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Play:1 stereo pair with Sonos One


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Will it be possible to pair a ‘One’ with a Play:1 to create a stereo pair?
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Best answer by Ryan S 8 May 2018, 19:58

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You can use Sonos One with all Sonos players. It can control what's playing on itself and other rooms with voice, where available. However, Sonos One will only pair with another Sonos One if you are looking to set it up as a stereo pair or as part of a surround setup, it can't bond with a PLAY:1.

I'll make sure to pass on to the team that you're interested in seeing this at some point in the future, but there aren't any plans to share that this might happen.

Made some edits for clarity
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Hey Ryan,

You can understand why this question arises, I'm sure. If have a 5.1 setup.... (and I do) why have two speakers taking audio commands? I don't need that. Why not just have one of them be the controller/ input mechanism for audio control. I get they *look* like Play1 s and may not actually be the same in audio response - and therefore hard to pair, but from a use perspective, it is an obvious and evident question that I think Sonos needs to have a position on as to why it isn't appropriate or enabled out of the starting blocks.
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I totally hear where you're coming from SHARKB8T. They are different visually, colors and top as well, but they certainly do look similar. There are several factors that went into the decision on this one, so, for now, the best we can do is keep on passing the feedback to the team.

In larger rooms with stereo pairs or surround setups, it's good to have multiple microphone arrays too, that way you know it'll pick up your voice.
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I understand that there are technical issues that would need to be overcome, but I think it is worth noting that I think this backwards compatibility feature would lead to more sales of the Sonos One, not less. I own a bunch of Play:1s and I would be really tempted to get a matching Sonos One for each if it could mean I'd get stereo pairs with built-in Alexa support. But there's no way I'm going to pay to replace each of my current Play:1s with Sonos Ones just to get Alexa support if I can get similar functionality by just adding an Echo Dot.
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I agree with twangus. Please re-consider. I have a Play:One and don't want to (and definitely won't) pay AU$299 for a Sonos One just to add voice control (which anyhow is currently inactive in Australia) BUT I would pay $299 for a Sonos One if I could create a stereo pair with my Play:One. Stereo plus voice control is definitely worth $299 - but voice control by itself isn't. I bought my Play:One to listen to music and have no trouble controlling it from my iPhone or from the top buttons. If I buy a Sonos One, my Play:One (which I bought new last year) won't be used anymore since I have no need for 2 mono wi-fi speakers, even if they can play the same mono music simultaneously (which I assume is possible). If you refuse to allow stereo pairing, please allow us to trade-in our redundant Play:One's which were bought with the understanding that they would continue to get "better over time". Since I have used mine for only one year and it's in pristine, as-new condition, can I have $250 as a trade-in? Or should disgruntled Play:One owners dump their redundant Play:One's on e-bay (which unfortunately might hurt your sales of Sonos One)? What is your preference? My preference is "stereo pairing" - please!!
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I also see this as something of a deal-breaker. Sonos One would be an obvious way for me to expand my current system through pairing it with one of my existing Play:1s. But as others have said, I am not going to replace two Play:1s. I think this is a function that Sonos should provide right from the start. It would be good to know from Sonos what their plans are with respect to this. I'm open minded, but in the meantime, it does reduce my confidence that Sonos will be the future-proof system that I'm looking for going forward.
So you now have (at least) two Play:1's. You want to buy a single Sonos One to pair with one of your Play's, thus having a Sonos One paired with a Play:1, and (at least) a single Play:1 not paired with anything?

I want you to look at my statement and try to figure out why someone would find it baffling. Look close now, and take your time. Note also that any Sonos device, any at all, can be controlled from any Alexa enabled device, even a $50 Echo Dot.
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I would like to add a play one in my excisting sourround system and not to buy two new play one speaker. Also I did not want to have Alexa echo dot extra beside. I´m shure from tecnical side it would not be a problem to combine play one with play 1, they only want to make more money. It is a cheek that they force us to spend more money
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I was just about to pre-order a pair thinking I could create two stereo pairs by combining with my existing pair of Play 1s. Just lost £400 of Sales that may have led to more. A missed opportunity.
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I was just about to pre-order a pair thinking I could create two stereo pairs by combining with my existing pair of Play 1s. Just lost £400 of Sales that may have led to more. A missed opportunity.

You CAN create 2 x stereo pairs with one pair being Play:1 and one pair being Sonos:1 and then GROUP them.

