Single Play:1 and single Sonos One as surrounds?

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.

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.

Grouping via voice is not included in the current release. There are mentions of having it work via voice in the future.

Thank you all for the quick responses!

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.

Ryan S wrote:

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.

Ryan S wrote:

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.

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.

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?

I am really looking forward to receiving my Sonos One to use in my Master Bathroom so I have someone to talk to while I shower. :)

But I also don't see the point in pairing 2 Sonos Ones in stereo; that makes the Alexa feature redundant in one of the speakers, unless you have a really wide separation.

While I understand the viewpoint, you also have to think about what percentage of those speakers are used as surrounds, versus standalone speakers. Yes, it does seem superfluous to have two paired/bonded Sonos One speakers as surrounds, but if 60, 70, 80% of the sales are for single non-paired, then it makes good sense for them. The pleasant part about it is that they've not said "and the PLAY:1 is no longer going to be sold", so we have the option.

Frankly, for me, the fact that the new Sonos One has the future ability to be an AirPlay 2 device would tempt me to replace a couple of surrounds. I could just use the current PLAY:1s in other locations. Or shoot, the Sonos Ones could be somewhere else. The nice thing is that they're both the same price. So there's no loss, only gain in the whole situation.

Stop being reasonable. We aren’t here to be reasonable. :p

Arguably though I’d disagree. If I were to buy a pair of Sonos Ones I’d be using them in conjunction with a second Play:1 and in a surround configuration. Right now the fact that I can’t do this means I likely won’t be buying them or shifting my current Play:1s else where and instead will just buy more Echos. Essentially resulting in lost sales for Sonos but additional sales for amazon.
Also the argument about users having a single Sonos One seems superfluous here, since we are talking about allowing a Sonos One to work with a Play:1 either in a surround or a paired scenario. The fact that it can work as a stand alone is kind of irrelevant when it seems like an arbitrary limitation that Sonos have inplemented in terms of preventing the Sonos One and a Play:1 being paired.

Sorry about that 🙂

It seems redundant having two Alexa enabled devices in a stereo pair or surround configuration

For what it's worth, I expect all new releases will include this tech. It's more awkward now because there's only one "Sonos One".

And, as I've suggested before, using Sonos Ones as surrounds may not be the primary intention of them. It's entirely possible that there are many more PLAY:1s in use as individual speakers then there is as surrounds.

Airgetlam wrote:

While I understand the viewpoint, you also have to think about what percentage of those speakers are used as surrounds, versus standalone speakers. Yes, it does seem superfluous to have two paired/bonded Sonos One speakers as surrounds, but if 60, 70, 80% of the sales are for single non-paired, then it makes good sense for them. The pleasant part about it is that they've not said "and the PLAY:1 is no longer going to be sold", so we have the option.

Frankly, for me, the fact that the new Sonos One has the future ability to be an AirPlay 2 device would tempt me to replace a couple of surrounds. I could just use the current PLAY:1s in other locations. Or shoot, the Sonos Ones could be somewhere else. The nice thing is that they're both the same price. So there's no loss, only gain in the whole situation.

I think you're missing a huge contingent of PLAY:1 users...those who use them as a stereo pair - not just as surrounds or individual speakers.

I'm one. I don't think I'm missing that contingent at all, just pointing out that there's a possibility that we may be in the minority.

Shoot, I have two pairs as surround speakers, as well as two other pairs as stereo paired speakers.

While i agree that the one and the 1 should have been made compatible, there is an aesthetic question as well and it would look odd having mismatched speakers as pairs

Contemplative wrote:

While i agree that the one and the 1 should have been made compatible, there is an aesthetic question as well and it would look odd having mismatched speakers as pairs

Meh. Aesthetics. If you have a Play:1 Tone (the limited availability version that was all black or all white, like the Sonos One will be) you probably couldn't tell the difference if you couldn't see the top where the buttons/touch controls are. Yeah, that's a much smaller group than just Play:1 owners, but if you're willing to live with unusual aesthetics, then Sonos should still allow this to be possible.

I bought two Sonos Ones, one to use in my bathroom, the other as one of the surrounds in my living room. Now I find I am coerced into buying a third Sonos One for the second surround in the LR. Sorry, I do not plan to enrich Sonos to that extent. The second Sonos One will become a standalone center speaker in the living room, until Sonos fixes this oversight.

I went ahead and installed the Sonos One, designated as in a separate room, but actually located in the center directly above the TV with the Playbar centered underneath the TV, and the two PLAY:1s located toward the rear of the room on the side walls added to the Playbar as surrounds. I then manually adjusted the volume of the Sonos One to achieve a sound I liked. This configuration seems to have resulted in a noticeable improvement in the overall sound in the room, both in spaciousness and in quality, compared what I had previously. Not sure why, but I'm very happy with the result sound-wise. As of now I have only been able to get Alexa to adjust the volume of the Sonos One, but the play, stop, and pause commands work for all speakers.

I didnt look into it before adding a play one. I agree its obvious that people will want to add ine play one for alexa and reuse a play 1 elsewhere which is what i have done. Then i find you cant bond a play one and a 1 as surround to a playbar! I used sono sequencer to achieve this for now and it worked. However no alexa (which was working well until the surround bond). PLEASE alliw us to choose what speakers to use as a pair. Accepting it may not give the perfectly balanced sound identical speakers would give. Love sonos in gereal and the playbar is incredible. But please stop adding silly limitations. Thanks