times I am willing to sacrifice that for the functionality of speaker groups. It would also be nice to have some genuine feedback and commitment (either for or against) from Sonos themselves. It might encourage Google to improve their integration, or it might encourage Sonos to improve their integration.

But simply telling people to stop asking is just stupid. We want this feature, so go back to your mushroom growing cellar and let us get on with our genuine attempts to get Sonos to address the problem.

M

Please please please Sonos. With a cherry on top? I can literally not play music on my patio Sonos while my daughter listens on her cheap-and-nasty Google Home mini in her room, because I can't isolate the Sonos.

melvimbe

That’ll be the page which details the Google Assistant features in Sonos. 

I'm aware. I'm simply showing examples as to why customers may have arrived at the wrong impression about this, when Sonos marketing team seemingly banged on at length about how it does everything your current Google stuff does and left out mentioning that the multi speaker thing Sonos is famous for does not integrate with Google Speakers.

 

 

I agree that it’s a reasonable assumption, but I also don’t think it’s Sonos, or any other company’s, job to do negative marketing so that customers don’t draw the wrong conclusions about their product features.  Perhaps it’s a good role for 3rd party reviewers to play, or just a gap in the market that we’ll have to deal with.

 

I'm not saying I'm technically right. I should have been more thorough in my research before buying it. I considered asking the question by email of Sonos before buying, but with a sale on, I impulse click & collect bought it thinking there's no way it won't do that. I even asked the sales guy & he just pointed to the works with Google logo and said it should right? 

 

 

I don’t think it’s a matter of right and wrong, or should have done more research.  Sure, there doesn’t have to be a target for frustration.  And I would not trust salesmen in a tech store to know much about the products.  Too many products with different variations and likely too low on the pay grade.

 

I run Alexa on it now just to hear it's different voice & have a Google Home Speaker in the same room to do the group music stuff. I'll survive and I'll never buy Sonos again unless they get this feature right. If Google supposedly stole their intellectual property they should be able to integrate with it easily 😂

 

The feature isn’t wrong.  I doubt there was ever any intention in the Google integration to downgrade Sonos multiroom capabilities, throw out their own system in favor of Google’s (or Amazon’s) and any ability to add features that differentiate themselves from the market. 

And there is no more ‘if’ regarding the theft of intellectual property, at least according to the trade commission ruling.   But Google didn’t steal everything, only certain features.  For example, the method for adjusting volume on multiple speakers at the same time.  Google didn’t steal the method for playing TV audio, aux input sources, or adding speakers to an exsting stream, as far as I know.

 

Danny
J

Sonos Move and next Arc owner here.

 

Thinking of returning if this isn’t going to change. At home we have 5 Google Assistant speakers (one of them it’s a Smart Display from Lenovo) and we want to group all devices with the SONOS Move and Arc.

 

Not so happy with them, they aren’t cheap and I bought them because they announced Google Assistant’s compatibility.

 

Any news SONOS, can you tell us something? Any feedback? We’ll be glad to hear from you and know we’re heard.

melvimbe

What in the actual f*ck. 

 

I finally got myself a Sonos One with the idea of pairing it with my other google devices. Brought it home, set it up, only to find out I can’t play music on my google home and Sonos at the same time?! 
 

Looks like there are posts going back 6 months on this!!! Give us an ETA or I’m returning this thing and getting something that works. 🤬

 

You are not going to get an ETA, and it’s doubtful that this will ever happen.  Sonos and GA (and Alexa and everyone else for that matter) use different patented multiroom protocols to play audio together.  Sonos isn’t likely to drop their protocols in favor of GAs, nor would GA give up theirs...and vice versa.  Even if both companies did decide to do this, it would take quite some time to develop and test it all out. Can’t see this happening wiithout a major shift in the market for whatever reason.

 

I would recommend picking a speaker brand for multiroom audio system  and sticking with it instead of trying to mix and match.  Pick Sonos and use GA for control...or pick GA and use their speakers and others that are stand alone speakers only (not part of their own multiroom system). 

