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gw0gvq

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 30, 2012
1,194
65
Barry, South Wales, UK
If two HomePods are linked together as stereo, will they balance out automatically and does one HomePod automatically alter the volume of the other homed that's linked?
 

Jar Jar Abrams

macrumors member
Feb 4, 2018
77
47
Yes they are balanced and one will alter the volume of both when linked in stereo and they sound great, i sold 4x Sonos Play 5 and relaced with 4x homepods and couldn’t be happier.
 
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gw0gvq

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 30, 2012
1,194
65
Barry, South Wales, UK
That's ok only just bought 2 and linked them but the answer to my questions from Siri always only seems to come out the right-hand speaker and there aren't much instructions with them as you saw withyours
 

gw0gvq

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 30, 2012
1,194
65
Barry, South Wales, UK
I see the speakers are both balanced in what comes out of Apple TV are they or are they still separate audio from Apple TV? if you know what I mean. Sorry if Im confusing you.
 

weeesss

macrumors 6502
Oct 24, 2017
349
187
This is convincing me to buy another Homepod during black Friday and do the same setup. Been wanting to do this for a while. My only hesitation is that I have read that the AppleTV may lose the Homepods as default output.
 

BODYBUILDERPAUL

Suspended
Feb 9, 2009
1,773
1,438
Barcelona
This is convincing me to buy another Homepod during black Friday and do the same setup. Been wanting to do this for a while. My only hesitation is that I have read that the AppleTV may lose the Homepods as default output.

It looks as though there could be a future for the HomePod with Dolby Atmos etc. Apple is finally taking Atmos seriously, incorporating it now in Catalina and the latest iPhones etc.

Let's see where Apple goes with this.
 

Pimmp

macrumors regular
May 13, 2018
121
94
Yes they are balanced and one will alter the volume of both when linked in stereo and they sound great, i sold 4x Sonos Play 5 and relaced with 4x homepods and couldn’t be happier.
4x homepods are thoose considered as two pairs? Or could you link all 4 of them?
 

chino-rican

macrumors regular
Sep 21, 2012
222
84
Virginia
This is convincing me to buy another Homepod during black Friday and do the same setup. Been wanting to do this for a while. My only hesitation is that I have read that the AppleTV may lose the Homepods as default output.
Haven't had this issue (yet). Quite the opposite, actually. Selected the HomePod as a second speaker for my Apple TV, and next day when I asked Siri on my HomePod to play some music my Apple TV started jamming as well.
[automerge]1575569643[/automerge]
4x homepods are thoose considered as two pairs? Or could you link all 4 of them?
2 pairs will show up in your Airplay list.
 

mallbritton

macrumors 65816
Nov 26, 2006
1,063
362
My only hesitation is that I have read that the AppleTV may lose the Homepods as default output.

This will happen if you do something else on the HomePods, such as play music from the cloud. For example, if you're watching TV and using the HomePods as the audio output. Then later, if you tell Siri to play a playlist on the HomePod the next time you go to watch TV you'll have to reconnect the Apple TV to the HomePod as the audio output.
 
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cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,154
That's ok only just bought 2 and linked them but the answer to my questions from Siri always only seems to come out the right-hand speaker and there aren't much instructions with them as you saw withyours

I BELIEVE the one with the strongest signal to your router might be prioritized. If you press and hold the top to activate Siri you can switch it. Dont know how long that will last.
 

DeepIn2U

macrumors G5
May 30, 2002
12,826
6,880
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I BELIEVE the one with the strongest signal to your router might be prioritized. If you press and hold the top to activate Siri you can switch it. Dont know how long that will last.

nope.

AppleTV initially will be the HomeKit Hub ... get a HomePod and now the HomePod is the priority hub. Any additional HomePods and only the initial HomePod will remain as the Hub ... the others act as 'satellites' :D

You can see this when your Mac, HomePod, Apple Watch, and iPhone all in the same room will light up when you ask 'Hey Siri +command' ... yet only the HomePod actually responds. This is even more enhanced with HomePod OS 13.x since the privacy will recognize your voice for Personalization (reading iMessages) is enabled yet others will cannot command your personalization.
 

Bgosh

macrumors member
Nov 17, 2016
40
20
Las Vegas
nope.

