This skill is recommended for all Alexa integrations.  The Russound Smart Home skill is based on Amazon’s Smart Home skill and provides the easiest level of voice control of Russound products.  The commands that are available are such common items such as:

• Alexa, play some music in the Den
• Alexa, pause the Den
• Alexa, turn the Kitchen on
• Alexa, turn up the volume in the Living Room

Additional Links

Russound Control Skill

Frequently Asked Questions 

Voice Control Tips and Tricks

Tip #1 Room Naming

When using a voice control device, it is absolutely critical that Alexa (or any voice control system) understands which device it is trying to control.  Russound devices are organized as “rooms/zones” and that is how Alexa sends instructions to them.  If Alexa doesn’t know which room you are trying to control, it cannot process the command properly.

Therefore, configuring a home’s room names that are uniquely identifiable by a voice command will make the system much more reliable, easier to use, and more enjoyable to a user.

For example, if you have rooms that are called: Living Room, Kate’s Room, Jane’s Room, Billy’s Room, Patio, Kitchen, all of the room names sound very distinct and should be easy for Alexa to recognize and understand.    Short, non-standard, or unusual room names are likely to not work properly and to result in a poor user experience because Alexa (or any voice control system) will have a difficult time understanding them.  For example, it would be a bad idea to name rooms “A”, “B”, “C”, ”D”, and “E”.  It would also be a bad idea to name two or more rooms in the same home with a similar sounding name.  “Danny’s Room” and “Dani’s Room” would never work well in a voice controlled system.

Another important consideration is for how many other Smart Home devices are going to be voice controlled.  Lighting control is frequently available with voice control options today.  If a home is going to have both lighting and audio controlled by voice, careful consideration must be made for how the audio devices will be named AND how the lighting devices will be named.   If lights in a room are grouped together, we recommend calling them something like “Living Room Lights” rather than just “Living Room”.  If your lighting system has a group called “Living Room” and your audio system has a room called “Living Room”, Alexa will not know if you are trying to control your lights or your audio with most smart home skill commands. 

Tip #2 Use Natural Language

Voice control systems are constantly evolving to recognize the use of natural language rather than using simple, fixed commands.  For example, early voice control systems would use simple commands like “volume up” or “volume down”.  More natural commands are things like “turn the volume up”.  Voice systems are learning that words like “change”, “set”, “turn”, “make” etc. don’t affect the intent of the command and all mean the same thing.  You can actually say any of these commands and they would all work:

• “Alexa, turn the volume up in the Den”
• “Alexa, set the volume up in the Den”
• “Alexa, make the volume up in the Den”
• “Alexa, change the volume up in the Den”

The only one of these that is most likely to be said naturally is “Alexa, turn the volume up” but voice systems are learning to interpret all of the other words they hear and identify the intended command.  

It’s the same when describing a room.  Describing rooms in English can use different prepositions or not use prepositions at all.

For example, you’d say:

• Play some music in the bedroom
• Play some music on the patio
• Play some music upstairs [No preposition]
• Play some music at the hot tub

Natural language will interpret the “in”, “on”, “at”, etc. appropriately.   You don't have to use robotic sounding commands and should be able to ask Alexa to control your Russound system with the same words you would normally be expected to use in everyday life.

Tip #3 Don’t rely entirely on voice control

While voice control is a rapidly developing field and is constantly improving, it has not reached a point where complete, reliable control can be achieved in any home.  For convenient control, Russound recommends the installation of in-room keypads or touchscreens in every system so that an always available, dedicated control is always available.

Imagine a situation where a user mistakenly sets the volume level of their audio system to the maximum level, or even just sets it so high that every Alexa device is now saturated with ambient noise and can’t hear any more commands.  How would you quickly turn down the disturbing sound level?  With voice control alone, you would not be able to do so.  Having access to a keypad, touchscreen, remote control, or phone/tablet app would be the only way to solve the problem quickly. 

