Answered

Play:1 stereo pair with Sonos One


Userlevel 3
Will it be possible to pair a ‘One’ with a Play:1 to create a stereo pair?
icon

Best answer by Ryan S 8 May 2018, 19:58

View original

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

177 replies

A few years ago I committed to putting Sonos throughout the house. I have play ones in most of the bedrooms, a play one and soundbar setup for one of the TV's, a connect amp, 2 connects and have just ordered another set of one's and a playbar for a surround setup and was hoping to pair one of the play ones with a One for the TV and use the other One in a bedroom.
The room with the TV is not big enough to warrant two Ones.
Feel such an idiot for not checking if you could pair a One and a play one. Will be using the Sonosequencr app at first, but hope Sonos come up with a solution.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Ok I found out how to do the surround sound pairing with the Playbar from the developer.

Open Sonosequencer.... at the bottom of screen there is the word devices. Click on devices. List of your Sonos speakers will come up. click on the playbar/playbase speaker name. In the top section you see the word Config. Click on config. This will bring you to the configuration screen to setup your surround speakers in any combination you want.
Another vote for sonsequencr. Having bought a Sonos One assuming that it was the same as a play1 with Alexa, disappointed isn't the word to describe when i found out they couldn't be stereo paired as this was the other reason I had bought it. £1.99 for the app and i now have them stereo paired with the Sonos one playing left channel and play 1 on the right. the stereo sound stage is very apparent.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Thanks Grayze
Userlevel 1
Totally agree with all the common sense comments here. Apart from anything why would you want a stereo pair of Sonos One's. Its like buying two Alexa's and sitting them next to each other. I would have thought, unlike those at Sonos, that most people would want to add to their system the Sonos One, to give them the Alexa part. In fact its most likely that someone already has a Play1 that they are replacing with the One. It makes no sense at all that you would not allow pairing of those two. Shortsighted and not thought out well at all. Classic case of development without proper consideration of practical implementation.
I really rather hope this changes in the name of obvious.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
In my opinion. Because they would match. Now if you have a Sonos Tone ... that would tend to match at least on the exterior.
Very disappointed to learn this. Especially as I just purchased a one with the intention of pairing it with a play 1... really hope they address this issue. It seems like enough people would like to be able to do it.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Just pair them with sonosequencr. Did you read this actual thread.
Just pair them with sonosequencr. Did you read this actual thread.

Yep, read it thanks. Thats an OK workaround I suppose but I posted here as I’d like to see an actual fix from Sonos rather than half a solution from a 3rd party application. But cheers for my daily quota of anonymous internet snarkyness.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
There is no Sonos fix. Sonos has stated they are different speakers and should not be paired. End of story.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
It’s not a half solution. It is the solution. Talk about snarky.
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.

This is EXACTLY my position. I have 5 Play:1s in 5 rooms. If this functionality existed I would go out and buy 3 - 5 Sonos One's today. I originally bought my Play:1s with the intention of stereo pairing them in the future. This is my moment. Unfortunately only the larger rooms need stereo pairs, which happen to be the same rooms I'd want mic support in. I really think Sonos should do this, if it's possible. If it really is a technology limitation, I can accept that, but then please just make a statement saying this will "NEVER" happen and I can move on to other solutions. Right now I'm in a hopeful holding pattern.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Sonos will not make them pairable in Sonos app. But sonosequencr will pair them just fine and there is no difference beteeen sonosequencer doing it and the Sonos app doing it. Once paired in sonosequencr they will show as stereo pair in the Sonos app. There is no problem here.
Sonos will not make them pairable in Sonos app. But sonosequencr will pair them just fine and there is no difference beteeen sonosequencer doing it and the Sonos app doing it. Once paired in sonosequencr they will show as stereo pair in the Sonos app. There is no problem here.

Thank you Chris. You've said this a number of times now. We've all read it.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
And people tend to ignore it still.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
You asked that they make statement that never going to happen. They have said not happening. I’m repeating that.
And people tend to ignore it still.

No one is ignoring you Chris. That is a 3rd party, workaround solution. Yes, it is a solution. There are people replying to this thread to add their voice to the request for support from SONOS directly. Unless you work for SONOS, and you are confirming 100% the answer is never, please just allow people to ask for what they want.

Like I said, thank you for providing this information, but you don't need to badger every person who isn't satisfied with it. You must be aware that 3rd party solutions are not the equivalent of native support, so please just allow people to want what they want.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Plenty come on here and don’t read the thread. I have no idea of knowing if your one of them so I will continue to let people know.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
If anything your badgering me


No one is ignoring you Chris.


Sure they are. In terms of forum speak, if someone mentions an issue, a solution, and other people repeat the issue without mentioning/recognizing that a solution was offered, I don't know how that could be interpreted as anything but ignoring.