AppleTV initially will be the HomeKit Hub ... get a HomePod and now the HomePod is the priority hub. Any additional HomePods and only the initial HomePod will remain as the Hub ... the others act as 'satellites' :D

You can see this when your Mac, HomePod, Apple Watch, and iPhone all in the same room will light up when you ask 'Hey Siri +command' ... yet only the HomePod actually responds. This is even more enhanced with HomePod OS 13.x since the privacy will recognize your voice for Personalization (reading iMessages) is enabled yet others will cannot command your personalization.
This isn’t true for my home at all. I have 2 homepods and 2 Apple TV 4ks. The priority HomeKit hub is always the most recent device to be connected to my network. I’ve tested this extensively. Currently, my bedroom Apple TV is my homekit hub, because it was the last device I updated to the recent os. It will stay that way unless a different device (that can act as a homekit hub) gets disconnected/reconnected (through reset, power cycle, update etc). I believe @cynics is right in that prioritization can occur depending on your signal, as mine is fairly equal going to each homekit hub, I only see changes during the situations I outlined and other posters have had their hubs change arbitrarily.

Edit: I may be mucking the discussion. To clarify, I don’t think a devices status as a homekit hub has anything to do with which HomePod responds to queries. The only time I’ve seen a change with which HomePod responds is (again) with a software update or network disconnection. Pressing the top will change it back for me indefinitely.
 
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turbineseaplane

macrumors G5
Mar 19, 2008
14,774
31,529
Anyone have any longer term pro/con analysis on using two homepods in pair for tv speakers with AppleTV?

I’ve got a sound bar situation I’m only moderately pleased with..

I saw that review linked above, but also saw lip sync issues with some content mentioned, but maybe that’s been fixed now that iOS 13 allows for the wireless lip sync calibration thing with an iPhone?

Love to hear more from anyone using this solution day to day over the long term.
 

BODYBUILDERPAUL

Suspended
Feb 9, 2009
1,773
1,438
Barcelona
Anyone have any longer term pro/con analysis on using two homepods in pair for tv speakers with AppleTV?

I’ve got a sound bar situation I’m only moderately pleased with..

I saw that review linked above, but also saw lip sync issues with some content mentioned, but maybe that’s been fixed now that iOS 13 allows for the wireless lip sync calibration thing with an iPhone?

Love to hear more from anyone using this solution day to day over the long term.

Being truly honest, i'd love for Apple to bring out their own beautiful speaker whatever system with Dolby Atmos. I'm not saying soundbar as I know hat whatever Apple releases will be unique and out of the box thinking. Now that the majority of ATV+is in Dolby Atmos along with many new iTunes film releases, it's the perfect time for Apple to look at this. Maybe this would be a larger market than the HomePod which really has not taken off compared to the portable/wearable market like the AirPods which sold 60million pairs in 2019.
I'd like a nice Atmos speaker from Apple - everything out there just doesn't excite or interest me like Apple design with constantly good connectivity does :)
 
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cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,154
nope.

AppleTV initially will be the HomeKit Hub ... get a HomePod and now the HomePod is the priority hub. Any additional HomePods and only the initial HomePod will remain as the Hub ... the others act as 'satellites' :D

You can see this when your Mac, HomePod, Apple Watch, and iPhone all in the same room will light up when you ask 'Hey Siri +command' ... yet only the HomePod actually responds. This is even more enhanced with HomePod OS 13.x since the privacy will recognize your voice for Personalization (reading iMessages) is enabled yet others will cannot command your personalization.

We are talking about different things...

HomePods prioritize "Hey Siri" commands over other devices (iPhone, iPad, etc) specifically per Apples design...

Screen Shot 2020-02-15 at 8.41.18 AM.png


You'll see the other devices light up because they are closer to you but the HomePod shuts them down.

The HomeKit Hub is your gateway into the network for remote access and automations. Like other hubs the HomePod will only be the connected home hub if its the best placed device for controlling your HomeKit network. This is why my HomePods have never (rarely) been the connected Home Hubs....

IMG_1808E2977398-1.jpeg

My comment you quoted though was more of a guess to why a specific HomePod will be used for Hey Siri when you have two HomePods. For me it always favors the Kitchen HomePod Left. Even if I switch them it will eventually switch back. The only difference is the left one is closer to the router but ~7 feet.
 
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gw0gvq

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 30, 2012
1,194
65
Barry, South Wales, UK
I just had to reset my home pods and when was set up again I only heard the 3 beeps from one, not the instructions beforehand. The other when I set it up asked me on my iPhone if I wanted to link them in stereo to which I told it, yes but when the both were set up they were linked in stereo but the icon in the Home app didn't have the yellow icon showing that is in the Home app that alters the L+R Homepods ie the left and right Homepods cant now be changed in the settings. Any ideas why and how I can rectify this?
 
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