Sonos and Crestron Home Integration

A Sonos system can have more than one Sonos household available. A Sonos household is a collection of grouped Sonos devices. Sonos devices that are part of the same household can be grouped together and share a Favorites list.

The Sonos app shows the devices for only one household. When the Sonos app is first launched, the app asks the user to add one Sonos device to the same subnet as the controller (the device that is running the Sonos app). Once the controller is synced with the Sonos device, the Sonos household that includes the device becomes the default household for the controller.

To add a Sonos device in the Sonos app, select Manage > Add a player or sub.

To move a device to a new household, select Help > Reset Controller to remove the Sonos device and then add the Sonos device to the desired household in the system.

When configuring the Sonos system, remember the following:

• The Crestron Home system allows Sonos devices from one Sonos household to be added to the system.

• All discovered Sonos devices are listed in the unassigned devices list, regardless of their Sonos household.

  Pair Devices Screen ‑ Sonos (Devices from Multiple Households Shown)

  

• Once a device from a Sonos household is added to the system, Sonos devices that are in other Sonos households cannot be added. A warning icon is displayed next to the Sonos devices that cannot be added to the Crestron Home system.

  Pair Devices Screen ‑ Sonos (Living Room 1 Added)

  

Sonos Troubleshooting

The following sections describe troubleshooting procedures for some of the common issues that may occur when adding Sonos devices to the Crestron Home system.

Multiple Sonos Households Found

This issue occurs when multiple Sonos households are discovered by the Crestron Home system.

Issue(s)

• Not all discovered Sonos devices may be added to the Crestron Home system.
• A Sonos device is reporting as offline after it is moved to a different Sonos household.

Explanation

Devices from different Sonos households have been discovered on the network. The Crestron Home system provides a notification of this issue on the Diagnostics screen.

Diagnostics Screen ‑ Multiple Sonos Households Found

Tap Sonos System in the Gateways in System screen, and then the gear icon next to the gateway to view the Sonos System Settings page. A "Multiple Households found" status is indicated for Discovery Result.

Sonos System Settings Screen ‑ Multiple Sonos Households Found

Solution

1. Tap the Devices tab on the Sonos System Settings page.
2. Scroll through the list of devices to determine which devices belong to different Sonos households.

Sonos System Settings Screen ‑ Devices Tab



3. Reconfigure devices in the Sonos app so that they are added to the Sonos household that is assigned to the Crestron Home system.

Desired Household Not Found

This issue occurs when the desired Sonos household cannot be discovered by the Crestron Home system.

Issue(s)

• The Sonos discovery scan found Sonos devices, but all Sonos devices in the Crestron Home system report as offline.
• All Sonos devices in the Sonos household were reset to factory default settings.

Explanation

When the first Sonos device is added to the Crestron Home system, the Sonos household that the device belongs to is saved in the system configuration files. The Sonos System in Crestron Home reports as online only when a connection is established with one of the devices that is part of the saved Sonos household. The Crestron Home system provides a notification of this issue on the Diagnostics screen.

Diagnostics Screen ‑ Desired Household Not Found

Tap Sonos System in the Gateways in System screen, and then the gear icon next to the gateway to view the Sonos System Settings page. A "Household Not Found" status is indicated for Discovery State.

Sonos System Settings Screen ‑ Multiple Sonos Households Found

Solution

1. Open the Sonos app.
2. To verify that the devices that are assigned in the Crestron Home system are online, test to see if the devices can be controlled via the app.

NOTE: Always close the Sonos app before verifying that a Sonos device is online.

3. If the device can be controlled, start a Sonos discovery scan on the Pair Devices screen to discover the device.

No Devices Found

This issue occurs when no Sonos devices are discovered by the Crestron Home system.

Issue(s)

No Sonos devices were found during the Sonos discovery scan.

