How to Set Up Voice Announcements on Sonos Speakers Using Raspberry Pi

As a home automation expert with years of experience building smart systems, I've seen the frustration many face: devices like Amazon Echo respond brilliantly to voice commands but can't proactively announce messages. That's where Sonos speakers shine, especially when paired with a Raspberry Pi. In this guide, I'll walk you through setting up reliable voice notifications on your Sonos system using proven tools like IFTTT recipes and OpenHAB integrations.

Note: The native Sonos binding for OpenHAB can cause memory leaks due to a faulty UPnP library. Skip it and follow this battle-tested method instead.

This setup works best on a Raspberry Pi running Raspbian (though any Linux server should suffice). I'm using a Pi also hosting OpenHAB, our go-to open-source home automation platform. For details, see our Introduction to OpenHAB Home Automation on Raspberry Pi. Assume you have SSH access; learn how in our Setting up your Raspberry Pi for headless use with SSH guide.

What You'll Need

• Raspberry Pi 2 (older models work with minor tweaks)
• At least one Sonos speaker (Sonos-only; other systems unsupported)
• Free VoiceRSS.org account (grab your API key for text-to-speech)

Install Node.js (v5.12)

Check your Node version:

node -v

Version 6 is unsupported. Uninstall it first if present. If no v5.x or errors occur, install as follows (use armv6l for older Pis):

wget https://nodejs.org/download/release/latest-v5.x/node-v5.12.0-linux-armv7l.tar.gz
tar -xvf node-v5.12.0-linux-armv7l.tar.gz
cd node-v5.12.0-linux-armv7l
sudo cp -R * /usr/local/

Verify:

node -v

Install NPM and dependencies:

sudo apt-get install npm
sudo npm install -g npm
sudo npm install -g node-gyp

Sonos HTTP API

This tool runs a local web server for controlling Sonos via simple HTTP calls, perfect for voice announcements.

git clone https://github.com/jishi/node-sonos-http-api.git sonos
cd sonos
npm install --production
npm start

Missing modules? Run npm install [module] and retry. C++11 errors? Fix with:

sudo apt-get install gcc-4.8 g++-4.8
sudo update-alternative --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-4.6 20
sudo update-alternative --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-4.8 50
sudo update-alternative --install /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-4.6 20
sudo update-alternative --install /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-4.8 50

Success looks like:

API format: https://[SERVER_IP]:5005/[ROOM]/[ACTION]
Example: https://192.168.1.99:5005/kitchen/playlist/chillout

For announcements: https://192.168.1.99:5005/kitchen/say/make%20use%20of%20is%20awesome/en-gb

First try prompts for VoiceRSS key. Edit nano settings.json and add:

"voicerss": "YOURAPIKEY"

(CTRL+X, Y to save.) Restart and test. Use en-us for US English.

Auto-start on boot: sudo nano /etc/rc.local, add before exit 0:

node /home/pi/sonos/server.js </dev/null &

Now ping URLs from anywhere on your LAN for instant announcements.

OpenHAB Motion Notifications

Example: Announce garden motion.

rule "Motion detected in garden"
when
    Item Garden_Motion changed
then
    var String message = "You have a visitor"
    sendHttpGetRequest("https://localhost:5005/kitchen/say/" + message.encode("UTF-8") + "/en-gb")
end

Integrate into any rule effortlessly.

Daily Weather Report: IFTTT to OpenHAB to Sonos

Enable My.OpenHAB for secure external access (setup in our OpenHAB guide).

Create OpenHAB string item Todays_Weather. Initialize: https://raspberrypi.local:8080/CMD?Todays_Weather=Sunny (adjust host/IP).

Verify in My.OpenHAB Items list.

In IFTTT: Weather trigger (set location/time), My.OpenHAB action updating Todays_Weather.

OpenHAB rule:

rule "Announce daily weather"
when
    Item Todays_Weather received update
then
    sendHttpGetRequest("https://localhost:5005/kitchen/say/" + Todays_Weather.state.toString.encode("UTF-8") + "/en-gb")
end

Test: https://raspberrypi.local:8080/CMD?Todays_Weather="Cloudy with a chance of meatballs."

Direct IFTTT Integration with If-This-Then-Node

For public IFTTT access without OpenHAB: Use dynamic DNS (e.g., DuckDNS or router's). Forward port 80 to Pi's 1337. Reserve Pi's IP.

git clone https://github.com/sebauer/if-this-then-node.git
cd if-this-then-node
npm install
node server.js

Edit config.js, restart.

Test: [DDNS]/ifttn/ shows uptime. Auto-start: Add to /etc/rc.local node /home/pi/if-this-then-node/server.js </dev/null &.

Custom Sonos plugin:

cd plugins
wget https://gist.githubusercontent.com/jamesabruce/4af8db24ba3452b94877/raw/d11c1cff3aa44dbb6a738eeb15202f3db461de75/sonos.js
npm install request

Restart server. Plugin uses /sayall/ for all speakers or target specific.

Test via IFTTT Maker:

URL: [DDNS]/ifttn/, POST JSON:

{
  "action": "sonos",
  "user": "YOURUSER",
  "pw": "YOURPASSWORD",
  "message": "Dinner is ready!"
}

Expect log scans; normal internet noise.

Next Steps

With 350 daily VoiceRSS requests (~1 every 4 mins), unleash endless announcements. Share your recipes in comments!