 

Not trying to undermine anyone’s frustration with this, as it’s understandable why people assume it all works together like that, just that it doesn’t match the reality.

Danny
J

@loriedwards2 . Sonos is designed as a multiroom ecosystem in its own right. When you have 20 speakers and are committed to a different ecosystem is not the time to be buying your first Sonos speaker.  For you, getting out of Sonos is a better decision than buying it in the first place. That isn't true of many people.

S
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Damnit, should have read this topic sooner. Just bought two Sonos One to group them with the Naim muso 2 and didn't understand why I couldn't do it on google assistant.

So sadly, it will be a refund :/

Exactly same situation... Going to bring my Sonos back.

Another downside is that I cannot even use the built in Google assistant as it is not supported in my country. Looks like I have to continue using my Google home + Chromecast + Marshall stanmore connected through TV. I saw that Harman kardon has similar speaker... I wonder if they can be grouped or chosen as primary speaker.
F

I’m just adding my voice to the crowd here 

 

I love my Sonos One, and I’ve been saving to add more to my bedroom and kitchen for the seamless music experience sonos advertises, but this lack of real integration is really driving me away from Sonos, 

 

why would I buy another Sonos one when I can’t fully integrate it into my google home app, 

the nests are getting better and better, and google is adding more and more, and over a year since this was posted Sonos still hasn’t done anything or released any definitive statement, 

 

Fully integrated Sonos into google home already 

 

L

I could see apple buying sonos like they did beats, for several reasons.

One could be that Apple fails with their own line of smart speakers and see sonos speaker technology being a possible addition that will help develop their own ecosystem (like google did with nest). It would be a smart move in my opinion as it would get rid of competition, increase their line of products and acquire all sonos users into the apple world, potentially new users for other apple products. It would also put them as a serious contender agains the big guys Amazon and Google.

The reason whey they would NOT make this move could be that they perhaps actually have some better products coming up that would challenge the sonos speakers or even be a better option. This along with that Sonos doesnt have the same smart home integration and only focus on being a sound system rather than smart home system, a closed network which really isnt optimal for integration with any third party. That would limit sonos future or even diminishing it eventually becoming obsolete like old analog stereos.

 

The future will definitely be the big three, Google, Amazon & Apple.. Where in all this sonos will end up is still uncertain, but my bet is they wont survive on their own..

 

If in fact it was Sonos move to ask google for the integration only show they are not prepared for the future, and as Google has already announced they are preparing a new smart nest speakers that will compete with the sonos one only shows that they see sonos as weak and will probably NOT move towards a full integration rather ditch them all together.

 

I think Sonos will have to make a decision pretty soon rather than later if they want to survive, my best bet is to sell now before no one wants/need them anymore.

melvimbe

The Google lawsuit could actually result in improved integration between the two.  Google did not originally want to do an integration at all, but were persuaded to by Sonos stating they would look the other way about other potential lawsuit issues.  Integration was the better choice for Google.  The same could occur here as well, but I honestly don’t think either company wants customers to be able to buy the competitors product instead of their own.

Danny
M

Yep...this is total false advertising to say it has GA when what they should be adverting, full disclosure,  that they provide only half GA functionality...not being able to integrate/group with rest of my home system is a deal breaker...will be returning these speakersssss...asap

M
Userlevel 3
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The big disappointment for me is that I just wanted to be able to say to google “play 96FM on home group” and have it play on all my sonos speakers throughout the house like I use to do with all my google speakers but sonos cant even be bothered to support this on their own speakers. Can’t  have sonos voice and google assistant running at the same time so cant even use the sonos voice command to bring the music into a room because i have to choose between the voice systems if I choose sonos then the rest of my home automation doesn’t work. Sonos know exactly what they are doing here this is a gigantic marketing scam, for the price I have paid for sonos equipment I feel completely ripped off how can I recommend Sonos to anyone when the basics are not there? 

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