Lutron's smart home finds a musical match in Sonos
Here's what your smart home looks and sounds like when you combine Lutron, Sonos and Alexa.
- 10 years product testing experience with the CNET Home team
Sonos makes high-end smart speakers capable of whole-home audio. Lutron makes smart shades and switches for whole-home lighting control. Now, the two are teaming up.
Sonos first announced the integration last month, but now, here at the CEDIA 2016 AV tech showcase in Dallas, we're finally getting to see it first hand. And, judging from first impressions, it's pretty compelling stuff.
You can control your Sonos speakers using Lutron's new Pico Audio remote (right).
Here's how it works. Equip your home with Lutron lights and shades plus a set of Sonos speakers, and you'll be able to program scenes that trigger everything all at once. For instance, a "good morning" scene could raise the shades, fade the lights up, and start playing a morning-friendly playlist to start your day.
You can trigger those scenes using one of Lutron's custom keypads, or control the music using Lutron's new music-specific Pico remote. If you've got an Amazon Echo in your home, you can also ask Alexa to run a scene, thanks to new Lutron-friendly scene controls for the voice-activated virtual assistant. That's a tempting workaround for anyone who can't wait for 2017, when Sonos plans on releasing an Alexa skill of its own.
We're already testing out Lutron's Alexa lighting integration in the CNET Smart Home, complete with a full set of smart shades. If we end up adding Sonos in, we'll be sure to tell you all about it -- in the meantime, check out our video from the CEDIA show floor to see it all in action.