Never ending issues with Sonos and Alexa

You should see three ‘devices’ in the Amazon Alexa App device list for your Sonos Arc, as below:

1. TV Control component - for HDMI-CEC control of the TV volume adjustment and mute etc. via Sonos Skill.
2. Alexa component - for the Alexa instructions for music playback etc via Sonos Skill. and used to enable/control a single (once only) Alexa ‘enabled’ group. (NB: you may find this component ‘embedded’ in the speaker component mentioned below).
3. Speaker component - for the speaker itself and used for grouping purposes etc. (can be used in multiple Alexa groups)

To control ‘group volume’ you have to setup the Sonos rooms/speakers in Alexa ‘Enabled’ Groups… The Alexa components in the first section of the group each control the group and will auto-group the Sonos speakers listed in the 3rd section of the group and control their volume (as a group) whenever you speak the instruction to change volume to one of the Alexa devices listed in the first section.

There are also options for each Alexa ‘enabled’ Group for you to setup that will either allow instruction with, or without, the group name - you will find this at the foot of the grouped speakers (in the 3rd section of the group) under the heading ‘Playback Options’. I have attached an image/example of an Alexa ‘enabled’ Group to (hopefully) assist you with your understanding as to how the group features work with Sonos in the Amazon Alexa App.

I will just also mention that Sonos Voice Control works well to group/ungroup Sonos speakers and it too provides ‘group volume’ control. See the links below: 

• https://support.sonos.com/s/article/5088
• https://support.sonos.com/s/article/5107
• https://support.sonos.com/s/article/5108

SVC will also work alongside the Amazon Alexa Assistant on voice compatible S2 Sonos devices.

You should see three ‘devices’ in the Amazon Alexa App device list for your Sonos Arc, as below:

1. TV Control component - for HDMI-CEC control of the TV volume adjustment and mute etc. via Sonos Skill.
2. Alexa component - for the Alexa instructions for music playback etc via Sonos Skill. and used to enable/control a single (once only) Alexa ‘enabled’ group. (NB: you may find this component ‘embedded’ in the speaker component mentioned below).
3. Speaker component - for the speaker itself and used for grouping purposes etc. (can be used in multiple Alexa groups

I don’t see the Alexa component because I don’t have Alexa voice control enabled on the speaker. And I don’t see the Speaker component, which is the problem I described. Are there any steps I can take to see that on there? I’ve tried disabling the Alexa skill, turning the speaker off, unplugging the HDMI cord, but nothing works. The same “TV” device is on the app, and nothing else.

To control ‘group volume’ you have to setup the Sonos rooms/speakers in Alexa ‘Enabled’ Groups… The Alexa components in the first section of the group each control the group and will auto-group the Sonos speakers listed in the 3rd section of the group and control their volume (as a group) whenever you speak the instruction to change volume to one of the Alexa devices listed in the first section.

There are also options for each Alexa ‘enabled’ Group for you to setup that will either allow instruction with, or without, the group name - you will find this at the foot of the grouped speakers (in the 3rd section of the group) under the heading ‘Playback Options’. I have attached an image/example of an Alexa ‘enabled’ Group to (hopefully) assist you with your understanding as to how the group features work with Sonos in the Amazon Alexa App.

I have seen this screen shot twenty times, and I must be dense because it doesn’t help me. What does this do for me? In this scenario are you saying you use three Alexa devices in other rooms to control the volume in the Main Bedroom? That’s not the way it’s supposed to be setup. The Alexa device section should represent the Alexa device only in the room you’re setting up, which is Main Bedroom. Further, there is no “Audio Ducking” section. That is the devices section.

In my setup I set the Sonos Move as the “Alexa enabled device”. It does not show up as a speaker that shows in the speakers section nor devices section. I try detecting speakers and nothing happens. I assumed this was because I had enabled Alexa on it so it only shows up on Alexa enabled device, not speaker. Then, I would typically have my ARC (with TV icon; not speaker icon) which I can add to the room as a device, not a speaker. My issue again is that the Arc doesn’t show up as a speaker, and neither does the Move.