This will be pretty much the same as doing the same thing with 4 x Sonos:1
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Fair point, but unless I'm missing something I wouldn't be able to use Alexa in the 2nd room which is likely to be at a different end of the house. I understand can get round it using an Echo dot in the second room but it feels like I'm losing the simplicity and functionality I was hoping for.
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Top bad. Ik have one play 1 in the kitchen and is was Thinking of buying the one to make IT stereo. Reading this i Will not do that. I even Will rethink of i Will invest in Sonos products. Backward compatibel should have been part of the concept. This is old fashion Thinking. Disapointing.
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I will also add my vote to the majority here. I too was hoping to pair the One with a Play:1 The other item that killed a purchase for me is that the Sonos One does not have the 1/4:20 thread for existing wall mounts I have.
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I was about to pre-order a Play One to pair with a Play 1 i already own...after reading this thread i will not be placing my order. I just expected the One to pair with existing Sonos speakers... Is this not the point of the Sonos system you can expand it?
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I´m shure from tecnical side it would not be a problem to combine play one with play 1, they only want to make more money. It is a cheek that they force us to spend more money

So you are ‘shure’ are you? This is based on exactly what expert knowledge?
Who is forcing you to do anything?

People - please stop bleating about this, you cannot stereo bind a play:5 to a play:3, you cannot bind a play:3 to a play:1 and you cannot bind a play:1 to a Sonos One - THEY ARE DIFFERENT PRODUCTS. Just because the names sound similar and they look similar does not mean they are the same. Go, buy an Echo dot and move on......
Userlevel 1
I´m shure from tecnical side it would not be a problem to combine play one with play 1, they only want to make more money. It is a cheek that they force us to spend more money

So you are ‘shure’ are you? This is based on exactly what expert knowledge?
Who is forcing you to do anything?

People - please stop bleating about this, you cannot stereo bind a play:5 to a play:3, you cannot bind a play:3 to a play:1 and you cannot bind a play:1 to a Sonos One - THEY ARE DIFFERENT PRODUCTS. Just because the names sound similar and they look similar does not mean they are the same. Go, buy an Echo dot and move on......


Bleating? Who are you to make this comments. Very ruth. And a typical "Sonos"" adepth with one single view. By the way We are the customers, and we can comment on this. And when you are a customer driven company you listen to your customer....
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As a Sonos lover myself, I certainly hope that Sonos One will pair with Play:1 for stereo sound. If it is NOT possible, there are only 2 solutions:
1. Sell Play:1 and upgrade to Sonos One.
2. But an Alexa device (or Google Home) down the road.

I certainly understand there may be technical difficulties here. But is it just technical reasons here? Or, marketing reasons as well. Selfishly, we want our Sonos speakers to be a bit more future-proof (i.e, only SW upgrades instead of keep on upgrading HW for the latest feature). I am sure you can understand our concerns here. Please consider backward compatibility in the future. Much appreciated!
I also have a pair of play1's in a 5.1 setup. I would like to buy 2 Ones and now have 2 stereo pairs, one in the living room and one in the family room, each with Alexa capabilities.
Having both microphones in one room is a not something I would consider. Another lost sale here.
I will just buy an Alexa when it is time to add voice control.
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Would love to pair a Sonos One and Play:1 in my bedroom. It's not a big enough room that I need two speakers with microphones... Make this possible and I'll pick up a Sonos One instead of an Echo Dot for the bedroom!
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I was about to pre-order a Play One to pair with a Play 1 i already own...after reading this thread i will not be placing my order. I just expected the One to pair with existing Sonos speakers... Is this not the point of the Sonos system you can expand it?
Hi Pinny, to be clear, you can use Sonos One with any and all Sonos players. It can control them too using the Alexa skill. The only thing you can't do, is bond a Sonos One and a PLAY:1 as a stereo pair or surround sound setup with a PLAYBAR, or PLAYBASE. You need to use two of the same product to set up a stereo pair or as part of a surround setup.
I too would love this to be a possibility. I already have two play 1s, would love to buy two Ones to make two stereo pairs in two room that can both have alexa integration. For people who are saying why not just buy a echo dot, Sonos One’s integration is deeper as you don’t need to say the room/group, the nearest One will pick up the command and start playing music in its groups
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To echo what has already been said above, I would also love to be able to pair a couple of Play 1s with a couple of Ones to make two stereo pairs with Alexa capability.
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I can seriously see the Play:1 discontinued at some point in the near future since it is the same price point as the Sonos ONE. There is absolutely no need for Sonos to keep the Play:1 around anymore nor support it down the road.

I just bought SIX Play:1s to pair around the house. If I can't pair a Sonos ONE and Play:1, I seriously might just sell off all Sonos and go Google if it sounds good as I need to buy more pairs in the future.

I think Sonos is hoping people with replace Play:1s with Sonos ONEs but I am not going to fall for it.
You are not being asked to fall for it - using Dots for backward compatibility is the option given by Sonos for every speaker they have ever made. Including those that are not produced anymore which by the way, are also upgraded for free to accept voice control.

But if you are buying pairs in future for expansion, why would you not buy Sonos One pairs?
I would be, except in the rare case that I needed a second PLAY:1 to set up as a stereo pair. But as you say, if I was buying a pair, it would definitely be a pair of Sonos Ones. Besides, I think the Sonos One looks better 🙂 The fact that they are the same price is just a bonus.