Explanation

When a Sonos discovery is initiated, a two‑stage discovery process begins. In the first stage, a multicast message is sent out on the network. The Crestron Home system gives Sonos devices 30 seconds to respond. If at least one device responds during this interval, discovery is stopped. On the Sonos System Settings screen, a "Multicast Success" message is displayed.

If no devices are discovered during the first stage, a second multicast message is sent out on the network. If no Sonos devices respond within 30 seconds, a "No Devices Found" error is raised. The Crestron Home system provides a notification of this issue on the Diagnostics screen.

Diagnostics Screen ‑ No Devices Found

Tap the gear icon next to the Sonos System gateway to view the Sonos System Settings page with the About tab open by default. A "Household Not Found" status is indicated for System Connection Failure Reason.

Sonos System Settings Screen ‑ No Devices Found

Solution

1. Connect a PC that is wired to the same network switch as the Crestron Home processor.
2. Open the Sonos app on the PC.
3. Verify that the Sonos devices are listed in the Sonos app.
4. If no devices are listed, the Sonos household must be reconfigured until the Sonos devices are discovered. For more information, refer to the Sonos support pages at support.sonos.com.

No Online Devices Found

This issue occurs when the discovered Sonos devices do not report as online.

Issue(s)

The Crestron Home system was able to discover Sonos devices but is unable connect to any of the devices for setup.

Explanation

After a successful Sonos discovery scan, the Crestron Home system selects one of the Sonos devices as the primary device. The system then connects to the device and subscribes for the Favorites event (used to retrieve and update the Favorites list) and the Group Configuration event (used to retrieve and update the group and player configuration).

If one of these three processes fails, the Crestron Home system assumes that the device is offline and moves to the next Sonos device that was discovered. If one of these three processes fails for all discovered Sonos devices, the Sonos system cannot be created, and a "No Online Devices Found" error is raised. The Crestron Home system provides a notification of this issue on the Diagnostics screen.

Diagnostics Screen ‑ No Online Devices Found

Tap the gear icon next to the Sonos System gateway to view the Sonos System Settings page with the About tab open by default. A "No Online Devices Found" status is indicated for System Connection Failure Reason.

Sonos System Settings Screen ‑ No Devices Found

Solution

Depending on the issue, multiple solutions may be attempted:

• In the Sonos app, ungroup all devices, and then start a new Sonos discovery scan.
• Remove all Sonos devices in the Crestron Home system, and then add one new device to the system.
• For a "Favorites Event Subscription Timeout" or "Favorites Event Subscription Failed" message, select the Subscriptions tab in the Sonos System Settings page, and then press the Refresh button for the Favorites event.
• For a "Group Configuration Event Subscription Timeout" or "Group Configuration Event Subscription Failed" message, select the Subscriptions tab in the Sonos System Settings page, and then press the Refresh button for the Group Configuration event.

If the above solutions do not fix the issue:

• Power cycle the Sonos devices, and wait until they are discovered in the Sonos app.

NOTE: Close the Sonos app after powering down a Sonos device.

• Power cycle the Crestron Home processor.

Speaker Pairs

In the Sonos app, it is possible to pair two PLAY:1, PLAY:3, PLAY:5, or CONNECT:AMP speaker devices. When two of these speakers are paired, both speakers act as a single Sonos device in the Sonos app.

When a speaker pair is created in the Sonos app, the user is asked to assign one of the paired speakers as the left speaker. The speaker assigned as the left speaker becomes the master, and from that point forward, is used to represent both speakers in the pair.

The speaker pair is named after the speaker that was used to start the speaker pair configuration. If this speaker is not chosen as the left (master) speaker, the left speaker is renamed automatically.

In the following images, "Speaker1" in the Dining Room and "Speaker2" in the Entrance will be used to create a speaker pair.

Pair Devices Screen ‑ Sonos (Speaker1)

Pair Devices Screen ‑ Sonos (Speaker2)

To select Speaker1 as the left (master) speaker:

1. Open the Sonos app.
2. Select Speaker1, and then select Settings > Create Speaker Pair.
3. Create a pair between Speaker1 and Speaker2 by following the in‑app instructions.
4. Assign Speaker1 as the left speaker.

