controllerx: Multiple Sonos speakers (group) can't be fully controlled without multiple ControllerX apps

Use of Sonos SINGLE speaker works with current beta without need for any ‘tweaks’ 👍😊

But as Sonos group behaviour is somewhat unique, control of grouped speakers will only work with use of extra controllers (apps)

Volume control of Sonos speakers is individual - EVEN if grouped ! So changing one grouped speakers volume, won’t change volume for remaining speakers in group. A manual created Sonos speakers group in HA can overcome this issue. But then ControllerX app has no way of reading a source_list and hence can’t change in between these with left/right_arrow_hold key.

A source_list (Favourites. Could be playlists, radio stations, podcasts etc.) is present for each single entity in HA. First entry in this list is always the ‘master’ speaker, followed by the ‘slave’ speakers. This list is dynamic and will update if changes are made in Sonos app or throught HA’s Sonos integration (join/unjoin service calls). If no group is active (all single speakers) then source_list will contain the individual speakers entity only. If group contains two speakers out of three, then the speaker not grouped will still contain own entity in source_list.

Change to new source from source_list on one grouped speaker, will affect ALL grouped speakers. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the ‘master’ or any ‘slave’ speakers that the change has been made on.

So this sums up to:

• ControllerX needs to know a speaker entity in order to read the source_list. So if single Sonos entity is used as media_player in eg. class E1810MediaPlayerController, then source_list can be changed. But volume changes will ONLY affect that single speaker and NOT the whole group.

• If HA Sonos group is used instead, then volume will be applied to all speakers in group. But ControllerX can’t change inbetween entries in source_list, as list is not exposed through the manual HA Sonos group. One downside of this is also if speakers in group are changed, then volume changes will still be applied to the ‘original’ static HA Sonos group. This could be solved in HA though, as changes to groups can be made via group service calls.

For now I’ve overcome this issue, by separating the source_list changes (left/right clicks in my setup) from a MediaPlayerController to a CustomMediaPlayerController (see below). This way I can (through MediaPlayerController) control volume for whole group (group is still a ‘static’ HA group) and use pause/play. Flipping back/forth in source_list is handled by the CustomMediaPlayerController.

Wish:

• Solution to fully control grouped Sonos speakers with MediaPlayerController class, without the need for extra apps.
• Applying dynamic handling of Sonos groups in MediaPlayerController.
• Generic solution that would work for other grouped speakers that are integrated in HA ?

Pheeww, hopefully the above description makes sence ?? 😉

Additional information

Devices involved: Model: IKEA E1810 as MediaPlayerController Integration: z2m AppDaemon version: v4.0.1 ControllerX version: v2.3.0b6 HACS version: v0.21.5 Home Assistant Core version: v0.105.3

AppDaemon app configuration

sonos_media:
  module: controllerx
  class: E1810MediaPlayerController
  controller: sensor.0x90fd9ffffe0cbd69_action
  integration: z2m
  volume_steps: 20
  media_player: group.sonos_all
  actions:
    - toggle
    - brightness_up_click
    - brightness_down_click
  #  - arrow_left_click
  #  - arrow_right_click
  #  - arrow_left_hold
  #  - arrow_right_hold
    - brightness_up_hold
    - brightness_up_release
    - brightness_down_hold
    - brightness_down_release

sonos_source:
  module: controllerx
  class: CustomMediaPlayerController
  controller: sensor.0x90fd9ffffe0cbd69_action
  integration: z2m
  media_player: media_player.stue
  mapping:
    arrow_left_click: previous_source
    arrow_right_click: next_source