Tip #4 Use Russound favorites for easy voice access to your music

Russound has a very robust favorite system for accessing your most frequently played items.  Up to 32 unique favorites can be set up on voice control-enabled Russound devices.  As with room naming, it is critical that unique names be set up for each Russound favorite if you’d like to use them reliably with voice control commands.  The most reliable method is to use an artist’s name or a genre.

Additional Links

Russound Smart Home Skill

Russound Control Skill

Frequently Asked Questions 

Can I enable Amazon Alexa support on my legacy MCA-C3 or MCA-C5 system?

Unfortunately, the MCA-C3 and MCA-C5 do not have the processing power to properly support voice control. 

How many zones are supported with voice control with Amazon Alexa?

Currently, only the zones of a master controller (Zones 1 through 6 on an MCA-66, and Zones 1 through 8 on an MCA-88/88X) are supported for voice control with our standard firmware.  For installers who wish to enable voice control to up to 36 zones on an MCA-66 system or up to 48 zones on an MCA-88 or MCA-88X system, please go to the Russound Portal site and login with your Russound Certified Installer credentials to download special firmware files from the Russound Certified Installer section of the Russound Portal.

Can I use Alexa for multiple Russound systems on the same Amazon account, like one for my home and one for my office?

Yes, you can use Alexa for multiple Russound systems while using the same Amazon account, with the limitation being that you would be able to control the audio of both your home and office from any Alexa device on the same account.  You could turn up the volume too loud at your home (or vice versa at your office) and because you aren’t located in the same building, that might adversely affect other people at that location.   Also, if you said “Alexa, ask Russound to turn all rooms on”, it would turn on all rooms at both locations.  The same would happen with the “turn off” command.  If you are leaving your office and say “Alexa, ask Russound to turn all rooms off”, it would also turn off the rooms at your house.  To avoid issues like this, we recommend using a separate Amazon account for each location where you have Russound audio systems.

How do I change my source from TuneIn to SiriusXM with voice commands?

Alexa allows you to change physical sources, from Source 1 to Source 2, etc.  Streaming services are typically using the same source, such as a Russound MBX-AMP or MBX-PRE.  It’s therefore not possible to use a voice command to change the source because it would be the same source in use for both SiriusXM and TuneIn.  The easy solution is to use Russound’s Favorites system.  Simply create a favorite for your preferred SiriusXM channel and another favorite for your preferred TuneIn station and then use the command “Alexa, ask Russound to play Favorite “XX” in the Living Room”.

I’m in Canada and I’ve been using Alexa. I’m being asked by the Alexa app to change my language settings.  What should I do?

Some of our Canadian customers who used Alexa before its official Canadian release have reported that their Alexa app is asking them to do this.  Alexa supports three English language variations (US, UK, and CA).  The Russound/Alexa integration works with all three variations.  We recommend that all of our Canadian customers choose English (CA) as their selected language for their Amazon Alexa devices.

Is there support for languages other than English? 

The Russound/Alexa integration only supports English language voice commands and requires that the Alexa device be configured for an English language.

Additional Links

Russound Smart Home Skill

Russound Control Skill

Voice Control Tips and Tricks

Voice control with Amazon Alexa is available for the following Russound products:

Alexa is the latest addition to the many different control options available for Russound audio systems, adding to our in-wall keypads and touchscreens and supplementing the versatile MyRussound app for iOS and Android.  

Please contact your Russound Certified Installer to add voice control with Amazon Alexa to your Russound system.  

Available Commands

• Volume Control (Turn Volume Up, Down, Mute, or set a specific volume level directly)

• Zone On/Off

• Play/Pause Music

• Next/Previous Track

• Play a Favorite

• Turn Shuffle On/Off

• Turn Repeat On/Off

• Select Source Inputs

• Adjust audio settings (bass, treble, loudness)

• Like/Dislike a song (For compatible streaming sources)

 Once the Alexa integration has been configured, all you have to do is download the following skills on your Alexa app:

• Russound Smart Home Skill
• Russound Control Skill

Additional Links

Russound Smart Home Skill

Russound Control Skill

Frequently Asked Questions 

Voice Control Tips and Tricks