Speaker2 is hidden, and the resulting speaker pair is named Speaker1. The Crestron Home system will be able to discover only Speaker1. If Speaker2 was assigned in the Crestron Home system, it will report as offline, and a pop‑up dialog is displayed stating that Speaker2 was added as a satellite device to Speaker1.

Pair Devices Screen ‑ Sonos (Speaker2 Offline)

To select Speaker2 as the left (master) speaker:

1. Open the Sonos app.
2. Select Speaker1, and then select Settings > Create Speaker Pair.
3. Create a pair between Speaker1 and Speaker2 by following the in‑app instructions.
4. Assign Speaker2 as the left speaker.

Speaker1 is hidden, and the resulting speaker pair is named Speaker1. The Crestron Home system will be able to discover only Speaker2 (renamed to Speaker1). If Speaker1 was assigned in Crestron Home system, it will report as offline, and a pop‑up dialog is displayed stating that Speaker1 was added as a satellite device to Speaker2.

Pair Devices Screen ‑ Sonos (Speaker1 Pair)

Surround Speakers

In the Sonos app, it is possible to assign two PLAY:1, PLAY:3, or PLAY:5 speaker devices as surround speakers for a Beam, PLAYBAR, or PLAYBASE device.

The two speakers that are selected as surround speakers are hidden in the Sonos app and may no longer be controlled.

If any of the surround speakers were assigned in the Crestron Home system, a pop‑up dialog is displayed stating the Sonos device was added as a satellite device to the Beam, PLAYBAR, or PLAYBASE device.

Pair Devices Screen ‑ Sonos (Speaker1 Offline)

Line‑Out Configuration

For a Sonos CONNECT device, the line‑out settings may be set as Variable or Fixed:

• Variable: The volume level of the line‑out output may be controlled.
• Fixed: The volume level of the line‑out output is set to 100% and may not be controlled.

Depending on the device type that was chosen when assigning a Sonos device in the Crestron Home system, observe the following points:

• Source
• A source device type is used for a CONNECT device that is connected as an input to an audio receiver.
• The line‑out setting for source devices should always be set to Fixed, as the audio receiver is used for volume control.
• A notification is displayed if the line‑out setting for a CONNECT device with a source device type was set to Variable.
• Speaker
• A speaker device type is added to a room in the Crestron Home system as an audio endpoint.
• The line‑out setting for speaker devices should always be set to Variable, as the Sonos device is used for volume control.
• A notification is displayed if the line‑out setting for a CONNECT device with a speaker device type was set to Fixed.

Best Practices

Refer to the following best practices when integrating Sonos devices with the Crestron Home system.

• When adding a Sonos device to an existing Sonos household, the device must be reset to factory settings to ensure that it begins using the system ID assigned to the existing Sonos system.
• Multiple Sonos households cannot be placed on the same network. Each Sonos household has a unique system ID, and Crestron Home system only allows Sonos devices to be assigned that are part of the Sonos household stored in the Crestron Home system configuration files.
• Set up the Sonos device(s) through the Sonos app before attempting a discovery with Crestron Home. If the Sonos device is not assigned to a room in the Sonos app, it cannot be discovered by Crestron Home.
• To rename a Sonos device in Crestron Home, change the name of the Sonos room that the device is assigned to using the Sonos app. The device name automatically updates in the Crestron Home system.
• Do not group Sonos devices together in the Sonos app, as this can lead to Crestron Home only being able to control one Sonos device instead of all of them individually.
• Crestron Homeuses multicast to discover Sonos devices. Some network switches do not route these discovery packets correctly, and, as a result, Crestron Home does not discover any Sonos devices.
• The Autoplay option must be turned on in the Sonos app when adding a PLAY:5, CONNECT:AMP, Beam, PLAYBAR, or PLAYBASE.