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Contributor II
October 4, 2017
Answered

Single Play:1 and single Sonos One as surrounds?

Hey everybody. Really excited about the new voice enabled Sonos One! I would love to put one in my living room where I currently have the complete 5.1 setup. Can I move one of the surrounds to a different room and link the new One with an old Play:1? Will the voice activation work when the Sonos One is in the surround configuration?
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Ryan S
Ryan SAnswer
Retired Sonos Staff
October 4, 2017
Great question J-Kon72. The Sonos One is only set to pair with another Sonos One, you won't be able to bond a One with a PLAY:1 for either stereo or as part of a surround setup 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.

And a big "Yes" to your last question. The voice activation will work when it's a surround speaker, or when stereo paired.
Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.

23 replies

Ryan S
Ryan SAnswer
Retired Sonos Staff
October 4, 2017
Great question J-Kon72. The Sonos One is only set to pair with another Sonos One, you won't be able to bond a One with a PLAY:1 for either stereo or as part of a surround setup 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.

And a big "Yes" to your last question. The voice activation will work when it's a surround speaker, or when stereo paired.
Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
Contributor III
October 4, 2017
Similar question here - slightly different. I have a Play:3 and am interested in the Sonos One. If I were to have the Sonos One, can I turn on the One and then group it with the Play:3 via voice command? Or would the app still be required to group?

Thanks in advance.
Airgetlam
October 4, 2017
I believe that the app is required to group initially. Once it's grouped, voice commands will work. For instance, I have a bedroom and bathroom grouped, using the app. I can say "Resume in the bathroom" and both the bathroom and bedroom start playing where they left off.

If someone knows how to group using voice commands, I'd be delighted to be corrected.
Bruce
jgatie
October 4, 2017
Grouping via voice is not included in the current release. There are mentions of having it work via voice in the future.
Contributor III
October 4, 2017
Thank you all for the quick responses!
Airgetlam
October 4, 2017
Frankly, it's not urgent, for me. I have one set of speakers that I leave grouped, and voice commands work (just say one of them, and the whole group reacts), all other speakers are handled individually.
Bruce
Contributor I
October 4, 2017
Great question J-Kon72. The Sonos One is only set to pair with another Sonos One, you won't be able to bond a One with a PLAY:1 for either stereo or as part of a surround setup 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.



Seriously?! Welp, I will not be buying a ONE unless/until you can pair it with another Play:1. Sounds like a huge oversight. I was really looking forward to this capability especially since they are similar speakers.
Cantello
Avid Contributor I
October 5, 2017
The Sonos One is only set to pair with another Sonos One, you won't be able to bond a One with a PLAY:1 for either stereo or as part of a surround setup with a PLAY:1.

This is not ideal - why would I want to replace two existing Play:1 if I only need one Alexa-enabled speaker? Will pass the Play One and buy an Echo instead.
Lyricist I
October 5, 2017
Add me to the list of those who was hoping to pair a One and Play:1. It seems redundant having two Alexa enabled devices in a stereo pair or surround configuration. Owning two Play:1s as part of a surround set up, I’d be looking to buy two Sonos Ones to enable me to replace one of the Play:1s in the surround set up and move it and one of the Sonos Ones into another room for an Alexa enabled stereo pair in a room where both voice control and audio playback are desirable.
Lyricist III
October 5, 2017
I would not consider buying two Sonos One speakers to create a stereo pair. Having both speakers with voice control seems like a redundant requirement... how do they work if both speakers pick up the same commands?

The option of pairing with an existing Play:1 would make more sense to me - as would buying another Play:1 with an Echo dot instead.

Is the dynamic performance of a Sonos One very different from a Play:1? Or is a Sonos One truly a reengineered Play:1 with Alexa module added?