The Alexa component in the fist section of the Alexa ‘enabled’ Group can (importantly) only be used once only to enable a group - it can be any Alexa components such as an echo-dot, Sonos Alexa component or Alexa products from other manufacturers. Sonos speakers with Alexa components placed in the first section of a group will automatically ‘duck’ their audio.

Yes, but it is usually used for Sonos products in the group that have no Alexa component or you do not wish to use its Alexa component to ‘enable’ the group in the first section. If you add your Sonos speaker to this second section of the group, it will automatically ‘duck’ its audio whilst talking to any of the Alexa ‘enabling’ components in the same group.

I can’t comment with any certainty on why you are not seeing your Sonos speaker/room component in the Amazon Alexa device list - the speakers do show when you link the Sonos Household (not just the account) to the Amazon Alexa App using the Sonos Skill - I saw you mentioned an ‘Alexa Skill’ earlier, but I assume you actually meant to say the ‘Sonos Skill’? 

You can always register your Sonos HH and devices by removing and re-adding the Sonos Skill - I would ensure your devices are uniquely named compared to both your Groups and any other smarthome devices you may have registered in the Alexa App.

Note, you can always deregister your smart-home devices in your online Amazon account or by going to the online Alexa resource at alexa.amazon.com. If you do the latter from a mobile device, you may need to enable ‘guided access’ on iOS devices or similar screen-pinning feature on an android device to access the Alexa resource.

Hope that assists you further with your understanding.

This issue has to be fixed before you can really address any other issue.   You definitely should be seeing the Arc as a speaker under the Alexa app.  if you were not able to get anywhere with Sonos support, I would give Amazon a call.  It’s their software that manages all this after all.

The devices setup in the top section means that commands around playing music or other smart home controls will be assumed to be for the devices in the group without having to specifically mention the device names, or the Alexa group name.  Sticking with music, “Alexa, play 80s music” will result in music being played on the speakers in the group, not on the Alexa device itself (unless the device is also a speaker in the group or no speakers listed for the group).  The same should apply for volume changes, mute, pause, resume, etc.

There is no physical location restriction with Alexa groups.  As an example, I have a Roam setup as the Alexa device with Sonos amps for outdoor speakers as the speakers in the group.  The Roam could be anywere, obviously.  A non-music example, I have a ‘Chritmas group’ setup to turn on/off all lights and decoration around the house.

Yes, it’s the device section, but a speaker placed in this section means that it’s volume will duck when you speak to one of the Alexa devices in the group.

It needs to show up as a speaker as well.

 Yep, your main issue is that Alexa doesn’t seem to be recognizing your Sonos devices as speakers. Since you’ve already tried the usual fixes for this, and Sonos support, I would contact Amazon.

@microbrew5,
Yes, I completely agree with Danny, you need to resolve the missing Arc/speaker issue first of all in your Alexa device list.

edit: i have now attached a ‘combined’ image showing my ‘Living Room’ Sonos Arc three entries in the Alexa App device list here - you may find your components are named somewhat differently, but maybe the image will help you to see what you are looking for.
NB: the Alexa component may be  ‘embedded’ within the Sonos Speaker device properties.

HTH

Update-

I was able to fix issue #1.

• I accomplished this by going to Amazon Alexa via a web browser on my laptop. The devices section revealed several versions of my Sonos speakers (appeared to be duplicates created throughout the troubleshooting process) as well as something named “Sonos ZonePlayer”. These versions didn’t appear in the phone app.
• I disabled the Sonos skill in the Alexa app
• Then I deleted the devices from the Amazon Alexa web browser page. Something that can’t be accomplished on the phone app.
• I also deleted the Sonos group/room from my Alexa app
• I then renamed the speakers in the Sonos app so I could be sure that what I see after re-enabling the skill aren’t the same old devices.
• After re-enabling the skill, I finally saw the two versions of my Arc speaker. One with the TV icon, and the other with the speaker icon. On the devices page of Alexa web browser I still see the “Sonso ZonePlayer” device, which doesn’t show up on the phone app.
• The Sonos Move still appears as an Alexa enabled device instead of a speaker, which I guess is normal (?)