Personally, I don't really get the desire to replace a play:1 with a sonos one. Yes, you get an all-in-one feel, but you are spending a lot more for that over just buying a dot. A dot that currently can do all that Sonos One can, in terms of voice control, plus additional features. You also get the benefit of segregated duties. In the near future when an improvement comes to voice control, you can just replace your relatively cheap dot instead of waiting for an upgraded Sonos One...or turning off the mic on the One with a new dot. Even you have a need to stereo pair an existing Play:1, they are currently $50 cheaper then the One, so you can get that and a dot for the same or lower price.

Saying this, I understand that those circumstances may change when Google comes on board, or whatever else happens in the quickly evolving market. But we don't know what that is, and you'll be able to buy a Sonos One or whatever new product Sonos comes out with then just as easily as you can now. Just seems like patience is the better route right now.
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Hi everyone, thanks for sharing your feedback and voice. The official answer on this topic is in the thread, but it's a bit buried at this point.

To be clear, the Sonos One can be used 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.

While the Play:1 and Sonos One share a similar appearance and sound, the two are aesthetically and acoustically two different speakers. Stereo pairing the two is not possible through the Sonos app.

This comes down to the hardware in the players themselves. You're going to start seeing more differences between the Play:1 and the Sonos One when it comes to features in the future, as new things are added to the system that might not be compatible with older hardware. We strive to keep products working with core functionality for as long as possible. As we add new features, older products may have more limitations.

You might have heard recently that we're bringing Airplay 2 to Sonos on a selection of players. The Sonos One will be available as an Airplay 2 target, but the Play:1 will not be. The first Sonos players ever, the ZP100, is still out there rocking today, so don't worry about the life of your Play:1s. That one won't be an Airplay 2 target either, but you'd be able to group a Sonos One with a ZP100 and play Airplay 2 to both, just like with a Play:1. The group is different from stereo bonding.

There are some community suggestions for ways to bond a Play:1 with a Sonos One, mentioned in this thread, but they aren't officially recommended. They may work for what you're looking for, but the setup could potentially be unstable.

Thanks again everyone for sharing, and we'll make sure the team knows this is still something you'd like to see happen, but there aren't any plans to share on bonding a Play:1 and Sonos One as a pair.
And people tend to ignore it still.

No one is ignoring you Chris. That is a 3rd party, workaround solution. Yes, it is a solution. There are people replying to this thread to add their voice to the request for support from SONOS directly. Unless you work for SONOS, and you are confirming 100% the answer is never, please just allow people to ask for what they want.

Like I said, thank you for providing this information, but you don't need to badger every person who isn't satisfied with it. You must be aware that 3rd party solutions are not the equivalent of native support, so please just allow people to want what they want.


I think it is pretty clear that Sonos is not going to give you the ability to pair unlike models, and Sonos has clearly stated that they are unlike models. So what exactly are you going to gain from having Sonos explicitly state what we already know is true?

Edit: And there you have it, an explicit statement of what we already knew was true.

Thanks Ryan.
I'd say that's a pretty darn good reason. Not to a good idea to allow a feature you know you're going to break in the future.
Badge
+1 for natively pairing the One with the Play:1. When I found out this was not natively supported, I canceled my order of the One.
Hi everyone, thanks for sharing your feedback and voice. The official answer on this topic is in the thread, but it's a bit buried at this point.

To be clear, the Sonos One can be used 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.

While the Play:1 and Sonos One share a similar appearance and sound, the two are aesthetically and acoustically two different speakers. Stereo pairing the two is not possible through the Sonos app.

This comes down to the hardware in the players themselves. You're going to start seeing more differences between the Play:1 and the Sonos One when it comes to features in the future, as new things are added to the system that might not be compatible with older hardware. We strive to keep products working with core functionality for as long as possible. As we add new features, older products may have more limitations.

You might have heard recently that we're bringing Airplay 2 to Sonos on a selection of players. The Sonos One will be available as an Airplay 2 target, but the Play:1 will not be. The first Sonos players ever, the ZP100, is still out there rocking today, so don't worry about the life of your Play:1s. That one won't be an Airplay 2 target either, but you'd be able to group a Sonos One with a ZP100 and play Airplay 2 to both, just like with a Play:1. The group is different from stereo bonding.

There are some community suggestions for ways to bond a Play:1 with a Sonos One, mentioned in this thread, but they aren't officially recommended. They may work for what you're looking for, but the setup could potentially be unstable.

Thanks again everyone for sharing, and we'll make sure the team knows this is still something you'd like to see happen, but there aren't any plans to share on bonding a Play:1 and Sonos One as a pair.


This is preventing me from purchasing a Sonos One as its not compatible with my Play One for stereo pair.