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HEOS Now Works with Amazon Alexa: Here’s What You Need to Know

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Ellen Parker
HEOS Now Works with Amazon Alexa: Here’s What You Need to Know

Listen up everyone, there’s important news to disseminate: Denon announced last year that it was planning to add voice commands to its HEOS multi-room audio system via Amazon’s Alexa:

“Amazon shares with Denon a passion for innovation and design…We are excited to collaborate with them to bring hands-free voice control to premium audio products early next year. Soon HEOS and Amazon Alexa customers will be able to enjoy the convenience of the Alexa voice service plus high-quality home audio—getting us one step closer to our goal of enabling Alexa voice control on every device within customer’s homes.” - Steve Rabuchin, Amazon’s VP of Amazon Alexa

Well, that dream has now become a reality. That’s right, HEOS by Denon devices can now be controlled with the silky tones produced by your voice. 

From a Wireless Speaker to Voice Commands: The Journey

How did Denon arrive at integrating with Amazon Alexa? Through a journey that began in 2014:

  • Denon first launched the HEOS brand, its wireless speaker platform, in 2014
  • HEOS multi-room audio technology was integrated with Denon receivers in 2016
  • The journey is now complete as Denon integrated Amazon Alexa voice commands into HEOS speakers and some other audio systems in 2017

And now that we’re in 2018, HEOS users can use voice commands to do whatever they want — play music, ask questions and receive answers, get news updates, and more. Interested? Let’s take a look at how you can join the fun.

How It All Works

So, how does it all work? How can you use Amazon Alexa’s voice commands with your HEOS devices? Pretty simple, actually. As illustrated in this video, this is what you have to do:

  1. Open the HEOS app and click on the ‘Home’ icon on the lower left part of the screen
  2. Choose the HEOS device you want to connect with Alexa
  3. Choose a name from the dropdown menu so that Alexa can know which device you’re referring to (e.g., Living Room, Bedroom, etc.)
  4. Open the Amazon Alexa app and go to the skills menu
  5. Search for HEOS and click on the ‘HEOS Home Entertainment’ skill to enable it
  6. Sign in with your HEOS account and say “Alexa, discover my devices” to connect
  7. DONE

Easy, yes?

What You Can Do with the Integration

There’s a lot you can do with the HEOS-Alexa integration. For example, you can search for any artist, album or song, search for your favorite podcasts and Internet radio stations, control music as you stream it, and a whole plethora of other cool things. On the subject, take a look at a couple of voice commands you’ll be able to use:

  • Alexa, play The Beatles on Dining Room
  • Alexa, play the latest episode of This American Life on Living Room
  • Alexa, play WNYC from TuneIn on Kitchen
  • Alexa, play the album Nevermind by Nirvana on Bedroom
  • Alexa, turn down the volume on Dining Room
  • Alexa, resume on Bedroom
  • Alexa, next on Bedroom
  • Alexa, previous on Bedroom
  • Alexa, start over on Bedroom
  • Alexa, pause on Bedroom
  • Alexa, stop on the Bedroom
  • Alexa, mute on Kitchen
  • Alexa, unmute on Kitchen

As you can see, the music world is your oyster and you’ll be able to listen to whatever you want without moving a finger. 

Final Thoughts

It’s almost 2020 and we’re moving closer and closer into the future, both literally and figuratively. Our devices are become smarter, IoT is gradually integrating itself into every recess in our lives, and we’re here to appreciate all of it. Going back to HEOS and Amazon Alexa, feel free to visit this page for more setup instructions and general information. Enjoy!

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Ellen Parker
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