I was not able to fix issue #2.

• I created a new room/group in Alexa. I named it “Office” just to be sure I can rule out it being some issue with Alexa confusing with my old names or “Living Room” or “Sonos” or “Speakers” (all examples of names I’d realistically want to change to once I ruled out the naming issue). I have no other rooms or devices named “Office”.
•  The first screen that pops up- “Add devices to Office”, I see the “Sonos Family Room” (my Arc) speaker icon . I add this. I did not add the “Sonos Family Room TV” (TV icon). The Sonos Move does not appear on this screen, and I think that’s normal because it’s an Alexa enabled device?
• The next screen is “Add Alexa devices to Office”. I see “Sonos Mover” which is my Move. It has a speaker icon. I check this off and press next.
• The next screen says, “Office is ready. Here are the speakers that will play music: Sonos Family Room; Sonos Mover”. I press Done.
• This is what the Office group looks like:
• 
• The Issue #2 still exists.
  • If I say “Change volume in office to 2”, it will only change the volume on the Alexa enabled device - the Move. 
  • If I say “Change volume to 2”, Alexa will change the volume of both of them. This works if I’m speaking to my Move, but if I’m speaking to any other Alexa devices (echo show; phone) it of course only changes the volume of that specific device (echo show; phone).
• I have tried a few different things after this. Spoiler- nothing worked.
  • 1) I’ve removed the Arc, “Sonos Family Room”, from the Devices section so that it’s only in the Speakers section.
    • This did not solve the problem. Actually, after doing this, saying “Change volume to 2” directly to the Sonos Move only change the volume of the Move, whereas before it would do both speakers.
    • Further, now when I say “Change Volume to 2 in Office” it sometimes changes the volume of the Move, and sometimes the Arc, but never both. I have no idea how it’s this inconsistent, but that’s what’s happening. More often it appears to be changing the Arc.
  • 2) Added back the Arc speaker icon, and added a new addition of the TV icon version.
    • Same issues/results as previous explanation
  • 3) Ungrouped the speakers in the Sonos app. The speakers in Sonos app are in different rooms, but can be grouped/ungrouped by check marks within the System (center tab) of the app.
    • Now, saying “Play music in office” only plays music on the Arc. 
    • Of course synchronized volume change testing is irrelevant at this point.

I’m all out of ideas. Hopefully that was enough detail for someone to steer me in the right direction. The speakers aren’t in any other groups, and the names are completely unique. There should be no reason for this to be happening at this point. Everything reset, renamed, and every variation of modifications made. I even experimented with “change volume to 2” vs “change volume to 20%”, and “office” vs. “the office”. I feel like I’ve tried everything.

I do appreciate the responses from everyone. Hopefully this ends up helping others in the future, because I wasn’t able to find anything. Aside from that one screen shot, which still doesn’t really help me. 

It’s somewhat difficult to follow your post, without actually seeing what you’re seeing on the various screens.

I’m not too sure why you needed to rename your devices/rooms, just simply deregister those that are incorrect in the Alexa environment. Allow time to make sure the changes are reflected in your Sonos Account before linking the Household to Alexa using the Sonos Skill.

Also if you use Apple iOS and Home(Kit) you may need to also check the changes have correctly been reflected in that App otherwise you may find the Sonos rooms get switched back to their old names when they were first registered as an ‘accessory’. So perhaps keep that in mind if you are using iOS controller devices

Renaming the Alexa Group I do understand - and you can call a Group whatever you wish, but as mentioned earlier, it’s best if it’s different to the names of your Sonos Devices. So ‘office’ sounds fine. 👍

Sometimes if you change Sonos room names etc. it may take a little time for those changes to be reflected in each of your Alexa/Sonos accounts. So you may want to just let things settle and see if things may get resolved by themselves after a short while.

