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Cladner
Contributor I
May 11, 2017
Answered

SONOS ALEXA Integration?

Been waiting to hear news about when this will happen and am starting to think it never will. I have Sonos and Alexa in every room. I did this with the assurance that Sonos and Alexa are going to work together. There has been next to no news regarding integration for the past 6 months.... When can we expect to hear about Sonos and Alexa integration? Is it still happening? Please any update would be appreciated.
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    Ryan S
    Ryan SAnswer
    Retired Sonos Staff
    August 31, 2017
    Hi everyone, there's a lot of interesting discussion going on here and I love the energy you all have around voice control and Alexa. My message from way earlier in this thread is still very much still the case, so I'll quote it here:

    Thanks for jumping in everyone. Great answers already. As suggested, I can't really provide any extra details today, but I assure you, we're as excited about this as you are. It is coming. We'll let the world know as soon as there's more to say, and we'll announce here on the community (and elsewhere) if there are any opportunities to help us beta test.

    On top of that, I just want to take a moment to make sure everything is clear about a few things. First off, to use voice control with Sonos, you will need to have a device with Alexa built in. We're largely talking about Amazon Echos and Dots here, but you never know what other fun gadgets may work as well, at launch or after it.

    Second, once the software is live, it will work with every updated Sonos component. As long as you already have an Alexa-enabled device, you aren't going to need to buy any new hardware to use Alexa with Sonos. Just make sure your players are updated to the latest version of the Sonos software (when Alexa control comes out for Sonos), you will be able to take advantage of the voice commands sent by your Alexa-enabled devices. We're not going to go into the magic right now, but there have been some pretty good ideas here in the thread already.

    That's all for now. More to come later, so stay tuned!
    Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.

    266 replies

    Lyricist I
    July 13, 2017


    You know alexa works with bluetooth right?

    I.think you need to check things before posting


    Alexa doesn't work at all without an internet connection. Sonos does, at least for local libraries. The fact Alexa/Echo uses Bluetooth does not mean it does not use the internet. It requires an IP (aka "an internet connection"). It has to connect to WiFi (aka "an internet connection") and finally, all voice control functions are processed in the cloud (aka "an internet connection").

    It really seems you are the one who should check things before posting.


    Actually.... neither *needs* the "internet". All they need is wireless signal (aka WiFi; or 802.11 wireless lan). I was in a situation recently where I was without "internet" but then I just made a local area network with some ethernet cables I had lying around, plugged them into my wireless router and walla, Sonos music was blasting through my house, though I had no internet access. I did the same thing to get my Phillips Hue bulbs up and running.

    Many of Alexa's services rely much more on actual internet cloud services like being able to search wikipedia or check your google calendar; but I bet it could still talk to you, set timers, and control devices on your local area network, without "internet".

    Apologies for the redirect! WiFi are often thought of at the same thing; I like to correct that misunderstanding where I can. All things aside, I am very excited for the day I can lazily shout at my echo Dots to play whatever artist, genre, playlist, etc. As long as it happens eventually, I can wait.
    jgatie
    July 13, 2017
    Sigh.
    Airgetlam
    July 13, 2017
    TravelingWriter,

    May I ask you to do a test with your Echo/Alexa device? Unplug the external (internet) connection from it, leaving it as just a provider for your local wifi, with no external connection. Then try doing anything with the Amazon device. I'm relatively certain that anything will fail, except for maybe connecting to it with Bluetooth. There's no "smarts" inside that device, just a trigger to recognize it's own name, and then call out to the cloud for processing the command given after the name.

    Please let me know what your test reveals, I'd be interested if my assumptions were incorrect..
    Bruce
    chicks
    July 13, 2017
    Don't feed the troll...
    Ryan S
    Retired Sonos Staff
    July 13, 2017
    The way most voice control functions today, the device listens for its wake word, then it records the audio that follows, sends it up to the appropriate cloud, where it's translated into a command and sent back down. Without an Internet connection, the assistant is just going to tell you that their service isn't available. This page has a good rundown of how Alexa works.

    Once an alarm or timer has been set, it'll still go off without the internet, but the voice control to turn it off wouldn't work.
    Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
    Airgetlam
    July 13, 2017
    Yes, I know. Was hoping to lead a horse to water 🙂
    Bruce
    Trending Lyricist I
    July 14, 2017
    I can't wait for integration either. We just picked up an Alexa and we have a sonos, but the Alexa is already playing more music in my house just because it's so much easier for my wife to just ask it to play something. It drives me nuts because teh Sonos Play 5 is sitting right next to it, quiet, but she just wants the song to play.

    https://www.tomsguide.com/us/control-sonos-speakers-with-alexa,news-24892.html


    There is also an FAQ from Sonos which I find easier to understand :

    https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4158/kw/alexa


    Thanks, we just got the alexa a few days ago and while missing some bass it sounds better than I expected it to.

    I'll try the Dot suggestion with my play:5. I didn't realize there was an auto setting to pickup line-in activity.
    Airgetlam
    July 14, 2017
    The auto-play line in feature is both a curse and a major benefit to me. I've got my Mac hooked in to my Play:5 so that I can listen to TuneIn premium baseball games. But when I'm just messing around with my computer and listening to music, the autoplay videos on all these silly websites will interrupt my music enjoyment. I can think of two ways for me to fix this, but I'm lazy. It certainly isn't Sonos' fault, it's entirely on me. 🙂
    Bruce
    Contributor I
    July 14, 2017
    I'm pretty sure that 2 play 1s will beat homepod. The sterio seperation and clarity of play 1s is brilliant. The build against obsolescence is where Sonos will win. After care is second to none. Massive Sonos fan and likewise I bet for majority of Sonos owners
    Enthusiast II
    July 15, 2017
    I've just replaced a Bluetooth receiver connected to my old Play 5 with an Echo Dot. Because of my location, conventional broadband at just 200k won't support most music streamed over Sonos so I have to use 10Gbit satellite broadband. My 20Gig monthly allowance is mainly used for this; but the beauty of Sonos is that I can use the mesh network to distribute wireless internet throughout the 15 or so zones (old, old setup with several CR100s still hanging on).

    The irony here is that the Echo can't recognise the Sonos mesh and so I have to use a mobile hotspot device for Alexa to work. I just hope the integration Sonos has in mind will allow it to connect directly to their own mesh network which is fundamental to my internet access (albeit it's probably an unusual setup).

    And without internet, my NAS works fine when the satellite or mobile signals don't allow streaming, but I'm considering adding a Brennan B2 if anyone's got any experience they can point me to...
    18 zones, 29 devices and counting