Google home

[wjwren]

Looking at Harmon Kardon smart speaker for kitchen. I was thinking of putting 3 in the kitchen which all link together using google home. If i buy a sound bar from a different manufacture but its google home compatible, can I then play spotify through all the speakers ?

[wjwren]

Also are google home and google assistant the same thing as some speakers say google assistant compatible.

[AJB88]

Yeh if they work with Google Home! In the Google Home app you will have them listed as different speakers ie Speaker 1,2,3.

You can set up a group "home" with Speaker 1,2,3 in it then play Spotify to home group.

I do it with 5x Google Mini, 1x Google Screen around the house when nobody else is home.

[Gren]

AJB88 said:

Yeh if they work with Google Home! In the Google Home app you will have them listed as different speakers ie Speaker 1,2,3.

You can set up a group "home" with Speaker 1,2,3 in it then play Spotify to home group.

I do it with 5x Google Mini, 1x Google Screen around the house when nobody else is home.

The new version of the Home app (got it yesterday) means you don't even have to group them any more. Hit the media button and the choose which speakers you want to play on. Got a few minis, hub max, a Sony lf-s50g speaker, a Raumfeld streamer box and a Sony Android TV. Works well across them all.

[AJB88]

Ohh need to have a look at that, that would be so much better.

[wjwren]

So just to clarify, what do i need to look at on the spec of the speakers. Is it if it has Google Assistant?

[Gren]

Yes. Assistant is the smart stuff baked into the speaker. Home is Google's word for its own speakers/app/ecosystem

[JimbobVFR]

wjwren said:

So just to clarify, what do i need to look at on the spec of the speakers. Is it if it has Google Assistant?

Assistant means you can talk to it.

You can also get speakers and devices that support Chromecast and can be used for music playback, be added to a group etc etc.

[paulrockliffe]

JimbobVFR said:

wjwren said:

So just to clarify, what do i need to look at on the spec of the speakers. Is it if it has Google Assistant?

Assistant means you can talk to it.

You can also get speakers and devices that support Chromecast and can be used for music playback, be added to a group etc etc.

You can also speak to your phone or another device and have it control a Google Home device, so the definition is slightly narrower - it means it has it's own microphone.

Just looked at the new version of the Home App, that adhoc groups is a good step forward. I don't use Home to play my media directly but I've just tested what happens if I cant to a Group in Youtube Music (which doesn't have adhoc built in) Home shows it as playing to three devices, rather than the Group so you can dip in and do adhoc groups still. Neat. I suspect adhoc will be added into the music apps directly soon.

[jfdi]

Don't call your group of speakers something that might confuse Google. The amount of times I get random house music playing on the google device i'm talking to rather than the music I asked for playing on "House Hifi"