Just recently Sonos announced a joint partnership with Amazon which has manifested into the “Sonos One”. This is BIG news for Audio, Smart Home and other Home Automation systems and purchasing a Sonos1 is a must do recommendation for all our readers. In case you have not seen the press release, a Sonos 1 is essentially the existing Sonos Play1 rebuilt to house the guts of an Amazon Echo Dot inside. They have added a a 6 microphone array on the top of the speaker along with a Quad-core processor to beef up the smarts of the speaker. Other features included a new “swipe” gesture on the top of the speaker to skip to the next track as well as a manual power toggle on the microphone array when you would rather keep your conversation private. Now for the really cool part…
VOICE CONTROL OF YOUR MULTI-ROOM AUDIO SYSTEM
When you add a Sonos One to a new or existing Sonos sound system, you have the ability to control the entire Amazon Music Services catalog (i.e Pandora, iHeart, Tune-in) via your voice in any room. Thus you can say thing like “Alexa, Play Depeche Mode Radio in the Kitchen” or “Alexa, Play Chill Out Music in the Master Bedroom.” And guess what, this includes any room you have a Sonos Playbar in, or even a Sonos 5.1 Home Theater setup. You can also pair a Sonos One with another Sonos One to create a stereo zone just like you could with the Play1 or even use the Sonos One as surround speakers with a Playbar in a 5.1 surround sound configuration. What about if you have multiple Sonos One’s in a home? Are they all going to answer your voice requests? Well just like the Amazon Alexa, only the closest Sonos One will respond to you so you can make sure your voice commands are received clearly. And if we just can’t convince you to purchase the Sonos One at the exact same price as the Play1, Sonos also released an Alexa skill so you can take your existing Sonos speaker and integrate with than an Echo Dot, Echo or any other Alexa enabled product.
NEW LEVEL OF CONTROL FOR DIY SMART HOME AUTOMATION
If voice control of your existing multi-room audio wasn’t enough, the Sonos One offers a lot more. As it is a fully functioning Echo product powered by Amazon’s Alexa, it can also control any Alexa enabled product. “Alexa turn off my lights” or “Alexa, ask Alarm.com to arm my security panel” are just a couple of the hundreds of commands you can give to your Lights, Security System, Sprinklers, Ceiling Fans and other Smart Home products while you are not listening to music on the Sonos One. Additionally, if you have had Alexa enabled products for some time now, you know that Amazon continues to add more and more Smart Home devices to control as part of its Eco-system. So for the same price you already paid for your Play1, you get a product that just gets better and better with time
PROFESSIONALLY INSTALLED HOME AUTOMATION BENEFITS AS WELL
Have a Control4, RTI or similar Home Automation system in your home? If so, you probably already know that Sonos is an easy way to add music to that zone you just didn’t get to when designing the audio side of your Home Automation system and control it just like the rest of your built-in audio zones. Well, now you can add a Sonos One to that same system and program completely custom voice commands that those DIY system users can’t quite do. “Alexa, I am home” can call a light scene, turn on the jacuzzi, turn on Fox Sports on your Front Projection System, and turn on the Air Conditioner all automatically as just one example. With a Professionally installed Home Automation system and custom command creation from Amazon’s Alexa, your possibilities are really unlimited.
WE SAVE THE BEST FOR LAST
So we save the best part for last. When Sonos re-designed the Play 1 to become the Sonos One, they created a platform for Voice control rather than an Amazon Alexa specific device. That means they can support other voice control as well. And, as luck would have it, Google Assistant voice control is coming in 2018. So, if you can’t decide between these two voice platforms, get a Sonos One and you can use whichever voice platform you prefer.
Waiting to make your voice control purchase until Apple releases it’s HomePod? Well guess what, the Sonos One will support Airplay2 in 2018, meaning that you can ask Siri via your phone to play music on the Sonos One. This means that Sonos One will essentially support all 3 major voice platforms– woohoo!!
We hope you have found this information useful. If you have any more specific questions about Sonos or Smart Home Systems, you can reach us at 855-832-4775 of find us on the web at www.technospeakco.com. If you have more general Home Automation or Home Theater needs, please feel free to contact us using the contact information above as well.
And as always remember, at Technospeak, we take the “Techy” out of Technology, leaving our customers with the knowledge they need to enjoy their electronics.
It’s great that the Sonos One can control any Amazon Echo device! We were thinking of getting an Echo for our family for Christmas, and I’d love a speaker system that could go with it. If Sonos has great sound quality and can be used to control the Echo, I think it might be a great option for us.