6 Little-Known Tricks and Settings to Master Your Sonos Speaker System

Sonos speakers are popular because they deliver solid sound (and good design) at a reasonable price. They’re also really easy to use. But there are still some tips and tricks that could improve your experience. Master these settings and features to get the most from your Sonos system.

1. Regroup your Sonos speakers without the app

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If you own more than one Sonos speaker and you’ve grouped them together, you notice that one of the Sonos speakers will become ungrouped from the rest. The typical fix for this is to just go into the Sonos app and grouping together, but there’s a quicker fix that doesn’t require you opening the app.

Instead, all you need to do is go over to the speaker that’s not playing, press and hold down the Play/Pause button on the speaker for three seconds, it’ll automatically regroup with other Sonos speakers that are playing audio.

This trick will only work if your other Sonos speakers are playing something. If you have multiple different groups of Sonos speakers, just keep holding the Play/Pause button and it’ll cycle between the audio of the different speaker groups; remove your finger when it gets to the correct audio.

All Sonos speakers have a Play/Pause button, so this little technique will work with all Sonos speakers.

2. Turn your Sonos speaker into an alarm clock

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Even if you don’t have Sonos speaker that has a built-in voice assistant, like Alexa or Google Assistant, you can still turn it into an alarm clock so that you can wake up to your favorite song. Or you can schedule your Sonos speakers to start playing at a certain time, as well as stop playing at a certain time. All you have to do is take advantage of the Alarm feature within the Sonos app.

• Open the Sonos app.
• Select the Settings tab.
• Select System.
• Scroll down and select Alarms.
• Select Add Alarm.

From here you can make a custom alarm that plays on one or more of your Sonos speakers at specific time. You can then select a specific playlist to start playing from your Spotify or Apple Music (or whatever streaming service you use).

3. Adjust the EQ of your Sonos speakers

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One of the best features that Sonos has is TruePlay (and Automatic TruePlay on the Roam), a software that calibrates each Sonos speaker so that it sounds best for the room it is in. Of course, this is Sonos’s interpretation of what sounds best, and you might like something different. Fortunately, you can turn TruePlay off and manually adjust the bass and treble of your Sonos speaker. Here’s how.

• Open the Sonos app.
• Select the Settings tab.
• Select System.
• Select the Sonos speaker.
• Scroll down and select the EQ tab.
• Drag the sliders to make adjustments.

You can turn off TruePlay in this same menu. Open the Sonos app > Room Settings > select the speaker > and turn Trueplay off.

4. Remove the audio delay when connecting to a turntable

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If you have a turntable connected to your Sonos system — via an Era 300, Era 100, Play:5, Five, Port or Amp — you’ve likely noticed that audio doesn’t start playing right when the stylus hits the record, which is super frustrating.

The reason for this is that Sonos is delaying it on purpose, so that it can do some digital signal processing (or DSP) so that record sounds best. However, this audio delay kind of defeats a lot of the joy of analog audio. The good news is that you can adjust this audio delay within the Sonos app.

• Make sure the Line-In connection is set up properly with your Sonos product. (See here.)
• Open the Sonos app > select Settings > and select System.
• Select your speaker or wireless amp with the Line-In connection.
• Scroll down and select Audio Delay > select Low (75ms).

In this menu, there are four different audio delays that you can choose from: Max (2,000 ms), High (150 ms), Medium (113 ms) and Low (75 ms). By default, the Line-In connection of your Sonos speaker or wireless amp is set to Max, which is 2,000 milliseconds or two second; this allows for the most time for the Sonos product to optimize its sound. The Low setting has an audio delay of 75 milliseconds. It’s still a delay, but you can’t really notice it.

5. Use Sonos speakers as computer speakers

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Sonos doesn’t make computer speakers and you probably shouldn’t use them as such. However, if you’re really trying to use a pair of Ones (or Play:1) as computer speakers for your Mac, you can do so by stereo pairing your two speakers (must be the same model of speaker) and then AirPlaying your Mac’s audio to the pair.

Here’s how to stereo pair your Sonos speakers:

• Open the Sonos app.
• Tap the Settings tab (located in the bottom-right corner).
• Select one of the Sonos speakers you want to create a stereo pair.
• Select “Set Up Stereo Pair” and follow the in-app instructions.

Once that’s done you can then AirPlay your Mac’s audio to your speaker pair. Here’s how:

• Select the sound icon located in your Mac’s menu bar.
• Scroll down and select your stereo-paired Sonos speakers.

And boom. It works. That said, the main reason why Sonos speakers don’t make good Mac speakers is that the AirPlay connection will constantly get severed every time your Mac falls asleep or gets turned off, or if you active its smart assistant — by saying “Hey Alexa” or “Hey Sonos.” Reestablishing the AirPlay connection is quick and easy — you just follow the above steps — but it’ll get pretty annoying after awhile.

If you’re looking for a more reliable way to use Sonos as computer speakers, the better option is to get a pair of speakers that have a line-in connection, hardwire one into the computer and then create a stereo pair.

6. Factory reset your Sonos speakers (to connect to a new network)

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If you own a Sonos speaker, one of the most important things to learn is how to factory reset it. Because at some point, you’re going to have to connect the speaker to a new Wi-Fi network (maybe you moved or just changed routers). Or maybe the speaker just stops working correctly. Or maybe you’re looking to sell it. No matter what, knowing how to factory reset it is important and it’s a little different for each Sonos speaker.

If you have one of Sonos’s newest speakers, like the Era 300 or Era 100, the process of factory resetting them is a little different because you’ll need to use their dedicated Bluetooth button.

• Unplug the speaker.
• Press and hold the Bluetooth button while you plug the speaker back into power.
• Keep pressing the button until the speaker’s front light begins flashing orange and white.
• When the light flashes green, the speaker has been reset.

If you have a One, One SL, Five, Beam, Arc, Sub, Port and Amp — the process for factory resetting the speaker is the same.

• Unplug the speaker.
• Press and hold the Connect button located on the back of the speaker. Plug the speaker back into the wall out.
• Continue holding down the Connect button until the speaker’s light starts flashing white and amber.
• When the light starts flashing green, the speaker has been reset.

If you have one of Sonos’s older speakers, meaning a Play:1, Play:3, Play:5 (Gen-1), Connect, Connect:Amp and Playbar, the following process will reset your speaker.

• Unplug the speaker.
• Press and hold the Play/Pause button located on the top of the speaker. Plug the speaker back into the wall out.
• Continue holding down the Play/Pause button until the speaker’s light starts flashing white and amber.
• When the light starts flashing green, the speaker has been reset.

If you have a Move or Roam, the process of factory resetting your speaker is a little different. Read our guide by clicking the link below to learn more.

Read More

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  The Affordable Way to Play Vinyl on Your Sonos System
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  Sonos One vs Sonos Era 100: Should You Upgrade?
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  The Best Accessories to Trick Out Your Sonos System

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