Anyhow …

It might be easier if you post screenshots of what you are seeing onscreen .. I would really need to see:

• Your devices/rooms as listed in the Settings/System area of the Sonos App
• The Alexa device list
• The Alexa Groups page
• The Office Group itself.
• The Sonos speakers/components listed in your Amazon Account under ‘Manage content and devices’ (select the devices tab/‘other Alexa devices’).

Another alternative, which may save you time/trouble here, is to speak to Sonos Support on the phone via this LINK, as they can likely help lead you through the steps necessary to get things linked correctly and working.. you might find that easier, rather than all the ‘toing & froing’ and having to type out each of the steps you’ve taken.

I tried Alexa support, and they forwarded me to Sonos support. I spent almost two hours on the phone with Sonos support and it was incredibly frustrating. No progress was made, and got to the point where he just repeated the same step over and over again despite just doing it. That’s the reason I took to Reddit and this forum- because surely other people have experienced this. On Reddit it has been suggested that this just isn’t possible, so I came here. I haven’t heard from anyone saying they are able to do this successfully on their system, so I guess I’m just going to give up and consider it impossible, and a big letdown by Sonos/Amazon to not facilitate such a basic function. I’ll share screen shots after the weekend.

My thoughts are that you have clearly played around a fair bit with the software trying everything to get this to work for you and it’s clear you know what you are doing/need to do, but maybe with all the things you’ve tried in the past and the messing around with (removing/renaming devices/groups, adding removing skills etc.) you perhaps might have generated some form of corruption/problem in either your Sonos or Amazon Alexa account. The Alexa/Sonos group setup is not as difficult as it perhaps first sounds… 

So I’m wondering that as you do now believe that you have things correctly in place, that something else has perhaps now possibly got ‘bent’ with either your Sonos or Alexa account - although it’s difficult to say, without actually seeing what you’re seeing.

You still may find it best to go back and speak with Sonos customer support anyway, as they should be able to see what’s going on via your diagnostic report and the various tools they have to hand to check your setup and connections etc.

Also I can’t rule out something might not be working correctly in the locality where you are, as I’m in the UK and I see you are in the USA and sometimes things may not be working there, but working ok here (or vice versa).

@microbrew5, 
Just to add too that it is possible to create ‘groups’ in the Sonos App in ‘Settings/System/Groups’ and play/control the audio/volume to those grouped rooms using Sonos Voice Control, as mentioned earlier.

The SVC assistant uses ‘Group Volume’ control by default, unless you specify a room - so that’s perhaps another option for you to consider and maybe try. SVC also works alongside Alexa.

HTH.

@microbrew5,

I created a quick .gif animation (attached) just to show what I see in the Sonos App when I ask Alexa to play music to an Alexa ‘enabled’ group - it automatically groups 3 rooms in this instance ‘Living Room’, ‘Fireplace’ and ‘Portable’ and then I can ask Alexa to adjust the volume and hopefully you can see the Group volume slider control moves - I’ve then just clicked on the slider control to show that all rooms change to the exact same volume in the group. The .gif is quite limited in quality as the file-size upload to the forum here is only 5MB but hopefully you can see that this can and does work for group volume control.

I’ve also attached a screenshot of the Alexa Group in this case to maybe assist you further. One further thought I did have and that is to just ensure another Alexa device (set outside the group) is not picking up your instruction to adjust the volume as it must be given to an ‘enabling’ Alexa component in the same group.

If you need any further assistance, then let me know.

I’m using the iPad Pro 3rd Gen S2 controller - the system renaming feature is in the Settings area of the Sonos App between ‘Parental Controls’ and ‘System Updates’. 

I’m not sure whether the features may alter by device, but the S2 App version in the about box is this:

Edit: The Amazon Alexa App installed here is version 2.2.491753

The Sonos skill doesn’t show me a version, but it is set to English GB (Great Britain)

In your Alexa group screenshot in your last post, I see you have two Sonos rooms set to auto-group and play when you speak direct to ‘Sonos Mover’ (the enabling device). It will group with ‘Sonos Family Room’ - I assume those are the two speakers set in the ‘speaker section’.

However. have you gone onto set the ‘playback options’ for the office group and set them to ‘always’?

See screenshot from the Alexa App: